Headbangers Ball Best Metals Bands of 2006

[Starbuck1975]

So I caught a replay of the Headbanger's Ball best metal videos of 2006...granted, Headbanger's Ball, and metal, pretty much died once grunge hit the scene in the late 90s...the glory days of metal are essentially over, with only a few bands still holding the metal torch.

I haven't really watched Headbanger's Ball since Ricky Rachtman got screwed over by MTV, but was curious to see who were the most popular metal bands are on the modern day version of Headbanger's Ball...I discovered a kickass band called Killswitch Engage watching Headbangers Ball not too long ago, and thought to check it out again to see if I was missing any other new or breaking bands that typically won't get airplay otherwise.

And the top video goes to...Dir En Grey's "Saku"???

Watched the video...song was decent, but did not motivate me to raise my fist and flash the devil horns...the chorus sounded like karaoke night, and the screaming was "meh"...overall, it seemed like a bunch of Japanese guys playing Marilyn Manson meets Tool meets Nine Inch Nails in terms of the overall feel of the video, but trying a bit to hard to come across edgy or disturbing...strange eye makeup and color contact lenses is apparently all you need these days to be "hard"...except for the drummer, whose long flowing blond hair and attire made him look like he belonged in Whitesnake.

So I decided to do a little research on Dir En Grey, and found some fan websites, and this is where things really get wierd.

They aren't really a metal band at all...and how they appear in the "Saku" video is not really how they look in their press photos...these guys typically dress like chicks...now I thought androgynous rock stars was dead with the 80s, but apparently not in the land of the Rising Sun.

So let me get this straight...a bunch of guys that typically dress like Final Fantasy manga chicks decide to put out a metal song, with a relatively "disturbing" video to match it, and they are the top metal band of 2006?

Metal is truly dead.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Yeah, I heard that song on Sirius before. Terrible song and terrible band.

 

[Sinsear]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

 

[SWScorch]

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

So true. There are some good popular metal bands, though, like Lamb of God and Trivium. But the underground stuff is where it's good. I think that goes for any genre, really.

 

[uhohs]

lol visual kei

 

[Spineshank]

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

In Flames hasnt had a good album since Clayman. And KSE's new cd is meh at best.

 

[BurnItDwn]

never heard of that band.

Good metal may not be mentioned much (or at all) in the mainstream media, but it's FAR from dead.
Thanks to mp3s and the web, metal is (and has been) thriving very strong since the mid 90s.

Every year, there are TONS of great new prog and death/grind releases.
There is still a good amount of new Death and Black metal releases every year.
Stoner rock is a really really strong genre, it's basicly "happy" or "trippy" doom metal ... (yes, I oversimplified a bit)
Power Metal seems to be as popular as ever
Thrash is hard as hell to find though (but still not dead) ... Tankard and Overkill are the only old school thrashers that still make good stuff IMO.
And Iron Maiden still kicks ass, so we know heavy metal is alive and very well.

The good stuff isn't going to find you, you need to find it!

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

In Flames hasnt had a good album since Clayman. And KSE's new cd is meh at best.

In Flames had a few mediocre albums like Reroute and Soundtrack, but I think Come Clarity is a solid album. I'm actually enjoying Killswitch's new CD as well.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

In Flames hasnt had a good album since Clayman. And KSE's new cd is meh at best.

In Flames had a few mediocre albums like Reroute and Soundtrack, but I think Come Clarity is a solid album. I'm actually enjoying Killswitch's new CD as well.

I friggin LOVE older In Flames (Whoracle, The Jester Race, Subterranean, & Lunar Strain), however, I would say that "mediocre" is a HUGE overstatement for reroute or soundtrack ... They were friggin horrible.

That being said, I haven't heard Come Clarity, maybe I'll check out a couple of tracks this weekend.

 

[MustISO]

The whole music scene has become so flooded it's just a blur. Personally I like having the choices but it's hard to even find bands now because there are so many and so many different genres for something as simple as Hard Rock or Heavy Metal.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life

Originally posted by: JohnAn2112

Originally posted by: Sinsear

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975


Metal is truly dead.

Unfortunately it has been for awhile.

It's dead in terms of mainstream music, but there are tons of good metal bands nowadays. In Flames, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine, to name a few.

In Flames hasnt had a good album since Clayman. And KSE's new cd is meh at best.

Agreed, In Flames lost their touch a while ago. I did enjoy Reroute to Remain but it isn't the same as their amazing CDs like Whoracle, Clayman and Colony. Anything beyond Reroute to Remain really bothers me.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

In my experience metal bands especially in recent years start out being decent then there middle albums are AMAZING then it tappers off as they gain popularity and attempt to go mainstream. Great examples of this are In Flames, Children of Bodom, and Soilwork.... IMO

 

[hans030390]

In Flames is one of THE best metal bands, ever. Reroute to Remain was not a good album, but it had a couple really good songs on it (Reroute to Remain, Trigger, Cloud Connected).

Soundtrack to your Escape mostly sucked, but the first song and My Sweet Shadow were pretty good.

The new album is probably the best out of the latest 3 (Crawl Through Knives is great), but...yeah, that's about it.

Although their new cds aren't as good as their others, they're not entirely bad. They're just totally different from "old" In Flames.

There are plenty of good metal bands out there. Children of Bodom, Soilwork, Scar Symmetry, and Still Remains.

BTW, if you haven't listened to Still Remains, do so. Their new album should be promising too. They're like a mix of IF and CoB, but more hardcore.

 

[Dimmu]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
Metal is truly dead.

I listen to tons of great metal, the problem is that you are looking in the wrong places. The best metal isn't found on television. Dig a little and you'll produce some awesome results. PM me if you want some suggestions.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I listen to tons of great metal, the problem is that you are looking in the wrong places. The best metal isn't found on television. Dig a little and you'll produce some awesome results. PM me if you want some suggestions.

Thanks for the offer...I don't necessarily have a problem finding good metal bands...I do get a bit annoyed by the bands that get recognition and airplay, labeled as metal bands.

I have Sirius, and they offer some great metal stations

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn

I friggin LOVE older In Flames (Whoracle, The Jester Race, Subterranean, & Lunar Strain), however, I would say that "mediocre" is a HUGE overstatement for reroute or soundtrack ... They were friggin horrible.

That being said, I haven't heard Come Clarity, maybe I'll check out a couple of tracks this weekend.

Come Clarity sounds more like their older albums than Reroute to remain and Soundtrack to your escape IMO