I've Been Converted, Help...

[Dog--]

I used to hate metal, now I like it (not hardcore sream-o shit, though..), so far I like Metallica and Pantera, recommend me some new ones, please..

Thanks.

 

[Space Farm]

Metal is one of the most diverse and interesting genre's, well done.

Try this album on for size:
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/melvins/houdini/

 

[Geogaddi]

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/469885/2/istockphoto_469885_spork.jpg

One in each ear canal. Problem solved.

 

[Darkside55]

I mostly listen to the old metal bands, bands like Kiss, AC/DC, Twisted Sister, Poison, Slayer, Whitesnake, Motorhead...new stuff, try Lordi.

 

[Max35]

Try Dark Tranquillity. Do it...now!

 

[Schwartz]

Um I dunno try Tool, Seether, Lacuna Coil, Rammstein (german). Use your imagination

 

[Core407]

You haven't been converted really. You just found metal thats actually good, which is a tough task! My tastes are so varied that it sometimes surprises me, but metal continues to be the genre that I can't get into. Apart from Pantera & Metallica, I have yet to hear anything worthy of my time.

Music skills > technical skills

 

[Stigmata]

You haven't been converted really. You just found metal thats actually good, which is a tough task! My tastes are so varied that it sometimes surprises me, but metal continues to be the genre that I can't get into. Apart from Pantera & Metallica, I have yet to hear anything worthy of my time.

Music skills > technical skills

Exactly how I am. Too many metal bands rely on technical superiority.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Metallica hasn't been metal since the 80s. And Pantera well...I guess you could do worse.

Metal relies on technical superiority because that's essentially what metal is. Most metal bands are concerned about the sound, not the lyrics. Wait till the more metal knowledgeable post to get a good idea on metal bands.

 

[Core407]

Metallica hasn't been metal since the 80s. And Pantera well...I guess you could do worse.

Metal relies on technical superiority because that's essentially what metal is. Most metal bands are concerned about the sound, not the lyrics. Wait till the more metal knowledgeable post to get a good idea on metal bands.

But my complaint is with the sound and all metal bands should be instrumental for the simple fact that the lyrics are beyond awful.

 

[Qonfused]

Agreed.

I don't care how technical and fast a guitar solo. If it sounds like crap, gtfo.

 

[knut]

But my complaint is with the sound and all metal bands should be instrumental for the simple fact that the lyrics are beyond awful.

It depends what angle you approach metal music at. Like SpaceFarm said, it's very diverse in genre/styles, so it's easy to say a metal band like Posion or early early Pantera have silly, dire and cheesy lyrics, but then you take the band Isis who, albiet incoherent in terms of being heard sometimes due to the insane amount of distortion, feedback and general rawness, have some really beautiful and intresting lyrics with some great theory, history and knowledge behind them. Alot of their music is centered around water, the ocean, control towers within insects and general nerves/the brain, the female form/control and I'm pretty sure the new album is centered really heavily around something Arabic or somesuch, aswell as continuing a sense of the ocean, but that's going back to the music issue which isn't my point.

When it comes to metal music thesedays, I just find myself bored. I use to be really into stuff like Testament, Destruction and loads of thrash metal and stuff. Not that long ago, a year or two ago, but then I started branching out, both musically and in the people I was hanging around with who were really metal-orienated, and I just found better music pretty much everywhere I looked. I absorb everything I can now, which is completly opposite to back then when I was narrow-minded to simply metal, metal, metal. But annnnnnyyyway; I still listen to metal like Isis, jesu and Mastodon. One could argue that they are doing something different in metal and that's it's better to like the more original band, but I don't care for anything like that. If it sounds good, I'll listen, and these all sound good. I'm sure theres loads of metal out there I still may like, be it original or not, just from previous encounters with it, it's usually not. But hey, whatever.

 

[PoeticRocker]

All I ask for is emotion and feeling in music. Metal tends to lack alot in that because of how fast the guitar is played. This can also relate to rap, like by how fast the rappers speak.

