PROFILE: CREAG
LATEST UPDATE: 12-31-09
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Name: Craig "Creag" White
Birthday: March, 1983
Current location: Glasgow, Scotland
Current occupation: Call centre phone monkey.
Hobbies: Music is the obvious one - going to live gigs being a big part of what I do for entertainment. Otherwise I watch football (that's soccer, by the way), supporting Glasgow Rangers and of course Scotland. When there's no gigs or football on I like reading, watching films and being with my friends listening to music, watching TV, getting drunk or a combination of the 3.
Favorite books: The Snapper (Roddy Doyle), The Lord of the Rings, The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King), Legend, Dark Moon and Winter Warriors (David Gemmell).
Favorite movies: The following trilogies: Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars, Alien (the fourth one didn't happen). Also, Dawn of the Dead and The Thing.
Words that describe me: Quarter-life crisis.
Instrumental talents: Precisely zero.
Past and present band experience: Precisely zero.
Favorite music listening location and why: Either on the bus with my headphones since I have no distractions and can pick everything up, or with a group of friends singing along to something like Manowar.
How I got into metal: A friend of mine kept pestering me to listen to Iron Maiden. Eventually I gave in and took a loan of his copy of 'Brave new world'. A few months later, I bought 'Best of the beast' and it all kicked off from there. I got into power metal when I bought Lost Horizon's 'Awakening the world' on the basis of the front cover alone. From there I started working both backwards and forwards - checking out classic bands like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest was just as exciting as keeping on the lookout for newer bands I'd never even heard of. Once I got access to the internet a year or 2 later I was able to start linking together all the information I'd accumulated up until that point to see where all the bands I knew fit in the bigger picture.
Most influential bands:
Black Sabbath - started the whole damn thing.
Iron Maiden - re-invented the genre and showed bands how far hard work and integrity can get you.
Rainbow - say what you will about their AOR stuff, 'Rising' was a power metal album in 1976.
Judas Priest - created both speed and thrash metal.
Manowar - started the idea of metal being self-aware.
Helloween - bands like Satan had been doing power metal for a few years before the 'Keeper' CDs, but Helloween made the genre what it would become with their influence.
Favorite/most memorable concerts: Iron Maiden (2003), Dream Evil (2004), Saxon (2005), Sweden Rock Festival (2004-2006), Dragonforce (2004), Helloween (2006), Blind Guardian (2006).
Genre likes: Power metal, heavy/melodic metal, black metal, death metal, doom metal, folk metal, progressive metal and thrash metal.
Genre dislikes: Excessive progressive metal, most gothic metal and symphonic black metal, excessively melodic melodic death metal that crosses over into metalcore territory and any of the genres I like when done poorly.
Thoughts on the metal genres:
Black metal: One of the genres I listen to least despite liking a great deal of what I hear. I'm not a fan of the hyperfast blastfests you hear from bands like Dark Funeral, but the minimalist atmospherics created by bands like Darkthrone and Burzum are absolutely perfect for me when I'm in the right mood. I've got very little time for the overblown symphonics of the likes of Dimmu Borgir - all style and no substance.
Death metal: For a long time I was of the "ewww, growly vocals" attitude (this also affected my black metal listening), but I eventually started listening to melodic death metal bands, starting with Arch Enemy, as I could relate to the power metal-style guitar playing. Eventually I got around to moving onto more brutal bands and now, without having an in-depth knowledge of the genre, I count myself as a fan of the "classic" death metal sound of Bolt Thrower, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse.
Doom metal: This is a style I really need to be in the right mood for. 10-minute tracks that drag on at minimal pace can be incredible works of emotion and atmosphere, but its not something for all occasions. Stoner/doom bands that spend their time lovingly ripping off Black Sabbath are much easier to listen to on a frequent basis.
Folk metal: While this covers a broad spectrum of sub-subgenres like blackened folk, power/folk and symphonic folk, I generally love everything I hear from this particular niche. I always get in a good mood listening to crazy bands like Korpiklaani and Finntroll, and the power metal-styled folk bands like Elvenking offer something fresh by playing their melodies on violins and such. It can get a little too repetitive, but it makes for great party music.
