Non-gay bro thread a.k.a. Random offtopic stuff.

[DE4life]

Honestly, if the vocals weren’t shit, I’d probably move TPB up two or three slots. It’s definitely not as solid of a groove metal album as Stabbing the Drama, but it tries bringing back melodic leads and whatnot. There are some surprisingly cool sections in it, and it is overall good imo. Definitely not great, I even remember more of NBC more vividly, and I haven’t even listened to much of that album… But it is good imo.

I'd agree that instrumentally it was a step up from Sworn, without a doubt. Wichers did try to bring back the melodic leads that had gone missing, which was welcome. The vocals are definitely Speed's lowpoint though, and as noted previously, the production didn't do anything for me. In some ways similar to ASOP, although lyrically TPB was above what Anders wrote on ASOP.

I think if In Flames put out an actually good album instead of Battles in 2016, it would’ve been a great year for melodeath. Even though I haven’t gotten super into AtG, their album that year was actually really good, and Atoma showed a more revitalized DT too. AtG faded pretty fast, sure, but then coming back in 2014 definitely had to soften the blow of how bad things got by that point.

I haven’t listened to much of War Eternal, but I did like what I’ve heard of it. I don’t really care for much of Arch Enemy after that, but Alissa was absolutely the right person to take Angela’s spit as vocalist. I wish they’d use her clean vocals more, but I can’t expect AE to make the right decisions.

IF were just incapable at that time. I think Jesper's departure left a gaping hole in terms of MDM, and Bjorn didn't seem to have much in him around that timeframe. He should have leaned on Engelin more, and it's a shame he didn't.

I didn't mind War Eternal but it isn't one I go back to nowadays. For whatever reason Will to Power really clicked with me, even though it didn't for a lot of others. Granted most of what I like is in the first half of the album, and the second half isn't as good, but what I like I really like. The first four songs on the album (excluding the intro) are all fantastic MDM to my ears. Maybe a little too sickly sweet for some others at points. I agree on Alissa's cleans, it's unfortunate they don't use those more as she has a nice clean vocal style. I guess it's something both she and the band aren't particularly interested in exploring though.

It would have been ideal if something like Foregone, or some 2016 equivalent of it, would have come out after Siren Charms. Not to say Foregone is the answer to everyone's problems, but an aggressive album like that would have pleased fans who liked SOAPF but not SC, satisfied those of us who liked SC, and would have avoided the commercialized Californian arc entirely. It would have been a repeat of the R2R (newish sound) --> STYE (experimentation) --> CC (back on track) situation.

I can't really imagine a Foregone style album from 2016 IF. Their idea of heavy at the time was stuff like Everything's Gone and When The World Explodes, neither of which I like. If we assume they still went with Benson and then try to do a Foregone type of album, I think it ends up as a mess. The band and the producer didn't know each other very well, and it's not exactly Benson's forté. If Engelin had been allowed more involvement in songwriting then maybe it could have evolved into something interesting, but if it's primarily Bjorn I just don't think he had enough in the tank at that point to give us anything memorable. With that said, it's hard to imagine it would have been worse than Battles.

Their best period. While TCM is great, my favorite will always be APP, "Needlefeast" being my favorite song of theirs. Probably because I was discovering this whole genre at the time it came out. APP, together with Children of Bodom's Hatebreeder (and to a certain extent Norther's Dreams of Endless War) were my gateway drugs into the magic world of melodeath. Yeah, you could argue as to the genre classification of CoB and Norther, but to me it doesn't really matter. Melodic metal with harsh vocals?

NBC has the second best Soilwork song: "As We Speak". Fantastic verses, fantastic chorus and chilling lyrics. I think that's their last truly great album for me. FNF, STD and STAGD are ok, but it was obvious at this point they wanted to pursue a differenth path. Things started picking up for them with TRM again as far as I'm concerned, and although they're a different band today, they're still remain intriguing and relevant. Together with In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates one of the Big Four of MDM, no doubt.

