Controversial opinions on metal

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Lamb of God is atrocious, but a good live act in many ways.

Not sure if this is controversial or not but Surgical Steel may be the best extreme metal album of the past 2 or 3 years.

 

[Einherjar86]

No, it's the dude who stated that the most important factor to distinguish between death metal and other genres was death metal vocals. I believe, at the time, I quoted no less than 3 prominent death metal bands who stated the same.

There are power metal bands that use harsh growls; this isn't sufficient for identifying death metal. If a song can have death metal instrumentation and a clean vocalist, that doesn't make it some other genre of metal.

 

[Dak]

I'm not sure I can nail down one song but take a song like Laid to Rest, I mean it's ok for what it is (especially for 16 year old kids discovering metal and developing their taste) but it's about as generic as it can get. New American Gospel was raw, powerful and interesting and imho they never captured its intensity and creativity again.

NAG might be raw, but I didn't find it all that interesting. Ashes of the Wake was where they started to find their groove. As headbangingly fun as Wrath is/was, that was probably the most "generic" album musically. LoG lyrical work is underappreciated.

This song about PTSD is so good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnIFKV-rNY

 

[UltimateApathy]

This song about PTSD is so good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnIFKV-rNY

My favorite song by them Saw 'em live a few years ago:

 

[KafkaX]

Lamb of God piss me off. I can count on anytime I go to a Lake in the summer time, hearing boats blast that shit, with bros sporting their metal mulisha swag thinking they are "tough as nails d00d".

Seriously fuck that band. And fuck Randy Blythe. Fool is the next Phil Anselmo tough guy "metal veteran".

 

[Krow]

I really liked Wrath. Was surprised. The one after that, blah. Haven't listened to the others in so long i will hold my opinion.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

There are power metal bands that use harsh growls; this isn't sufficient for identifying death metal. If a song can have death metal instrumentation and a clean vocalist, that doesn't make it some other genre of metal.

I agree with every word of this post.

Also, lol @ anyone that would imply that Black Sabbath, the forefathers of the genre, aren't heavy metal.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

You're still being annoying, especially in regard to cry for pompeii. Can you imagine motley crue releasing that? clue.. it's not fucking hair metal and it's a case for my point not yours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK73xFehHQk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN84u-of_Os

The fact that cry for pompeii is better than either of these ACTUAL HAIR METAL SONGS, is a case for my point. Their hair metal wasn't that great and their more straight up traditional and epic songs are better.

That Sex Religion Machine song is actually pretty strong. A lot of playful groove in the riffing kinda Van Halen style; I thought I had heard Life in the Ruins at least once, but that one isn't familiar for some reason, so maybe I'm wrong. I'd put that about just one step below with the two I mentioned previously, even though it is a little more poppy. American Girl is wimpier and has kind of a Rush-lite feel crossed with a generic NWOBHM riff, but the sheer fact that it isn't good and could sorta be called hair metal doesn't mean that those other songs aren't hair metal.

Early Motley Crue has some pretty badass stuff btw. Live Wire is less hair-y than the Virgin Steele songs mentioned so far.

You still haven't named a specific Virgin Steele epic, btw. I haven't heard them all so there might be a good one buried somewhere, but I doubt it.

 

[The Butt]

Lamb of God piss me off. I can count on anytime I go to a Lake in the summer time, hearing boats blast that shit, with bros sporting their metal mulisha swag thinking they are "tough as nails d00d".

Seriously fuck that band. And fuck Randy Blythe. Fool is the next Phil Anselmo tough guy "metal veteran".

Because its really logical to judge a band by its fanbase.

Also say what you will about Randy but he's a great vocalist. If he were in an OSDM band and not Lamb of God you would be lapping that shit right up.

 

[Vamos]

Aside from a few bits here and there, Lykathea Aflame's Elvenefris is an incoherent mess that overstays it's welcome.

 

[The Butt]

No.

 

[Krow]

That album is horrendously overrated and way too fucking long.

