I recently picked up two recent euro-flavored metal releases: Gamma Ray's Land of the Free II (which continues that brain-dead idea of sequelitis) and Tobias Sammet's Avantasia: The Scarecrow and I'm having the hardest time getting into them.

To be honest, I don't know why I try to continue into looking into new releases, even from bands I found enjoyable  - the albums I discovered from 2000/2001 until around 2005/2006 seem like gold compared to those now.

I found the vocal performance in LotF2 to be extremely forced but this is mainly due to the fact I think the songs are lyrically very ridged. The band's head figure is once again overshadowed when it comes to songwriting.

The Scarecrow sounds a lot more mature than the previous Avantasia albums but not nearly as enjoyable. With vocalists such as Alice Cooper and Kiss, that European flavor isn't as prominent.

Anyway, sorry for these mini reviews - Goldfish is the only person that will probably find them interesting - but I'm somewhat saddened that while the genre seems to be growing I'm stuck in the past. Still, listening to something you don't like is rather stupid.

Has anyone else fallen out of favor with a genre in such a fashion?

Alternative rock, although I believe the genre is now dead.  Maybe it's "indie" now.  That sounds like crap.

The stuff I'm talking about is Garbage - 2.0, Econoline Crush - The Devil You Know, and Black Lab - Your Body Above Mine.  I think nu-metal combined with hip-hop killed it off.  It was a kind of off-shoot of the grunge movement which got stale after the first 4 or 5 years. 

Absolutely. It's happened with just about every genre that I've listened to at one point; alt-rock in middle school, crappy metal in high school, rap in college, emo/indie after college, etc. The only type of music that continues to keep my interest outside of VGM is electronica/trance, but even that takes a lot. I still bump Adam Freeland's GU32, but that's about it.

QFT, bro.

i guess you just need a break. theres no need to force yourself into the music, let it come to you im jumping alot between metal and game music myself, wich means i know gamma ray and avantasia very well. ive got about a stack of CDs behind me that ive barely listened to. its just not the right time and i dont feel any pressure whatsoever.

meanwhile im enjoying some game music and re-discover some true classics. they never get old.

i used to worship Yngwie malmsteen till about 1996,, now i dont even listen to his old stuff anymore...

One thing I notice about power metal is the uniformity a lot of it has. I like the high-energy catchiness, fantasy-based lyrics and riffs/solos of a lot of it...It's normally the little things that make bands/albums stick out to me from the pack, like a lot of metal genres. Running Wild's pirate shtick and high-mix harsh guitar tones pretty much have me hooked and even shit from Gamma Ray, Power Quest or Dragonforce tends to do the trick. Still, I do have problems picking individual songs I favor...It's more like I can put in an album and listen straight through. Land of the Free II, I remember I enjoyed it, but I can't tell you anything about any of the songs now, about a week later. I do know I didn't like it anywhere near as much No World Order though.

As for losing interest, I'd say RPG music in general has weened completely off me. There are a handful of classics, but it's starting to feel like I'll never be able to get into the stuff with any interest again. Of course, that might come with the realization of HOW MUCH I was removing from the soundtracks. Lost Odyssey was literally in one ear, out the other and into the recycle bin, so that was a little disappointing, considering how much I was hoping from it. Funny, since I'm getting a LOT out of the Phantasy Star box that just came out.

Electronica/techno was a genre that seemed like it might have potential awhile back, but so much of it sounds silly to me now. I realized how much I'd listen to, but couldn't absorb for anything, so I just ditched it and that was that. Haven't missed a beat. Figure chiptunes (or something similar, ala Freezepop, Machinae Supremacy or Katamari) do the trick well enough if I need something with an electronic edge.

I do like some 80's New Wave/Punk, but that stuff gets old FAST...Especially when you realize just how many one-hit wonders there are out there. Still, it's easy to see why some of it was pretty popular.

Great to hear that, NWO was the last Gamma Ray album I really enjoyed and it totally has a solid spot in my collection as well.