Does anyone listen to heavy metal/death metal anymore?

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Dude111

Golden Member
Jan 19, 2010
1,497
7
81
IGBT said:
anything but hipHop rap crap.
Hip hop and rap ARE TWO DIFFERENT MUSIC STYLES!

One is GOOD and the other is pure trash!!! (TODAYS) (Ill let you guess which is which)
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,313
10,449
136
My issue with "metalcore" is that the bands all sound the same/generic. Essentially, they try to sound like At the gates or old in flames, but not as good. I like it when I can tell within the first 2 seconds which band it is.
It is in the ears of the beholder. To one person a genre will sound all the same. To someone deeply into it there are many many declensions, subgenres, etc. Just because it all sounds the same to you does not mean that it's that way for everybody. People are soooooooooooooooooooo self centered.

When it comes to "heavy metal music" I will not put it down for a second. Many extremely obscure HM bands have fantastically talented members. I'm a college radio DJ for over 30 years running and I have free access to tons of new music on a continual basis. I don't hear it all because there's too much for one person to hear, that's the way it is. I will say that as genre's go, HM is right up there very near the top in terms of the talent of the musicians. So many astounding HM lead guitarists! Oh, and the drummers are among the most energetic.
 
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Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
I really enjoy the new Deadlock album, which surprised me given all the member changes.
 

Dedpuhl

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
10,370
0
76
Come on, don't overgeneralize. There is plenty of good metalcore out there, even if you don't like it. There is A LOT of garbage, for sure, but you can't argue that some talent went into these songs:

Avenged Sevenfold
Trivium
Killswitch Engage

Even with an awesome lead guitarist, Avenged sucks. Also, Avenged and Trivium have only dabbled with metalcore, so I wouldn't consider them to be in that category of music.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
So a couple of notable albums in the last few weeks.

Devildriver - Winter Kills
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail to the King

Devildriver has consistently been one of my favorite bands in recent years mainly do to their live show, and how nice the guys are in person. Coming off your tour bus in December in Chicago to say hi to me and my friends showed how serious these guys are about their fans. That being said, their last few albums other than a few songs on each have been kind of lack luster to me. Winter Kills is great. It reminds me of "The Last Kind Words" which is their best album. It's a good album and worth a listen.

I may have liked it so much simply because I was listening to the new Avenged Sevenfold prior to listening to it.

Speaking of Avenged Sevenfold. This album is strange... Truly strange. They have completely changed their sound and some may like it, but most of their fans will hate it. All of the sense of fun that albums like "City of Evil" and "Avenged Sevenfold" had are completely gone now. Their last album "Nightmare" also was completely devoid of fun, but at times you got the sense that the songs were meant to have more...maybe not fun, but perhaps comical lyrics akin to their two prior albums. The death of their drummer seems to have definitely changed the direction the lyrics and songwriting took in many of the songs of Nightmare.

So now they have "Hail to the King." Did I mention this album is strange? It actually pains me to see how similar these songs are to bands that are obviously their influences. They have basically used slightly modified riffs from Metallica, Megadeth, and Guns'n'Roses. Coupled with all of those unique sounding bands they seem to have picked up their drummer from an AC/DC cover band. The entire album is seemingly a base, snare, base, snare, base, snare drum beat on repeat. It truly sucks the life out of the songs, and makes me wonder if they are doing some strange thing where they do not want their new drummer to show up their deceased one and purposely had him do the same boring drum beat for every song. In some of the songs I think you can actually hear the guy falling asleep on his drum kit because it's so mindless. The parts that aren't truly lifeless for the drummer appear to basically be rip off memorable epic drum beatz of Metallica's "Black Album."

It's really sad because anyone who has actually listened to these guys knows that they can really perform on their respective instrustments. It's worth a listen if you are in the mood for something mellow that is not too distracting.
 

taq8ojh

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2013
1,296
1
81
Hip hop and rap ARE TWO DIFFERENT MUSIC STYLES!

One is GOOD and the other is pure trash!!! (TODAYS) (Ill let you guess which is which)
I am pretty sure you won't get much sympathy for that statement in this thread :p
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
So a couple of notable albums in the last few weeks.

Devildriver - Winter Kills
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail to the King

Devildriver has consistently been one of my favorite bands in recent years mainly do to their live show, and how nice the guys are in person. Coming off your tour bus in December in Chicago to say hi to me and my friends showed how serious these guys are about their fans. That being said, their last few albums other than a few songs on each have been kind of lack luster to me. Winter Kills is great. It reminds me of "The Last Kind Words" which is their best album. It's a good album and worth a listen.

I may have liked it so much simply because I was listening to the new Avenged Sevenfold prior to listening to it.