 

[KafkaX]

Because its really logical to judge a band by its fanbase.

Also say what you will about Randy but he's a great vocalist. If he were in an OSDM band and not Lamb of God you would be lapping that shit right up.

I agree, but im not judging my opinion about the band based on the fanbase. Simply stating my annoyance. I state my opinion of their music on how terrible it is. Not my style at all, and I think the vocals are the weakest part of the band.

Also, I most likely would not be lapping that shit up because I listen to only a little OSDM. But anyone who gets up on stage and preaches about how long theyve been in the metal scene and how we need to "pay our respects" can go fuck themselves with a cactus. Or get thrown in prison.

Wait, that already happened.

 

[waif]

That album is absurdly difficult to get a copy of.

 

[Dak]

There were a couple of Neonazis a few rows back when I went to see LoG several years ago. If we judge music on fanbase, guess that makes LoG NSBM?

Randy is uniquely good at what he does (intelligible extreme vocals). Re Wrath@ Krow: I really rocked out to Wrath when it came out, but it got stale over time on the whole, whereas so far the other albums have grown on me. One exception for Wrath is Broken Hands.

 

[J.]

Lykathea Aflame is vastly overrated. I like it, but a classic it is most definitely not. And yes, that thing needs to be trimmed by about 30 minutes.

Another one that gets the this-rarity-is-a-classic status is the Molested album (granted, not rare anymore because of the re-issue) and the EP. Oystein definitely moved onto better things

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

There are power metal bands that use harsh growls; this isn't sufficient for identifying death metal.

Alone, no it isn't. But that's not what I said...

If a song can have death metal instrumentation and a clean vocalist, that doesn't make it some other genre of metal.

Death metal instrumentation - like tremolo riffing and blast beasts? Dragon Force has both, with clean vocals. Are they death metal? Surely not.

In fact, just do an experiment (I've done this before): Get a friend, play a traditional death metal song from a band like Cannibal Corpse, and then play something from Slayer, or Dragon Force, or Exodus. Ask them what the biggest difference is between the songs. They're almost always going to say the vocals. Again, I'm not saying this is the only difference, and many listeners will potentially cite more differences. To the trained ear, of course, surely there are many, many smaller nuances and deviations between and characteristics of death metal and other metal genres. But generally speaking, the vocals stand out the most as the most distinguishable aspect of death metal. The vocal style makes the most immediate impact, you could say. Controversial of course, but I stand by this.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

NAG might be raw, but I didn't find it all that interesting. Ashes of the Wake was where they started to find their groove. As headbangingly fun as Wrath is/was, that was probably the most "generic" album musically. LoG lyrical work is underappreciated.

This song about PTSD is so good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnIFKV-rNY

Ugh, it's just so... plastic, it just feels like a stereotype of "metal." There's nothing unique as far as song topics or lyrics, "being alone "being singled out" and that's not necessarily bad but there's no perspective here and it comes off cringingly cliche.
Hey man if you love just pure riffs and aggression (that sounds hollow btw just all distortion no rumble, no guts, Electric Wizard could learn them a thing or two), a pure 14 track headbanger that's cool, I get it, but I'd suggest listening to something that actually changes throughout the album, doesn't get old and provides some innovation like Meshuggahs Chaosphere.

 

[Dak]

There's nothing unique as far as song topics or lyrics

Yes, because so many metal songs deal with war induced PTSD, and this poetically.

Hey man if you love just pure riffs and aggression ..... I'd suggest listening to something that actually changes throughout the album, doesn't get old and provides some innovation like Meshuggahs Chaosphere.

lolwut? Meshuggah? You can listen to Combustion and never need to listen to another Meshuggah song again. Uber repetitive band.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Nah, they tend to at least write a couple new songs for each album, and then rewrite those as well as previous songs to fill it out. The newest had only one new song, The Demon's Name is Surveillance, but unfortunately it's also the worst on the album.

That's all ignoring Contradictions Collapse, of course, which is a great tech-thrash album.