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Now the thread starter was wondering where arena rock fitted into all this and my answer to that is also very simple. You basically have a 50/50 mix of those two genres and that's the definition of melodic rock in my book. Classic example of a melodic rock record, where most of the music is too heavy to fit within the classic AOR spectrum while still too light to be labelled pure melodic hard rock.
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Melodic rock I would say is that gray area between AOR and melodic hard rock that many bands operates within, not least nowdays.case in point: the latest Palace CD. real AOR has to contain at least a minimum amount of keys, while melodic rock necessarily must not.
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My answer to this is basically very simple. I was at work when I posted that and didn't have time to elaborate any further. For example, we can investigate the band/artist's texts: are they mainly intended for young people or adults? Are they targeted mainly towards a youthful audience, perhaps one should reflect on if the AOR-term really is appropriate. Another important aspect to include is of course what main audience the band in question is targeted to. If we on the other hand have a band, that from beginning have played in this style and who furthermore also stated being influenced by the classic AOR bands, perhaps the name may be more appropriate.
#Difference between back to bedlam album full
If we, for instance, have a band who started out as a pure metalband, to later develope to become more melodic and commercial by involving typical pop elements in their music (and thus, approach themselves the ideals of AOR), maybe it's not in it's full right to for that reason call them an "AOR-band". However, it's important to also see to the context and on what kind of bands the terms are used. Regarding the pure AOR-style, it could without a problem be called melodic hard rock since it's about melodic and hard rock. The problems with the terms AOR and MHR is in many respects that their sheer musical content lies very close to each other. The term "melodic rock" is often used by music critics to describe this fusion of AOR and hard rock/metal, but even the meaning of this term may not always stand out as totally obvious for the uniniated." From an AOR-perspective, however, MHR most often is about some element in the music differing from the pure style, for example that the electric guitar provides a more prominent role in the sound or that the use of keyboards is not as widespread as one is used to when it comes to pure AOR. It should certainly be noted, that MHR is a problematic concept, since in principle all forms of hard rock - from the 70s classic hard rock to today's most extreme metal forms - more or less can be said to possess at least some form of melodic element. Just like westcoast and pure AOR, the styles often slips into one and another and the musical difference between what is known as AOR respectively MHR is often very small. The term "Melodic hard rock" (henceforth abbreviated "MHR") is, like the westcoast, strongly linked with the term AOR. The limit for which kind of music should be called AOR respecitvely melodic hard rock is often subtle and can be debated indefinitely. If we move to the right of the pure AOR on the scale, we soon find ourselves in the borderland to the melodic hard rock. Sometimes the westcoast style borders more in this direction, to sometimes stylewise move more to the middle. Even further to the left, we find styles such as pop and soul. If one imagine the AOR music on a horizontal scale, one could imagine that the pure AOR-style lies in the middle, while the westcoast style is located further to the left.