Published on : February 10, 2023, 3:22 PM
Charlie Benante of Anthrax (and now Pantera) fame is a true metal drumming legend that’s still going full throttle.
Have you seen the recent footage from Pantera’s celebratory shows? The man is crushing it (and it’s not the age that matters, but the fact that Charlie is now 60 and still pounding the skins harder than most is truly impressive).
In a new conversation with party bow, Charlie talks about many things he’s passionate about, including some gripes he has about the current state of modern heavy metal. Essentially, Benante feels like metal is kind of stuck in the proverbial hamster wheel. In his own words:
“I consider music these days to be very lost. I don’t know where it’s going. What bothers me the most about new music is that you had all these other things to lean on. And you don’t have it. haven’t even fully taken.
You took an element, shouts and all that other stuff. Musically, you still sound like Meshuggah. Every song I hear sounds like a Meshuggah riff. And it’s like… I don’t understand. I do not know what happened.
Charlie continues:
“I don’t know if it’s just a lack of creativity. Yeah, there are some things that stick out here and there for me. But for the most part, I don’t go back and listen to it over and over again. Once you’ve heard it once, you don’t go back and listen to it like you used to.
Why are we still talking about bands like Metallica and Slayer? I use these two bands [as examples]. There are other bands we talk about, of course. But there is songsand that’s what we’re missing these days: a fucking song.
“Today I think the same thing that happened to hip-hop happened to heavy metal where it was so watered down. “It became something that lost something along the way. We were on this highway. And then it took a detour somewhere and I don’t know why it happened. I really don’t know.
I think it may have become more about the look and less about the quality of the music. You know, everything you hear these days is quantized. It doesn’t sound human. It just seems wrong to me.
What do you think? Is Charlie too tough? Or is he shedding light on the truth here? Let us know on social media.