Most Hit or Miss Bands?

[Draehl]

Which bands do you feel vary the most in overall quality of their music from song to song? Naturally a lot of bands fade as time goes on (see Metallica) but some put out a great album, then a stinker, then another great album. Or half an album is absolutely amazing, and the other half is complete trash.

Best example I can think of is Dream Theater. They have some absolutely epic tracks, but 2/3 of their songs are complete drivel.

 

[AchrisK]

I agree about Dream Theater. I cannot listen to their albums.

For me, if a band is too inconsistent on a given album, I don't keep the album. So, most of what I own, I feel is pretty consistent (other than those things I have not yet really evaluated).

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Best example I can think of is Dream Theater. They have some absolutely epic tracks, but 2/3 of their songs are complete drivel.

Only 2/3? I think you're being generous.

A lot of power metal bands seem to be very hit-and-miss. Quite often they're so utterly pretentious that the majority of their material is painfully obnoxious to sit through, but every now and then when they get the songwriting right it just turns out epic. Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica come to mind in particular.

Therion's also pretty hit-and-miss, probably for the pretentiousness reason as well.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I agree on basically the entire modern euro-power metal genre, Grant. This year has had a bunch of good stuff though, imo...lots of consistently good albums. Usually, though, there are some totally terrible "epic" songs on euro-PM albums that make me wanna die, stupid filler, bad vocalists, terrible ballads, etc.

 

[Eligos]

Darkthrone

 

[The Ozzman]

Darkthrone

I have been thinking of a band to post in this thread all evening and this is a perfect example.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

It could be argued Sabbath is hit or miss too.

 

[Eligos]

I tried explaining this to a moron once, and here's my reason: Darkthrone will take one idea and make an entire song out of it. If it's a good idea, the song benefits. If it's a shitty idea, you just wasted 4-7 minutes of your life.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

In before black metal elitists diss us all and proclaim Darkthrone's entire discography minus the punk-influenced stuff as perfect.

 

[The Ozzman]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Iron Maiden

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

A lot of bands with big discographies are like this...

Can anyone think of ALBUMS on which the track order is total hit or miss?

 

[Eligos]

I agree on Iron Maiden.

 

[The Ozzman]

A lot of bands with big discographies are like this...

Can anyone think of ALBUMS on which the track order is total hit or miss?

Iron Maiden:

Killers
The Number of the Beast
Piece of Mind (last 4 tracks mainly miss)

Judas Priest:

Sin After Sin
Painkiller
Point of Entry

 

[zabu of nΩd]

It could be argued Sabbath is hit or miss too.

Mmm...no. Sabbath had a long, fruitful career full of fantastic albums before they got spotty. And as the OP said, that's not really in the spirit of the thread.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Iron Maiden

Not the greatest example, but then again they've never really made a perfect album and nearly all of them do contain at least a stinker or two.

 

[The Ozzman]

Not the greatest example, but then again they've never really made a perfect album

YGOS?

 

[zabu of nΩd]

^ I guess it's a consistent album, but I certainly wouldn't call it perfect.

Judas Priest:

Sin After Sin
Painkiller
Point of Entry

Sin After Sin isn't hit-or-miss you dipwad.

And again, Priest were golden for a long time before getting spotty, so they don't apply here either.

 

[The Ozzman]

Sin After Sin isn't hit-or-miss you dipwad.

It isn't until track 4, you mean

 

[zabu of nΩd]

"Last Rose of Summer" is not a "miss" - it's just an average attempt at soft rock that happens to go against the grain of the rest of the album.

 

[Eligos]

Most people would call that a miss.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Most people are fucking idiots, though.