No doubt I will get flamed for starting this thread (considering that nearly every thread ever started here gets flamed by somebody), but I thought I would raise the question anyways.
I was listening to Anathema on shuffle on my mp3 player. Y'know, a real mix of old and new stuff. As anybody who is familiar with the band will know, there has been a huge shift in direction since the band started. I mean, Opeth has evolved, but every Opeth record has a similar sound that makes it distinguishable as Opeth. When you look at a band like Anathema, comparing 'Serenades' to 'A Natural Disaster' is like listening to 2 completely seperate bands.
Paradise Lost are another band who have made a very large switch as far as their style was concerned. However, unlike Anathema, Paradise Lost didn't really stick to the shift in direction, and pussied out after 'Host' got slammed (I, for one, would have happily seen them continue in that vein). Still, 'Symbol Of Life' and 'Paradise Lost' bear almost no similarity to 'Gothic', or even really 'Icon'.
Katatonia too have made a radical shift in style. Gone is the gothic doom metal (akin to that of early PL) that we can hear on 'Dance Of the December Souls', and in it's place we find a totally different style, far more melodic and varied, but also at times even more crushing than it was before (see 'The Great Cold Distance').
And then there are bands like My Dying Bride, who attempted to chance direction ('34.788% Complete'), and then backfooted entirely after the fans didn't take to it, sounding recently simply like a polished version of their earlier work.
I guess what I want to know is what people think of bands who's sound changes to the point of being unrecognisable. And for these bands, do people like the progressions they hear, or would they rather that the bang had stuck with it's original style. And why is it that some bands have a sound that stays with them (in essence) throughout their career (Opeth), while other see such dramatic changes in sound? Any opinions at all on this?
Also, any other examples of bands that have done this would be cool.
*EDIT* Add Therion to the list.
I was listening to Anathema on shuffle on my mp3 player. Y'know, a real mix of old and new stuff. As anybody who is familiar with the band will know, there has been a huge shift in direction since the band started. I mean, Opeth has evolved, but every Opeth record has a similar sound that makes it distinguishable as Opeth. When you look at a band like Anathema, comparing 'Serenades' to 'A Natural Disaster' is like listening to 2 completely seperate bands.
Paradise Lost are another band who have made a very large switch as far as their style was concerned. However, unlike Anathema, Paradise Lost didn't really stick to the shift in direction, and pussied out after 'Host' got slammed (I, for one, would have happily seen them continue in that vein). Still, 'Symbol Of Life' and 'Paradise Lost' bear almost no similarity to 'Gothic', or even really 'Icon'.
Katatonia too have made a radical shift in style. Gone is the gothic doom metal (akin to that of early PL) that we can hear on 'Dance Of the December Souls', and in it's place we find a totally different style, far more melodic and varied, but also at times even more crushing than it was before (see 'The Great Cold Distance').
And then there are bands like My Dying Bride, who attempted to chance direction ('34.788% Complete'), and then backfooted entirely after the fans didn't take to it, sounding recently simply like a polished version of their earlier work.
I guess what I want to know is what people think of bands who's sound changes to the point of being unrecognisable. And for these bands, do people like the progressions they hear, or would they rather that the bang had stuck with it's original style. And why is it that some bands have a sound that stays with them (in essence) throughout their career (Opeth), while other see such dramatic changes in sound? Any opinions at all on this?
Also, any other examples of bands that have done this would be cool.
*EDIT* Add Therion to the list.