I came into MDM around the same time, but as I hadn't come from a metal background in any way it was tough for me to get into the thrashier stuff in the beginning. Albums like Clayman, Reroute and Natural Born Chaos were easier for me to digest at that time. Once I got used to the vocals then I could go back and appreciate the older stuff, but it took some time. I can remember even with Damage Done I struggled at first with the vocals. The music I really loved, but I'd never heard anything close to the extreme metal vocal style before. DD as an album had no cleans, either, whereas NBC and Reroute had a lot more cleans and catchier vocal melodies.

I never really got into Norther much, but Bodom from Hatebreeder through to Hate Crew Deathroll were fantastic. Needled 24/7 was the first Bodom song I heard and the melodic guitar & keyboards combined with the absolutely chaotic energy blew my young mind back then.

 

[The Grayfox]

I came into MDM around the same time, but as I hadn't come from a metal background in any way it was tough for me to get into the thrashier stuff in the beginning. Albums like Clayman, Reroute and Natural Born Chaos were easier for me to digest at that time. Once I got used to the vocals then I could go back and appreciate the older stuff, but it took some time. I can remember even with Damage Done I struggled at first with the vocals. The music I really loved, but I'd never heard anything close to the extreme metal vocal style before. DD as an album had no cleans, either, whereas NBC and Reroute had a lot more cleans and catchier vocal melodies.

It's interesting, I've never really thought about it from that perspective because I've loved metal since I was 8 years old and heard Metallica for the first time. I sort of grew up with it and got accustomed to the different sub-genres and vocal styles as I got older. For me, listening to Metallica and then Maiden/Priest and discovering heavier stuff like Slayer and Pantera to eventually finding more extreme metal with harsh vocals at 12, 13 years old, it's hard to remember a time that I wasn't just used to vocals that aren't "traditional." I can definitely imagine what it would be like hearing Mikael's vocals and just being like "what the fuck is this?" It's probably a shock to the ears, much akin to an older person hearing it and sort of thinking "this isn't music." It's easy to see why those might be a person's first thoughts regarding heavier music. I guess when you're 8 years old and you're impressionable, you don't really think of the intricacies of things like that.

For me, it was a matter of right place, right time. I can't remember what I ate last week, but I can remember being 8 years old, sitting in front of a TV at 6am on a Saturday morning and watching music videos from the likes of Michael Jackson and Bryan Adams and then Metallica comes on and my brain sort of saying "ok, this is different. You like the way this feels."

 

[Cronopio]

I came into MDM around the same time, but as I hadn't come from a metal background in any way it was tough for me to get into the thrashier stuff in the beginning. Albums like Clayman, Reroute and Natural Born Chaos were easier for me to digest at that time. Once I got used to the vocals then I could go back and appreciate the older stuff, but it took some time. I can remember even with Damage Done I struggled at first with the vocals. The music I really loved, but I'd never heard anything close to the extreme metal vocal style before. DD as an album had no cleans, either, whereas NBC and Reroute had a lot more cleans and catchier vocal melodies.

I never really got into Norther much, but Bodom from Hatebreeder through to Hate Crew Deathroll were fantastic. Needled 24/7 was the first Bodom song I heard and the melodic guitar & keyboards combined with the absolutely chaotic energy blew my young mind back then.

Fair enough. I can see why those albums would be an easier introduction to the genre. If I had started listening to Soilwork two years later, I may have started with NBC as well. But APP and DT's DD were the jams back then, so I guess I got used to the harsh vocal style faster. I also got into the ultra melodic Finnish power metal at the time, so maybe there's an overlap. I mean, consider, say, Sonata Arctica's Silence put next to CoB's Hatebreeder. You've got the melodies, the keyboards, the speed, it's pretty much the same. Only the vocals differ. I guess it all just gelled for me instrumentally, and the vocals came later..

 

[DE4life]

It's interesting, I've never really thought about it from that perspective because I've loved metal since I was 8 years old and heard Metallica for the first time. I sort of grew up with it and got accustomed to the different sub-genres and vocal styles as I got older. For me, listening to Metallica and then Maiden/Priest and discovering heavier stuff like Slayer and Pantera to eventually finding more extreme metal with harsh vocals at 12, 13 years old, it's hard to remember a time that I wasn't just used to vocals that aren't "traditional." I can definitely imagine what it would be like hearing Mikael's vocals and just being like "what the fuck is this?" It's probably a shock to the ears, much akin to an older person hearing it and sort of thinking "this isn't music." It's easy to see why those might be a person's first thoughts regarding heavier music. I guess when you're 8 years old and you're impressionable, you don't really think of the intricacies of things like that.