 

[Que-Ever]

All I ask for is emotion and feeling in music. Metal tends to lack alot in that because of how fast the guitar is played. This can also relate to rap, like by how fast the rappers speak.

Also, perhaps, the monotone with which they speak.

 

[mastag]

I agree that metal can be great, but can also be mindnumblingly awful. In fact, the only metallica album i really like is "...and justice for all", because they took a different approach besides pure thrash, speed metal style IMHO. "One" is the only metallica song that never gets old to me.

 

[Space Farm]

All I ask for is emotion and feeling in music. Metal tends to lack alot in that because of how fast the guitar is played. This can also relate to rap, like by how fast the rappers speak.

Way to generalise...

I personally find classical music lacks a lot meaning because there are no lyrics.

 

[Darkside55]

All I ask for is emotion and feeling in music. Metal tends to lack alot in that because of how fast the guitar is played. This can also relate to rap, like by how fast the rappers speak.

I was actually going to mention this but with the exact opposite opinion. While there's absolutely no question that music should inspire emotion, the technical skills are often displayed because that, in itself, is impressive.

With rap, fast speaking can be unintelligible, but the speed itself is really something to be admired. Much more if you can grasp it (even some of it) and the lyrics are good.

The same with metal. Technical ability IS metal. The riffs in metal are, many a time, what get you thinking, "Now THAT'S rock." You hear something complex, something fast, something that just blows other guitarists out of the water and that's metal. You ever notice peoples' favorite guitarists are the ones that can pull off the complex stuff?

The fast playing is what defines heavy metal. That's the "feeling."

 

[repiV]

Stratovarius.
Alice Cooper.

 

[CrazyHarij]

nothing makes a track lose its meaning more than lyrics

 

[JNightshade]

I like some metal (Iron Maiden f*cking OWNS ME D: ) but on the whole, I tend to dislike the genre. I've heard a great deal of it, and really, the only emotion it ever illicits in me is aggression. Which is great, except that there's so much more to life than "GRAR I WANT TO KICK SOME ASS".

EDIT: the exception to this would be Opeth, who has some really varying stuff. But then, there's an exception to every rule.

 

[CrazyHarij]

I like some metal (Iron Maiden f*cking OWNS ME D: ) but on the whole, I tend to dislike the genre. I've heard a great deal of it, and really, the only emotion it ever illicits in me is aggression. Which is great, except that there's so much more to life than "GRAR I WANT TO KICK SOME ASS".

EDIT: the exception to this would be Opeth, who has some really varying stuff. But then, there's an exception to every rule.

try other music then. there's millions of netradiostations on the web, you're bound to find something you like. try www.shoutcast.com or www.soma.fm

 

[Core407]

Nobody in this thread really has any idea what they're talking about.

First of all, to say metal is defined by technicality is ridiculous because there is plenty of metal that is excellent and yet musically is quite simple. There are plenty of bands with stuff that is quite hard to play, but sounds awful.

Second, I will not argue the point that most metal is garbage. This is true of all music. However, I disagree entirely with the total dismissal of metal that uses harsh vocals. They are an acquired taste, sure, but there is so much music out there that uses them, that unless you want to stick to Pantera and Metallica forever, you'll be limiting yourself to a very small amount of what metal has to offer. I used to think that every death or black metal song I heard sounded like crap, too. Then I actually got used to the vocals and found music that was so much better than anything I'd heard before.

By the way, most metalheads and critics will in fact tell you to steer clear of the "Big Four" of thrash (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Pantera) and other mainstream metal acts. They may be popular, but they're really not all that good. If you think that Metallica is the epitome of metal music, then you probably have not looked very far.

Third, to say that all metal has awful lyrics is about the stupidest thing said in this entire thread so far. Plenty of the groups out there write songs about violence, Satanism, etc., but like anything else, it's the delivery and content that counts, not just the subject matter. To dismiss something just because it happens to be about violence, or negativity, or Paganism, or anything else you don't like is a grade-A dumbass move.
Put simply, most music is shit, when it comes to lyrics, melody, vocals, and everything else. Why metal is always attacked first makes absolutely no sense to me; every contemporary genre of music is guilty of almost entirely sucking.

