Controversial opinions on metal

[UltimateApathy]

Holy shit that's actually him doing that stupid shit! You can see all the Limbonic Art videos that he liked on the account's page.

Ah yes, good to see you've become acquainted with my very affable and charming alter ego. Unfortunately, though, I heard he killed himself soon after that video was filmed... Meanwhile I'm still waiting for the names of these neoclassical bands that some dimwits were saying sucked...

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Hansi is one of the best power metal vocalists around.

 

[Onder]

I think Caladan Brood sucks. There you have it.

No really, I'm finally giving it a proper spin and "no sir, I don't like it". It's kinda lame and nerdy, which I expected, but... in a silly way.

 

[SentinelSlain]

Cauldron Born have really really shitty drum sounds on their albums.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Hansi is one of the best power metal vocalists around.

well duh...

 

[waif]

I think Caladan Brood sucks. There you have it.

No really, I'm finally giving it a proper spin and "no sir, I don't like it". It's kinda lame and nerdy, which I expected, but... in a silly way.

I think they have some potential. Echoes of Battle is pretty mediocre, it's not terribly dark or catchy, the autotuned vocals are whack, the heavy parts just sound bad, etc, but there's definitely potential there. If they can figure out what works and what doesn't and reconfigure their sound, they might be able to carve out their own little niche.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

I actually agree that they're pretty terrible. An obvious Summoning rip off but with none of the majesty, hypnosis and charm. Then again, maybe I should give them credit for trying to emulate the greatness of Summoning. A lofty ambition in itself.

Controversial but true (?): I've posted this elsewhere, but 2014 has got to be the best year for heavy metal in the past 30 years. The number of awesome bands that have released quality albums already is unreal. And there's more to come. The best, possibly, with Nokturnal Mortum, Threshold, At the Gates etc. If anyone can think of a better year please post.

 

[Onder]

I actually agree that they're pretty terrible. An obvious Summoning rip off but with none of the majesty, hypnosis and charm. Then again, maybe I should give them credit for trying to emulate the greatness of Summoning. A lofty ambition in itself.

Yeah Summoning still sounds epic on, say, Stronghold. It's like Caladan Brood takes the wrong things out of the sound they're trying to emulate.

 

[ProphetofHatred]

I actually agree that they're pretty terrible. An obvious Summoning rip off but with none of the majesty, hypnosis and charm. Then again, maybe I should give them credit for trying to emulate the greatness of Summoning. A lofty ambition in itself.

Controversial but true (?): I've posted this elsewhere, but 2014 has got to be the best year for heavy metal in the past 30 years. The number of awesome bands that have released quality albums already is unreal. And there's more to come. The best, possibly, with Nokturnal Mortum, Threshold, At the Gates etc. If anyone can think of a better year please post.

1985. 1986. 1987. 1988. 1989. 1990. 1991. 1992. 1993. 1994.

 

[divine_torture]

2004. 2005. 2006. 2007. 2008. 2009.

 

[Onder]

1993 is my favorite year of metals. A lot of classic death metal shit got released.

 

[-CC-]

^

1993 must be the best, although all of 91-93 was up to par.

 

[ProphetofHatred]

1993 is my favorite year of metals. A lot of classic death metal shit got released.

Basically.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

This year has been pretty fucking weak IMO, last few years have been much better. I wouldn't even try and compare it with the 80's or early to mid 90's.

 

[The Ozzman]

I would say 1991-1994

 

[tagradh]

I think the last great year was 2010, but I'm too lazy to check.

I know there was Deathspell Omega, Urfaust, Ares Kingdom, Dolorvotre, a bunch of Dodsengel, Enslaved, Glossolalia, Hetroertzen, Grave Miasma, Imperium Dekadenz, Killing Joke (it's one of their most metallic releases, anyway), Mar De Grises, Bastard Priest, Forteresse, Near, Winterfylleth and a whole bunch of other stuff.

 

[no country for old wainds]

everything from '83 to '85 and '91 to '94 was pretty remarkable, but i think 1984 was probably the greatest ever for me:
jag panzer - ample destruction
cirith ungol - king of the dead
sodom - in the sign of evil EP
saint vitus - saint vitus
destruction - sentence of death EP
celtic frost - morbid tales EP
trouble - psalm 9
mercyful fate - don't break the oath
metallica - ride the lightning
omen - battle cry
warlord - and the cannons...
manowar - hail to england
manowar - sign of the hammer
wasp - s/t
running wild - gates of purgatory
judas priest - defenders of the faith
exciter - violence and force
ostrogoth - ecstasy and danger
stormwitch - walpurgis night
cloven hoof - s/t
venom - at war with satan
voivod - war and pain
helstar - burning star
fates warning - night on brocken
gotham city - the unknown
bathory - s/t
iron maiden - powerslave
metal church - metal church
queensryche - the warning
sortilege - metamorphose
medieval steel - s/t
future tense - condemned to the gallow EP
evil - evil's message EP
slayer - haunting the chapel EP
hellhammer - apocalyptic raids EP
paul chain - detaching from satan EP
overkill - s/t EP
etcetcetc

'85, '92 and '93 are probably the next best, not necessarily in that order.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

84-94 imo. Before that there were too many bands still just finding their footing, go later and it all turns into a blackened symphonic avant-garde folk metalcore shitfest.

 

[divine_torture]

84-94 imo. Before that there were too many bands still just finding their footing, go later and it all turns into a blackened symphonic avant-garde folk metalcore shitfest.

That sounds ridiculous, but it's actually kind of true.

All of the classics and originators were in that early-mid 80s and early-mid 90s, but the last 10 years (maybe minus this year and last) has produced a lot of fairly innovative shit and very progressive, fantastic building on the originators format from those times. And some of those older bands released some of the best albums they've ever done since 20-30 years ago. Maybe it's just me, but outside of the last year or 2, there has been some amazing metal albums and some are due to be classics 10-20 years from now. Being a metal head has been exciting for a long while...

 

[no country for old wainds]

it's possible that there's just as much great stuff as there ever was, but the problem is there's way way way way WAY more shite to sift through to get to it.

but i think even that is only half the story. being a metalhead has never stopped being exciting for me - i don't really care if metal is dying or not, i still dig stuff that apes the old guard anyway. but i do think, looking at it objectively, there were a convergence of conditions that created those incredible formative movements in metal; there was a spirit running through it all, a sense of wonder about the possibilities of a young medium to express new and subversive worldviews that the mainstream world couldn't possibly understand, let alone assimilate. the greatest metal movements were like a shadow-world of traded cassettes and word-of-mouth rumours and dog-eared vinyls and obscure interests and outcast mentalities back then, but the internet age has burst those kinds of insular little bubbles, metal and its many styles have all become blueprinted and categorised, available for people to dip into as much as they like. it's incredibly difficult for metal to be as meaningful a mode of expression as it was in the 'analog age', it inevitably no longer has that same mystery or subversive purpose.

this is particularly the case when it comes to the BM movement of the early-mid '90s, which i consider to be the most miraculous and inexplicable of all metal's movements, with bands and albums channeling a kind of otherworldly spirit far beyond anything they could've created by themselves.... there's just no chance of something like that ever happening again in metal, and potentially not in any of the arts (although that's probably a whole other discussion).