Gothic metal: Hmmm. I'm no great fan of gothic metal, I find the biggest percentage of it very boring, just dumping a load of keyboards over very pedestrian riffs. The legion of interchangeable female fronted goth bands out there these days never make my pulse quicken even slightly - there are of course exceptions to this rule, like the majestic Epica.
Heavy/melodic metal: The original and often best. No matter what I've been listening to, there's nothing better than going back to classic records by Iron Maiden or Dio and remembering exactly why all the modern bands I listen to picked up their instruments in the first place. There's an almost infinite number of great records from the past someone could listen to without ever running out. There are also a selection of great newer bands making classic heavy metal often filed as power metal.
Power metal: My favourite genre and the one that opened my eyes and ears to the whole world of heavy metal beyond what you read about in mainstream magazines. There's nothing more uplifting than the likes of Gamma Ray or Stratovarius in full flight. The genre has become completely saturated of late, which unfortunately means a lot of poorly promoted better bands get lost in the swell, but there's a goldmine of excellent music out there for those lucky enough to find it.
Progressive metal: When progressive metal is done well it is awe-inspiring stuff, when overdone it can descend into a big self-satisfying mess. Prog/power metal can be excellent or very, very boring.
Symphonic metal: Usually I see this as a subsection of other genres such as power metal and black metal. Symphonic power metal can be excellent and uplifting, but it can also be a complete snooze fest if the songwriting is left behind in favour of layer upon layer of keyboard drowning out any semblance of guitar or bass. A few years ago I'd have called Rhapsody the leaders of this genre, now I'd have to say they've become lost in their own delusions of grandeur.
Thrash metal: The extreme subgenre I listen to the most. When you move past the obvious bands like Metallica and Anthrax, there is a huge pool of talent to be discovered. The UK at present has an impressive handful of up-and-coming true thrash bands to counter all the MTV metalcore that a lot of people try to fob off as such.
Favorite musicians: Steve Harris, Dave Mustaine, Gus G., Devin Townsend, Uli Kusch and Joey DeMaio.
Favorite vocalists: Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Daniel Heiman, Rob Halford, Mathias Blad, Roy Khan and Eric Adams.
Favorite CD covers: Dream Evil 'Evilized', Lost Horizon 'Awakening the world', Kamelot - all from 'Dominion' through 'Epica', Iron Maiden 'Number of the Beast'.
Favorite bands: Iron Maiden, Lost Horizon, Firewind, Falconer, Syth, W.A.S.P., Gamma Ray, Helloween, Megadeth, Black Sabbath/Dio/Rainbow and Deicide.
Favorite CDs: Iron Maiden 'Seventh son of a seventh son', Lost Horizon 'Awakening the world', Falconer 's/t', Judas Priest 'Painkiller', Sonata Arctica 'Ecliptica', Megadeth 'Rust in peace', Dream Evil 'Evilized', Firewind 'Burning earth', Dio 'The last in line', Dream Theater 'Images & words' and Manowar 'Kings of metal'.
CDs that are overrated: Judas Priest 'British steel', Metallica 'Metallica' (the "black" album) and Queensryche 'Operation: Mindcrime' (still a great CD).
CDs that are underrated: Riot 'Thundersteel', Iron Maiden 'Somewhere in time', Metallica 'Ride the lightning' and Black Sabbath 'Heaven and hell'.
Most prized metal posession: The Dream Evil 'Evilized' t-shirt I got from Fredrik Nordstrom.
Reasons I joined the Metal CD Ratings site: To get my opinions out there to fellow metalheads.
Advantages to being a reviewer on the Metal CD Ratings site: Freedom to review the melodic metal I want to speak about.
Disadvantages to being a reviewer on the Metal CD Ratings site: I tend to waffle more than the recommended review size.
Bands I would like to see in concert: Manowar, Falconer, Sepultura (Schizophrenia line-up playing songs from the first 4 CDs only), Deep Purple Mk II, Firewind and Hibria.
People I would like to meet: Not sure, I never know what to say when I meet people from bands I like. Ah hell, lets say Simone Simons and Sharon den Adel.
What I would like to see for the future of metal: Hard working smaller bands getting to do proper tours and get paid what they deserve.
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