hey man... there are many things that i would agree with in here, mainly constructive criticism - but theres alot of stuff that clashes, outright cant be answered or examined...
it shouldnt be about whats in and whats not - rather calibre, songwriting skills, ability and the overall management of all these things. and THEN theres the question of what defines "calibre" and "skills", some would say unrelenting blasting, some would say a great deal of BREEBREE vocals and some would say the lowest of lo-fi production anyones ever heard - which is extremely stereotypical but im sure many of u will know what i mean.
what bands and what styles are on top in the WA scene is also something that cant be measured as many metalheads either havent heard (and then disregarded) or purely just dont like the band(s) that are seemingly big blahblahblah, blahblahblah. the more respected "underground" bands have just as solid a following - it may not be as big as BAND X's rent-a-crowd, but its genuine, metal loving fans, there for the music, or your music - and they're the people i play for.
if something isnt somebody's cup of tea, turn it off. dont listen. i personally enjoy many various forms of metal, and for me its finding ONE GOOD band and not listening to every band in a particular style/genre/SCENE.
it does suck with metalgenre vs metalgenre but fuck, turn on the radio and theres a whole new world of shit that u can love to hate.
...and with that ive lost my train of thought, thinking about all the associated shit (or good) that will come in this thread. a worthy question. pls also refer to "the problem with perth metal"