Controversial opinions on metal

[Jreg]

I think what saves RiB from mediocrity is its very short length and great punch.It's over before you're completely annoyed with it. I'm not sure I could've taken 10 more minutes of Slayer in RiB mode. Not such a bad album, but far from a masterpiece too.

That's definitely one of its greatest strengths. It's hard for me to participate in a serious critique of this record since it was essentially my first exposure to thrash and extreme metal in genre, but I do know that its brevity and relentlessness left a lasting impression on me the first time I gave it a spin.

I don't necessarily mind a record lacking in dynamics, but most artists who do this have a problem trimming the fat to strengthen the impact, and this is one of the few records that doesn't succumb to that. That's why I think EPs often work well in this type of music. When an album does that, it usually works much better as something best listened to as a whole from start to finish, and even if RiB has its standout moments, it's one of those albums that I'd always prefer to hear from start to finish. I think there areindividual songs from their other recordings that are just as good as those on RiB, but I'm not entirely sure that I think any of them work as well in the context of their entire respective albums. Hell Awaits may be one though. I've always really enjoyed the flow on it, though not for the same reasons as Reign.

 

[cannibal corpse]

Raining Blood is better, but Angel of Death is fucking good, though, 2nd best on that album in my opinion.

 

[CF87]

Reign In Blood is my least fav 80's slayer, but it's still awesome and intence as shit. I'm thinking south of Heaven might be my favorite Slayer followed by Show No Mercy.

 

[Woolie Wool]

x2

This particular line is awesome-

"Firstly, it's a thrash metal album, and referring to it as a 'suite' is seventeen shades of the gayest gay and should be ceased henceforth."

I was addressing someone else who defended it by calling it a suite.

 

[SentinelSlain]

underdeveloped = raw? maybe you dislike aspects of it that everyone else enjoys.

 

[Woolie Wool]

"Raw" is generally a sonic quality, like Metal Church's debut or a decent black metal album. "Underdeveloped" is structural.

 

[XSASweet]

I still think show no mercy slays RiB, but it's still decent.

 

[The Ozzman]

yes but your love of Load and Nickelback is a clear indication of insanity... thus i'm not surprised that you don't like HA.

I don't love Nickelback. I enjoy the second album they did, though I don't listen to it much. Everything else the band did is utter shit

As for Load, it's the first Metallica album I bought, so it's special to me

 

[Manic Ferocity]

Nothing Slayer has ever released (before and after) holds a fucking candle to Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits.

 

[waif]

As for punk, I don't like punk at all.

Well I don't like you at all.

As for UltraBoris, I do not agree with him all the time or even 70% of the time, but he certainly has far more diverse musical tastes than you give him credit for, including Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, W.A.S.P., and even Helloween. Hell, he didn't even seem to regard Badmotorfinger with more than mild distaste.

I like all those bands. Am I cool now?

What a load of pseudo-intellectual claptrap. Firstly, it's a thrash metal album, and referring to it as a "suite" is seventeen shades of the gayest gay and should be ceased henceforth. Secondly, the beauty and appeal of Reign In Blood is that it is a short, sharp blast of pure aggression. It has much in common with a lot of punk and hardcore albums in this regard. The songs have barely any gaps between them and are arranged so that the listener will be slapped around the chops furiously for under half an hour with barely any let up. If you are wanting it to 'take you somewhere' on a musically varied journey then you're most definitely barking up the wrong tree. If you don't like the way it sounds today or find it "severely underdeveloped", then you are probably attempting to read far too much into it. And if you really think that death metal vocals would work better on it, you basically shouldn't bother listening to it again, because you have entirely missed the point of the album in every aspect.

/argument.
I'm quoting this because it clearly needs to appear again. If this post had a penis I would be gay for it.

 

[SentinelSlain]

If you want diverse I bet there aren't many people with Burzum on their Zune AND Touch me by Samantha Fox (hilarious 80s pop song with lyrics such as 'like a tramp I was begging for you').

 

[Thoth-Amon]

What a load of pseudo-intellectual claptrap. Firstly, it's a thrash metal album, and referring to it as a "suite" is seventeen shades of the gayest gay and should be ceased henceforth. Secondly, the beauty and appeal of Reign In Blood is that it is a short, sharp blast of pure aggression. It has much in common with a lot of punk and hardcore albums in this regard. The songs have barely any gaps between them and are arranged so that the listener will be slapped around the chops furiously for under half an hour with barely any let up. If you are wanting it to 'take you somewhere' on a musically varied journey then you're most definitely barking up the wrong tree. If you don't like the way it sounds today or find it "severely underdeveloped", then you are probably attempting to read far too much into it. And if you really think that death metal vocals would work better on it, you basically shouldn't bother listening to it again, because you have entirely missed the point of the album in every aspect.

I told him to look at it 'as if it were a suite' not that it actually is of course. I was hoping he would re-approach the album with a different point of view so that he would stop complaining about lack of dynamics, etc. My point was that like a suite there is an overrall homogenous sound/theme to it with shorter movements and a couple of longer ones. And that by complaining about lack of diversity he was missing the point.
Your analysis is right on though. Earlier I had drawn a comparison between RIB and Punk as well. Namely that his complaints against the album were as misplaced as against a punk album. They were completely missing the point.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I don't love Nickelback. I enjoy the second album they did

I'm just giving you shit man.

 

[ivry91]

I'm just giving you shit man.

He likes Nickelback like you absolutely love Bon Jovi

 

[Thoth-Amon]

He likes Nickelback like you absolutely love Bon Jovi

I did love Bon Jovi back in the day when Slippery When Wet came out on tape... yeah man I remember rocking out to that shit in my room. I think I still have the tape somewhere.

 

[ivry91]

I was talking about 2008 Bon Jovi but i agree

 

[Woolie Wool]

He likes Nickelback like you absolutely love Bon Jovi

*multitracks self*

WHOA-OA-OA IT'S LIKE BAAAAAD MUSIC, BAD MUSIC IS WHAT I NEED!

Oh, no, now I've got that chorus stuck in my head and it's going to take forever to get it out.

 

[rms]

Nothing Slayer has ever released (before and after) holds a fucking candle to Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits.

go die

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

It's probably been discussed to death before, but as much as I like Mercyful Fate... that's not black metal. I mean, come on. Anything that can be considered "a staple of both the black metal and power metal genres" probably isn't black metal. If Dimmu is too catchy and deathly to be black metal then I can't comprehend an argument for Mercyful Fate qualifying. Being an essential influence doesn't change the fact that the music does not sound like black metal. Beethoven isn't prog-rock regardless of his influence on it.

 

[S<issors]

Their sound isn't black metal by modern standards of the genre, but their influence on the genre is pretty obvious. BM fans argue that "black metal" is more an ideological descriptor than one related purely to the music itself.

But yeah, I don't think anyone would argue that they sound at all like what we consider black metal these days. You just have to keep in mind that the term "black metal" used to have a different meaning.