On May 21 2009 07:21 crookstar wrote: I've been lurking here for a while and it seems like a bunch of people have interesting tastes and can hold down a decent conversation, but I haven't seen a general thread for my favourite types of music. Hence this one.
To get things started, I thought I would run through a list of genres and bands that I have been enjoying recently (I encourage you to do the same if you'd like to contribute, although don't necessarily limit yourself to genres like I'm about to)
BLACK METAL - Some of the really old school Finnish bands seem to be making a resurgence, notably Beherit and Archgoat, both with new albums this year, both good. That style is really raw and possibly hard to listen to for people used to Dimmu Borgir/Keep of Kalessin, but I love it anyway.
Also, 1349 recently released a new album - im not as sure about this one, there seems to be a lot of filler and not too many actualy songs.
GRINDCORE - Arguably not metal at all, whatever. What's most important to me is that everyone who likes this genre immediately listens to Agoraphobic Nosebleed's new album, Agorapocalypse, RIGHT NOW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0yINs95wGw - yes, thats a girl on vocals)
DEATH METAL - Many of the really legendary bands seem to have been quiet in recent months, although maybe i'm just not paying enough attention to them. Tech Death, especially from Canada, seems to me the most interesting part of the scene at the moment. I only recently found out about Psycroptic and i'm loving them, though.
Nile are due a new album.
On an entirely silly note, im going to see Aborted in June. EXCITED. I may even get a surgical robe and a bunch of fake blood and organs, which will no doubt attract worried glances and a possible court summons on the tube home, but whatever.
DOOM - Not so knowledgeable about this genre. Im open to anything, but a lot of the bands seem to use the slower tempo as a way of getting away with sloppy playing. Plus, its WAY popular where I live (London), to the extent that bands playing other styles get overlooked when it comes to booking live shows.
Nevertheless, the Japanese band 'Church of Misery' put out some good stuff. They're not as gloomy as their name suggests, and write tongue in cheek songs about serial killers.
POWER METAL - I find that most people initially like this genre and then tire of it after a few months. I guess Stratovarius' new record was fun enough, although I HATED Ultra Beatdown by Dragonforce.
THRASH - Dammit if only they would stop playing that stupid Metallica song in the intro for the Proleague. It's starting to get on my nerves.
Toxic Holocaust and Municipal Waste are the current flavours of the month for me.
So yeah, I hope people enjoy the bands I talked about and are able to contribute some of their own knowledge. Always good to hear about new stuff.
On a different note, if you are going to post in this thread, lets try and keep the elitism/arguments to a minimum. Im not going to make fun of anyone no matter what they post as long as they like it and act similarly.
So, without further ado....
HEAVEN OR HELL
LETS ROCK!
haha, someone who knows some decent stuff.
To me though, the new Beherit was TERRIBLE. It pissed on their back catalogue. T_T New 1349 kinda sucked too. I was expecting some raw norsecore, but got atmospheric bullshit with no meat to it.
New Agoraphobic Nosebleed is overrated too, but decent. New Phobia is better. Do you know Last Days of Humanity?
For Death Metal, if you want tech death, go get Fleshgod Apocalypse "Oracles" If you want brutality/heavyness, go get Human Rejection's new album, or Devourment's soon to be released masterpiece "Unleash The Carnivore". Or even Suffocations soon to be released "Blood Omen" If you want Death/thrash, get the new Pestilence album. It's underrated, and good on it's own merits.
Get Evoken/Dolorian for doom. Enough said.
Iced Earth is all the "power" metal you need.
The new wave of thrash is ok, but I donnou why your listening to Municipal Waste and the like? Just listen to some Exodus or something. haha.
On May 21 2009 11:15 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: I just personally can't stand growling and screaming for prolonged periods, which is a pity, because often I'll hear a great instrumental, look more into it, and be sadly disappointed by growling and screaming vocals =S
I can understand that, but you have to think, this is AGGRESIVE music, and Death Metal couldn't be pulled off with singing. lol
On May 21 2009 11:15 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: I just personally can't stand growling and screaming for prolonged periods, which is a pity, because often I'll hear a great instrumental, look more into it, and be sadly disappointed by growling and screaming vocals =S
I can understand that, but you have to think, this is AGGRESIVE music, and Death Metal couldn't be pulled off with singing. lol
Um, maybe not death, but melodic death can and is awesome as evident here:
Awesome song! (Yes, it has growls, but the whole song isn't growls)
SABINE has the greatest voice in the history of metal.
