Re: Positivity and love, stolen from knowlege
I like Mike Oldfield and Enya. Both capture an enchantingly timeless atmosphere. Not positive in a giddy way, but positive in a mystical / transcendental way.
When I hear a song, I am drawn to figure out where it's coming from... what part of external and internal reality inspired it? That may be more important than the style itself. You will find musicians who are deeply reflective and sentient in pretty much all genres, and whatever they make stands out from the rest. It is the power of the soul that shines through.
I enjoy metal, but those metal bands and songs that don't have soul power are less appealing to me than those of another genre that do have soul power. What is soul power? The power to move your soul through resonance. Wherever the song is getting its energy is the same place within you that receives that energy. Dark meaningful music, for example, resonates with thoughtful minds aware and perhaps preoccupied with the gravity of things.
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Speaking of some dark music with very positive core, I see Amorphis' My Kantele as the best example. Amorphis is an interesting group, highly dark music with real soul in it. For me their best song is acoustic version of My Kantele. When I learnt what they meant with the song my respect for them arised more.
Yup, I agree with you! Elegy was a great album, one of my favorites. For those unfamiliar with it, this was a concept album whose lyrics were based on traditional Finnish mythology and epic poetry. On this album, Amorphis combines scandinavian folk with 70s rock and modern metal and some middle-eastern melodies. They started out as a death metal band and evolved into flute/saxophone jazz-rock later on. I like them for their exotic and timeless nordic/oriental melodies and non-mundane lyrical themes. Ferit's right though, it's dark music, but has something transcendental that appeals to me. (Ferit, have you listened to their album after Elegy called Tuonela? I didn't like it as much, but the flute playing was awesome and the song "Greed" seethes with power. By the way, a video from their latest album with the new vocalist is out. RealMedia file. Song reminds me a bit of H.I.M.)