Speaking of Avenged Sevenfold. This album is strange... Truly strange. They have completely changed their sound and some may like it, but most of their fans will hate it. All of the sense of fun that albums like "City of Evil" and "Avenged Sevenfold" had are completely gone now. Their last album "Nightmare" also was completely devoid of fun, but at times you got the sense that the songs were meant to have more...maybe not fun, but perhaps comical lyrics akin to their two prior albums. The death of their drummer seems to have definitely changed the direction the lyrics and songwriting took in many of the songs of Nightmare.

So now they have "Hail to the King." Did I mention this album is strange? It actually pains me to see how similar these songs are to bands that are obviously their influences. They have basically used slightly modified riffs from Metallica, Megadeth, and Guns'n'Roses. Coupled with all of those unique sounding bands they seem to have picked up their drummer from an AC/DC cover band. The entire album is seemingly a base, snare, base, snare, base, snare drum beat on repeat. It truly sucks the life out of the songs, and makes me wonder if they are doing some strange thing where they do not want their new drummer to show up their deceased one and purposely had him do the same boring drum beat for every song. In some of the songs I think you can actually hear the guy falling asleep on his drum kit because it's so mindless. The parts that aren't truly lifeless for the drummer appear to basically be rip off memorable epic drum beatz of Metallica's "Black Album."

It's really sad because anyone who has actually listened to these guys knows that they can really perform on their respective instrustments. It's worth a listen if you are in the mood for something mellow that is not too distracting.

I heard the first single from the new album on the radio and my first reaction was "wtf are they ripping off metallica now?" As a rather big a7x fan, your review makes me sad.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
IDK what you heard but "hail to the king" sounds nothing like metallica to me

Metallica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MAlz7wafM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SokRilLQcyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpS01ICnNiA


Gun'n'Roses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6coOXi2cf0

Megadeth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1z8xCBRxkg

Avenged Sevenfold: This is the only song I listen to and hear what they used to be. Even though it still sounds like Metallica... Probably about the only song where the drummer seems to be alive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub1y1o_Mxgw

The songs are starting to really grow on me. After getting over the initial shock that I had heard all of this before it's turning in to one of my favorite albums by Avenged Sevenfold.

I fully expect a bunch of Metalhead elitists to enter the thread and tell me why I'm wrong and they are bad, but I don't think they understand the band and their songs at all. They are a cartoon. That's their gimmick. Part hair metal, part heavy metal. They are more akin to Guns'n'Roses than heavier bands.
 

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
There's also a new "style" of metal that I like that's labeled as "progressive" metal. Bands like Intervals and Periphery are two of my favs..Although Intervals has no singer and are a lot newer. Periphery has one of the these vocalists I've ever heard, not just in metal, but in all genres.
 

brandonb

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2006
3,731
2
0
I've been listening to Kalmah recently. Not sure if I like them or not. I'd like a bit less noise, and a bit more melody. But they seem quite talented. Just have to wait for them to get a bit older and more musical.

I prefer Amon Amarth's With Oden on our Side album. A perfect combo of tempo/aggression/melody.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
There's also a new "style" of metal that I like that's labeled as "progressive" metal. Bands like Intervals and Periphery are two of my favs..Although Intervals has no singer and are a lot newer. Periphery has one of the these vocalists I've ever heard, not just in metal, but in all genres.

Periphery is an interesting band. The music reminds me of Meshuggah most of the time with it's crazy tempo changes.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
I've seen quite a few heavy metal bands live, but the "growling" type singing just sucks to me. It's awful, ruins what might be some pretty good music otherwise.

It's a skill, but it's not singing. I'd far rather hear some actual singers than that crap.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
I'm debating if i want to watch Kamelot tomorrow live in NYC. I'm not actually a huge fan of them specifically, even though I like the genre (Symphonic Power Metal)

Are any of their recent albums good?
 

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
I'm debating if i want to watch Kamelot tomorrow live in NYC. I'm not actually a huge fan of them specifically, even though I like the genre (Symphonic Power Metal)

Are any of their recent albums good?

I would go see Kamelot just to see Alissa from the Agonist haha.
 

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
There's also a new "style" of metal that I like that's labeled as "progressive" metal. Bands like Intervals and Periphery are two of my favs..Although Intervals has no singer and are a lot newer. Periphery has one of the these vocalists I've ever heard, not just in metal, but in all genres.

Progressive has been around for awhile. Listen to Protest The Hero if you havent already. Periphery reminds me of them.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
There's also a new "style" of metal that I like that's labeled as "progressive" metal. Bands like Intervals and Periphery are two of my favs..Although Intervals has no singer and are a lot newer. Periphery has one of the these vocalists I've ever heard, not just in metal, but in all genres.

Prog metal has been done for a long long time.

Liquid Tension Experiment? Ayreon? Threshold? And the mighty Symphony X? Hell even Rainbow had proggy songs, specifically Stargazer.

I would go see Kamelot just to see Alissa from the Agonist haha.

She is pretty.
 
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