One of the best current Melo D bands (They are a superband - they have some of the best talents in their respective instruments from other bands that got together).
On May 21 2009 12:27 FragKrag wrote: I guess I'll be the first to say that Melodeath with very rare exceptions, sucks.
The only reason I can discern for the hatred towards Melo D in the metal community is because people don't like that more people are getting into metal. Social outcasts...that and I agree that some Melo D bands who went poppy doesn't well look well, but then you have to admit that they abandoned their roots.
Stuff like Scar Symmetry, Nightrage, Omnium Gatherum, Kalmah, Blood Stain Child, Dark Lunacy, Insomnium, Mors Principium Est, Skyfire (Tinge of black), Wintersun, Noumena, Lords of Decadence, certainly doesn't suck...
Just curious as to your reasoning, and how many of these bands have you heard?
PS: I'll add in that those in metal generally hate 'soft vox', I like them though Illnath / CoF vox are my favorite ..../shrug.
On May 21 2009 12:27 FragKrag wrote: I guess I'll be the first to say that Melodeath with very rare exceptions, sucks.
The only reason I can discern for the hatred towards Melo D in the metal community is because people don't like that more people are getting into metal. Social outcasts...that and I agree that some Melo D bands who went poppy doesn't well look well, but then you have to admit that they abandoned their roots.
Stuff like Scar Symmetry, Nightrage, Omnium Gatherum, Kalmah, Blood Stain Child, Dark Lunacy, Insomnium, Mors Principium Est, Skyfire (Tinge of black), Wintersun, Noumena, Lords of Decadence, certainly doesn't suck...
Just curious as to your reasoning, and how many of these bands have you heard?
PS: I'll add in that those in metal generally hate 'soft vox', I like them though Illnath / CoF vox are my favorite ..../shrug.
Melodeath is just plastering some death metal vocals over pop chord progressions. Most melodeath vocalists tend to suck at growling.
I have listened to Scar Symmetry, Kalmah, Insomnium, and Wintersun.
I like Kalmah, and I like some Insomnium songs. I absolutely despise Wintersun. Power metal + death voc = no thanks. I can't stand the melodic interludes that are in like 80% of the songs, and in general, a few good bands cannot save an overall, shitty genre populated by bands like Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Heaven Shall Burn, God Forbid, and post R2R In Flames.
On May 21 2009 12:27 FragKrag wrote: I guess I'll be the first to say that Melodeath with very rare exceptions, sucks.
The only reason I can discern for the hatred towards Melo D in the metal community is because people don't like that more people are getting into metal. Social outcasts...that and I agree that some Melo D bands who went poppy doesn't well look well, but then you have to admit that they abandoned their roots.
Stuff like Scar Symmetry, Nightrage, Omnium Gatherum, Kalmah, Blood Stain Child, Dark Lunacy, Insomnium, Mors Principium Est, Skyfire (Tinge of black), Wintersun, Noumena, Lords of Decadence, certainly doesn't suck...
Just curious as to your reasoning, and how many of these bands have you heard?
PS: I'll add in that those in metal generally hate 'soft vox', I like them though Illnath / CoF vox are my favorite ..../shrug.
Melodeath is just plastering some death metal vocals over pop chord progressions. Most melodeath vocalists tend to suck at growling.
I have listened to Scar Symmetry, Kalmah, Insomnium, and Wintersun.
I like Kalmah, and I like some Insomnium songs. I absolutely despise Wintersun. Power metal + death voc = no thanks. I can't stand the melodic interludes that are in like 80% of the songs, and in general, a few good bands cannot save an overall, shitty genre populated by bands like Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Heaven Shall Burn, God Forbid, and post R2R In Flames.
Heaven Shall Burn is metalcore, and they are a good band. Naeara however, is a pretty sweet melo D band. InFlames since colony and clayman went downhill quite a bit..., but Dark Tranquillity is the shit and they keep on truckin'. Anyways, there are shitty bands in every genre.
Black metal production turns me off from most of the name bands in the genre...I can't tell what the fuck is going on. Everything bleeds together like mad, and it sounds like they honestly recorded it with equipment from the '70s in the middle of a fucking freeway. I like some of the newer small name shit coming out, though.