For me, it was a matter of right place, right time. I can't remember what I ate last week, but I can remember being 8 years old, sitting in front of a TV at 6am on a Saturday morning and watching music videos from the likes of Michael Jackson and Bryan Adams and then Metallica comes on and my brain sort of saying "ok, this is different. You like the way this feels."

Before I discovered IF I wasn't really into music at all. I mean, I liked some pop, 80s, rock, mainstream stuff - but not in the way of being a fan. I just thought the song was alright when it'd come on radio or wherever. I was either 13 or 14 when I first heard In Flames, thanks to some girl sending me a bunch of their songs over AIM. I couldn't deal with Moonshield or Jotun (probably because of the vocal style) but OFTW hooked me in. I can remember over time downloading IF songs pretty much totally at random from WinMX - with no idea what album any of them were from or indeed that they even had different vocalists on Lunar/Sub. It was a wild ride as even in 2000/2001 In Flames had gone through a lot of changes as a band. After that I was soon getting into DT, Soilwork, Arch Enemy, ATG - all the usual suspects. Unfortunately I missed out on Night in Gales at the time. I can only assume they weren't very well known as I don't even remember them being mentioned on places like Everdying.

I think most people from my generation had either traditional metal (Metallica, Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth, etc) or Nu Metal (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, etc) as their gateways into the more fringe styles. I pretty much came straight in on MDM, lol. If somebody had tried to introduce me via Death or Black Metal then I would almost certainly have had zero interest. The vocals in MDM were difficult to process at first, but the guitar melodies, deep lyrics and infectious energy kept me on board until I learned to appreciate and enjoy the vocals as well.

Fair enough. I can see why those albums would be an easier introduction to the genre. If I had started listening to Soilwork two years later, I may have started with NBC as well. But APP and DT's DD were the jams back then, so I guess I got used to the harsh vocal style faster. I also got into the ultra melodic Finnish power metal at the time, so maybe there's an overlap. I mean, consider, say, Sonata Arctica's Silence put next to CoB's Hatebreeder. You've got the melodies, the keyboards, the speed, it's pretty much the same. Only the vocals differ. I guess it all just gelled for me instrumentally, and the vocals came later..

Yeah, when I first started listening to MDM I wasn't ready for the classic MDM sound, nor was I ready for straight Death or Black Metal. I needed time to adjust to something that was radically different to the very narrow band of music I'd been exposed to before discovering MDM. At the same time I also latched on to a lot of Power Metal - Rhapsody, Freedom Call, Gamma Ray, Sonata Arctica, Helloween, and so on. I think I was attracted to both genres by the same thing - upbeat, powerful melodies. Obviously PM vocals were far easier to get used to due to it being actual singing.

 

[Xpyro125]

I grew up on Metallica, Slayer, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne, and the like, so I’ve genuinely never known a life without metal. It took a long time before I got into anything even remotely heavy, like Periphery, Mastodon (Blood Mountain was a bit much for me in high school, but I did still love it), Lacuna Coil, and In This Moment, but what I listened to from them wasn’t nearly as heavy as In Flames, and it was all rather American-sounding.

Regrettably, I watched one video I can’t even remember on some metal news, and the outro music was The Truth, which I ended up really liking, so I ended up looking at their discography on iTunes. I mainly checked out Come Clarity, Colony, and Clayman, which were too heavy for me at the time, but I think it was Reflect the Storm that hooked me into continuing to listen to them in spite of it. From there I got into MDM, heavier music in general, and a lot of new bands from that point forward— Particularly internationally. It felt pretty quick too, before that summer I wasn’t even really a big metalcore fan even though there was some stuff I liked, after that summer I was fucking with melodeath and a couple of melodic black metal songs. I kinda miss that time in my life, things were definitely a lot simpler then, but I’m glad that I’ve gotten into all the music I have since then.