Controversial opinions on metal

[waif]

Burning Bridges by Arch Enemy is a must have for fans of stuff like The Jester Race. A little too much lead guitar stuff and the vocals aren't the best (but then, Arch Enemy have always had mediocre vocals), but there's some really strong writing on there. Pretty much every song has at least one or two memorable bits.

 

[UltimateApathy]

I dont get the Soilwork hate. Their whole discography is solid imo, and are still producing great albums. There hasnt been one album of theirs I havent liked.

This song is awesome:

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Yea the first 4 Arch Enemy albums are fucking awesome but everything after Wages of Sin is pretty crappy. Though the 2007 or 2009 album, I forgot the name now, is tight. Soilwork's first two are ok but nothing even close to early In Flames. And yes mid/later (or how about all) Hypocrisy is great. Virus is essential for all metal fans. Dimension Zero's debut Silent Night Fever is also first rate. There's lots of great melodeath/ melodic death/thrash that's been mentioned here. Another great but overlooked band is Skyfire. They use tons of keyboards but don't let that deter you. These guys write some of the strongest, most powerful melodies and riffs I've ever heard. Check out their album Spectral. Oh and Raunchy is indeed awesome. Horrible band name but yes, great stuff.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I never considered the Chasm having any general relation to bands like Arghoslent, early Amon Amarth, Underthreat, etc.

i never considered arghoslent to have much in common with early amon amarth, but there you go! the chasm are obviously a DM band with a lot more melody than the norm, which is all i'm talking about really... some other stuff i'll be throwing on there is early ATG, early amorphis, some cenotaph, embracing, decameron, necrophobic.

obviously the cut-off point is somewhat arbitrary, but i'm aiming to avoid the shiny bouncy processed stuff that generally passes for 'melodic death' nowadays despite having very little to do with death metal anymore. not that i dislike *all* of that stuff, but it's annoying trawling through masses of it when it's not what you're looking for.

 

[waif]

Embracing seems like an odd choice. I Bear the Burden of Time is okay, but nothing special, and Dreams Left Behind is straight up awful.

Would you consider Dismember melodic death? I feel like they're kind of on the line.

Another suggestion: Apophis - Heliopolis

 

[no country for old wainds]

yeah i'm not that fond of 'i bear the burden...' either, but it's eligible i reckon and some DM folks rate it pretty high. i'm trying not to reject stuff just 'cause *i* don't like it if it has a decent rep with others. i have 'heliopolis' on there too. dismember.... hadn't actually considered them but yeah, maybe! kinda varies from song to song dunnit.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Yea, early Swedish death metal is pretty heavy on the melodies.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Let's not forget Unquestionable Presence.

 

[MoSeN]

Neo-classical (/Neo-classical Power) Metal: a wasted shitload of technicality just to end up sounding as gay and boring as possible.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

No

 

[waif]

I'd agree, pretty much all the overtly neoclassical stuff I've heard has just been really uninteresting. Metal is more than just cranking up the gain on your amp, it needs some feeling and groove and most neo-classical stuff I've heard lacks that. If I wanted to hear Mozart/Bach/Vivaldi I'd listen to Mozart/Bach/Vivaldi. Stop doing scale runs and try playing a heavy fucking riff.

 

[UltimateApathy]

Which bands in particular?

 

[no country for old wainds]

if dark moor didn't exist i would agree with this. god dark moor gives me a boner

 

[Baroque]

Neo classical metal is needed to convert college graduate music students (good musicians) back to metal.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I'd agree, pretty much all the overtly neoclassical stuff I've heard has just been really uninteresting. Metal is more than just cranking up the gain on your amp, it needs some feeling and groove and most neo-classical stuff I've heard lacks that. If I wanted to hear Mozart/Bach/Vivaldi I'd listen to Mozart/Bach/Vivaldi. Stop doing scale runs and try playing a heavy fucking riff.

True enough, but most non-traditional doom and black metal display a worrisome lack of groove as well.

 

[UltimateApathy]

Don't diss a genre if you can't name specific examples of bands or songs you don't like, kids.

 

[KafkaX]

 

[Mort Divine]

True enough, but most non-traditional doom and black metal display a worrisome lack of groove as well.

Stoner doom is next to nothing but groove.

Black metal is going for a different thing altogether so it doesn't really apply unless you're talking about first wave stuff.

 

[The Butt]

True enough, but most non-traditional doom and black metal display a worrisome lack of groove as well.

Not all of metal is about groove, nerd.

 

[waif]

Don't diss a genre if you can't name specific examples of bands or songs you don't like, kids.

Everything you like is garbage, so just pick your favorite power metal band and that's my example.