Controversial opinions on metal

[Thoth-Amon]

I'm hearing tons of awesome melodies, but they'd be more effective if they were more audible.

Yes. The guitar tone and the production on the second, thrid and fourth Graveland albums sucks. There is also some very sloppy playing on these discs. They are still worth getting though especially Immortal Pride which is AWESOME!
As far as other albums I think you'd love Carpathian Wolves which while the production is raw it fits the music perfectly. Excellent black metal. I actually haven't heard the last few Graveland albums but plan on buying them ASAP. Creed of Iron and Memory and Destiny have much better guitar tone and production than the earlier albums and they are both excellent. The Impaler's Wolves EP is also excellent.

 

[General Zaroff]

I don't get what is so special about Graveland.

 

[Lord Kur]

awww, too bad

 

[whiskey funeral]

Yes. The guitar tone and the production on the second, thrid and fourth Graveland albums sucks. There is also some very sloppy playing on these discs. They are still worth getting though especially Immortal Pride which is AWESOME!
As far as other albums I think you'd love Carpathian Wolves which while the production is raw it fits the music perfectly. Excellent black metal. I actually haven't heard the last few Graveland albums but plan on buying them ASAP. Creed of Iron and Memory and Destiny have much better guitar tone and production than the earlier albums and they are both excellent. The Impaler's Wolves EP is also excellent.

I have to agree. Carpathian Wolves is a great album.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I don't get what is so special about Graveland.

Then you are not amongst the enlightened few! Begone foul Philistine!!! I cast thee out!

 

[General Zaroff]

Enlighten me.

 

[King Richard]

nein!

 

[Black Friday]

Enlighten me.

You have to enlighten yourself. Good luck with that.

 

[cannibal corpse]

I don't like Opeth.

 

[General Zaroff]

You have to enlighten yourself. Good luck with that.

 

[Slayed Necros]

I'm hearing tons of awesome melodies, but they'd be more effective if they were more audible. So what's his best album that has better production?

The demo era and the debut (In the Glare of Burning Churches, The Celtic Winter and Carpathian Wolves) all have a fairly standard raw approach, not dissimilar from the Norwegian classics. I doubt you'd have any problems with the production here.

The following three albums are each Darken's most unique, stylistically and production-wise - there's really nothing out there that sounds much at all like them. Avoid Following the Voice of Blood for now, it's his least accessible and the production is certainly an acquired taste. I love it.

The 2000 onward era quite easily has the slickest, most polished production, but the style has also drastically changed. It's essentially Hammerheart worship, and it rules.

Get these for a decent overview:

The Celtic Winter and/or Carpathian Wolves
Immortal Pride
Creed of Iron and/or Dawn of Iron Blades

 

[Thoth-Amon]

The demo era and the debut (In the Glare of Burning Churches, The Celtic Winter and Carpathian Wolves) all have a fairly standard raw approach, not dissimilar from the Norwegian classics. I doubt you'd have any problems with the production here.

The following three albums are each Darken's most unique, stylistically and production-wise - there's really nothing out there that sounds much at all like them. Avoid Following the Voice of Blood for now, it's his least accessible and the production is certainly an acquired taste. I love it.

The 2000 onward era quite easily has the slickest, most polished production, but the style has also drastically changed. It's essentially Hammerheart worship, and it rules.

Get these for a decent overview:

The Celtic Winter and/or Carpathian Wolves
Immortal Pride
Creed of Iron and/or Dawn of Iron Blades

agreed.

 

[Mort Divine]

Progressive has the most variety & is usually the most interesting. I listen to a lot of instrumental progressive metal bands too.

You might find it most interesting but to say it is the most varied is complete bullshit.

For every Pain of Salvation, Koyaanisqatsy, and Mechanical Poet there are 5000 Dream Theater clones.

 

[waif]

Thrash is the best metal genre, tbh.

Imo...
Death metal (of all forms; melodic death, slam death, brutal death, blackened death, deathrash, etc)
Power Metal (including thrashy power metal and melodic speed-metal type stuff)
Black Metal
Thrash Metal
but then, I really don't know shit about doom metal.

You might find it most interesting but to say it is the most varied is complete bullshit.

For every Pain of Salvation, Koyaanisqatsy, and Mechanical Poet there are 5000 Dream Theater clones.

and symphony x clones, don't leave them out.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

For every Pain of Salvation, Koyaanisqatsy, and Mechanical Poet there are 5000 Dream Theater clones.

That would apply to all genres, not just prog. If you replace Dream Theater with the biggest band of that genre.

In my possibly controversial opinion, progressive should be regarded as an element of music rather than a genre.

Thrash is possibly my least favourite metal subgenre, although Voivod is one of my all-time favourite bands. Black is on top, but the best bands are those who defy genre classification.

 

[King Richard]

That's probably the best post you've ever made cherko.

 

[Einherjar86]

In my possibly controversial opinion, progressive should be regarded as an element of music rather than a genre.

I actually think that's a legitimate opinion, and really interesting. When you think about it, most prog metal bands utilize elements of more prominent genres.

 

[Life Sucks]

T

In my possibly controversial opinion, progressive should be regarded as an element of music rather than a genre.

Not controversial at all IMO. I myself have said many times before that "progressive" is merely an attribute of a band's music rather than a distinct genre in itself. Dream Theater and Opeth are both considered "prog," yet both bands are obviously not the same subgenre of metal. Dream Theater would be progressive heavy metal/hard rock, and Opeth would be progressive extreme metal/melodeath. And there are "prog" bands out there that sound even less similar than those two.

 

[waif]

I actually think that's a legitimate opinion, and really interesting. When you think about it, most prog metal bands utilize elements of more prominent genres.

while the bands that are just prog (Dream Theater spring to mind) are generally fucking tedious.

My friend and I had this argument, only it turned out awkwardly because we were arguing different things. He was arguing that "progressive" should be applied to bands in other genres and I was arguing that there was a genre called prog metal. We also argued over what "progressive" meant; he considers anything new or creative to be progressive; a band could have a song in thirty different time signatures and an eight minute guitar-and-cowbell duel and it wouldn't be progressive if it had done before. I argued that progressive is a genre name like death metal; just as not all DM is about death, not all prog metal makes progress. This went on for a while.

My general (and no doubt very controversial) opinion is that "progressive" should be used as a warning label like the PMRC stickers. "Warning: This album rated EP (Extremely Progressive) for extreme wanker and dicking around for 45 minutes."

 

[MasterOLightning]

I haven't heard all of Graveland's albums, but I feel like you could probably cut it to Thousand Swords, Immortal Pride, and Dawn of Iron Blades and not be missing too much.