-Keep of Kalessin (The only truly decent still active black band, imo) -Some band that started with a D...the lead vocalist committed suicide to join satan or something laughabout like that...I can't remember their name. -Belphegor -Emperor (One of the most amazing metal bands out there period...not just in black. I don't care that they're "prog" or "symphonic" black metal...they're still amazing).
I love Doom metal, but I don't know very many bands in the genre. I haven't gotten into them.
-Swallow the Sun -My Dying Bride
are pretty much the only bands I really listen to, and they're both very good. StS is actually one of my all time favorites...though Plague of Butterflies was a pretty mediocre release.
Death metal is a very hit and miss genre for me. I haven't been keeping up lately, but pure death metal gets to be pretty boring and messy for me. I like it best when it crosses over to other genres.
-The Aborted -Necrophagist -Nile -Behemoth -Bloodbath -Cryptopsy -I'm sure there are more...I just can't recall any atm.
Melodic death metal is one of my favorite genres...though it's been harder and harder to find any decent shit nowadays. This genre crosses over a lot nowadays with thrash and metalcore which can either be very interesting (mostly in the former) or very bad (mostly in the latter). I'll throw in gothic death in here too for simplicity.
-Scar Symmetry (one of the best bands out right now) -Neara -old Soilwork (I don't get how they can fail so badly with their new shit) -old In Flames (their new stuff isn't terrible...just horribly boring and immature) -Mors Principium Est -Wintersun -Moonspell (maybe not melo death, but whatever.) -The Absence -Blinded Colony -Arch Enemy (their new album is AMAZING...I LOVE Rise of the Tyrant) -Amon Amarth (with music as simple and straightforward as theirs, it's impossible to go wrong) -Children of Bodom -Dark Tranquility (one of the few old school melodeath bands that haven't completely gone to shit) -Insomnium (one of the few true blue melodeath bands around today) -Pain Confessor -Threat Signal -Zonaria (not sure if this is melodeath really, either...they're shockingly similar to Moonspell)
Power metal can be sooo fucking hit and miss. There are a lot of good bands out, but there are just as many that are complete crap. I can't stand dumb shit like Dragonforce that's been hyped to hell and back...all their songs sound the fucking same, too. -____-;;
-Blind Guardian -Winterborn -Pathosray -Kamelot -Evergrey (I'm not sure if it's fair to put these guys in here)
Prog metal is where I dwell the most by far. Good prog metal bands don't really give a shit what kind of music they play as long as it's good, which is why I find them infinitely more interesting than other bands out there. Consequently, there are also a lot of really bad "prog" metal bands out there as well...
-Opeth (The absolute king of progressive death...definitely my favorite by far) -Dream Theater (Getting over the vocalist takes a while, but once you do, they're absolutely amazing) -Pain of Salvation -Redemption -Strapping Young Lad (maybe not prog prog, but still...) -Meshuggah (I think of them as more prog than death or thrash) -Tool (maybe not metal, but still...very good) -Mastodon
There's really one problem I have with metal and all of these types of it; the vocals. I absolutely love the music, but the growling/deep screaming really kills it for me. I could listen to the music all day if they actually sang, and I want to like the songs because the music is so badass, but the growling really does kill it.
Can anyone recommend some metal where they actually sing? I'm not really into progressive though.
I'm not a fan of regular black metal either, but stuff like Mork Gryning or stuff like Varathron gets me. The Tressrising of Nyarlathotep is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Blood Stain Child is a blood stain. Boring riffs, and that shitty melody constantly playing. "look at us, we incorporate more keyboard!!!!"
Then again, I'm more of a Thrash/Death guy.
But @ above, try out Fates Warning, Watch Tower, and Atheist.
Atheist is a much better prog death (imo) than Opeth. Watch Tower and Fates Warning are thrashier and have more of an edge than Dream Theater.
Yesplz, try power metal, or you could read the thread.
On May 21 2009 13:07 yesplz wrote: There's really one problem I have with metal and all of these types of it; the vocals. I absolutely love the music, but the growling/deep screaming really kills it for me. I could listen to the music all day if they actually sang, and I want to like the songs because the music is so badass, but the growling really does kill it.
Can anyone recommend some metal where they actually sing? I'm not really into progressive though.
Try this song:
Power metal only has clean vox. Dragonland is by far the best followed closely by Luca Turilli and Nocturnal Rights.
Here is Nocturnal Rights:
Dragonland!
^^^^SERIOUSLY EVERYONE LISTEN TO THIS MASTERPIECE! simply amazing composition.
EPT
..../shrug.
