Metal on Sirius Radio

I wrote to some of my metalhead-friends about the metal available on Sirius Radio. In case it’d interest other metalheads, I thought I’d post it here as an open letter as well.

Hey guys,

As you may have read on my blog, I’ve recently upgraded my car audio, including Sirius Radio.

In case you’ve been living under a rock ;), satellite radio is similar in some ways to satellite tv: I have a satellite radio compatible head unit in my car, along with a small antenna on my roof (about the size of a 2-pack of Twinkies). I pay about $12/month and, in return, I get 100 channels including 60 commercial-free music stations.

There’re all kinds of genres: 70s, 80s, jazz, classic rock, and so on. I signed up because they had content that I just couldn’t hear on the radio including electronica/techno and extensive news coverage (NPR, BBC News, and others).

Specifically, I wanted to write to you about the metal on Sirius Radio. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. Their metal station is channel 29, “Hard Attack”, and its description listed bands such as Slipknot and Korn (bleh).

But I soon discovered: it’s the real deal. They may only list some lame nu-metal bands in the description, but that was probably what their marketdroids thought would work best (heh).

I’ve been making notes of just some of the bands that I’ve heard so far. Sure, there’re the “expected” metal bands such as Rammstein and Metallica. But, it gets better :).

Lacuna Coil and Hammerfall? Yeah, got that.
Meshuggah and Opeth? Got that.

Dark Tranquillity? Sure.

In Flames and Nevermore? Oh yeah.

And, last but not least…
King Diamond? Yes!

For the price of about one CD a month, you can get all kinds of metal. If you’ve been thinking about satellite radio, I urge you to give it a try.

But, in due fairness, I’ll include one caveat. Sirius Radio does use psychoacoustic (mp3-like) compression and I have been able to detect artifacts. From time to time, I’ll notice the characteristic spwish-spwish of overcompressed cymbals or the fwuth-fwuth of an overcompressed bass drum.

In fact, I’ll say this right off the bat: Josh, you probably don’t have the stomach for Sirius Radio (at least not in its present state of compression). Then again, maybe I’m wrong (you’d have to listen to it to be sure).

Matt and Mike: if you can stand listening to mp3s on a regular basis (and I think you can), you'll probably get much enjoyment out of Sirius Radio (especially since a moving automobile — road noise and all — is not exactly a critical-listening environment).

If you go to a car audio store to evaluate Sirius Radio, just be sure to flip through various stations — some are compressed more than others.

The bottom line: would I buy Sirius Radio again? Definitely.

One thought on “Metal on Sirius Radio

  1. i would totally agree with you about sirius satellite radio.sirius satellite radio is the way to go. well worth the 12.95/month subscription. will never have to listen to the junk that clear channel plays again.

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