That's bullshit. Speed tends to invoke feelings of anger, anxiety, confusion, and violence, just as slowness tends to invoke depression, sadness, loss, etc..

As far as some good straight-up metal bands, now... try some Black Label Society, Blaze, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, Black Sabbath, Blind Guardian, Judas Priest, Persuader, Skyclad, and Nevermore. I can't really say if you'll like any of it, but it's all quality stuff. All clean vocals.

How about a recommendation for a metal band with a leader singer who screams?

To me screaming into a microphone is a talentless thing. If they can scream and change up their vocals in style to reflect the music, I'd pay attention. Theres just no coherence between the music and the vocals and can ruin the actual music itself.

I started getting into Motorhead for that fact.

 

[Evo]

Ahh i love my metal of many different styles etc.

I'll just list a load that i like/love
(Big Four)
Iron Maiden
Mastodon
Fear Factory
Machine Head
Guns n Roses (Appetite only as metal)
System of a Down
Rammstein
QOTSA
Rob Zombie
Static-X
Disturbed
Trivium
Stone Sour
Slipknot/Korn
Opeth
Children of Bodom
In Flames
Lamb of God
Archh Enemy
Sabbath
Cradle of Filth
Dream Theatre
Firewind
Korpilkaani
Sepultura
Tool
Soulfly
Ill Nino
Chimaira
Coal Chamber
36 Crazyfists
Killswitch Engage
Type O Negative
Testament

I class all of them as Metal or having done Metal in the past, or one of the many diverse sections of Metal

 

[Reginald]

Ripchord, indie-metal, are the closest I will get to metal I'm afraid. :cheese:

 

[Core407]

Ahh i love my metal of many different styles etc.

I'll just list a load that i like/love
(Big Four)
Iron Maiden
Mastodon
Fear Factory
Machine Head
Guns n Roses (Appetite only as metal)
System of a Down
Rammstein
QOTSA
Rob Zombie
Static-X
Disturbed
Trivium
Stone Sour
Slipknot/Korn
Opeth
Children of Bodom
In Flames
Lamb of God
Archh Enemy
Sabbath
Cradle of Filth
Dream Theatre
Firewind
Korpilkaani
Sepultura
Tool
Soulfly
Ill Nino
Chimaira
Coal Chamber
36 Crazyfists
Killswitch Engage
Type O Negative
Testament

I class all of them as Metal or having done Metal in the past, or one of the many diverse sections of Metal

I don't even listen to metal and I see bands there that I wouldn't even call metal. QOTSA is metal now?

 

[Absinthe]

Gotta relate to Core about the whole screaming thing.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm entirely against it or anything. There are times for it where it works real well in pumping up and energizing a track. And it's not even so much an issue of it being grating, since I think I listen to far more ear-damaging music than whatever a genre like Death Metal can push through its legs.

But when nearly every track I've heard has its lead singer relentlessly screaming/growling for over five minutes, it just strikes me as very uninspired, annoying, and talentless. And when you get guys like Amon Amarth singing about vikings and shit, it just adds a layer of ridiculousness. I don't think Mighty Sven of the Norse legends ripped mean guitar solos on a mountaintop while pretending to be a demon.

Now before I get some kind of retort pointing out that I haven't heard every song, artist, and subgenre and that I'm therefore ignorant on the subject matter, let me spare you the effort: you're pretty much right. I don't listen to a lot of Metal and it's not something I've ever bothered trying to find worth in. I'm aware that a bevy of complaints can also be leveled at my music tastes, so I'll pretty much leave it at that.

But... There is no way you can convince me that being able to scream constantly is a worthwhile talent and that it somehow contributes positively to any musical experience.

 

[JNightshade]

try other music then. there's millions of netradiostations on the web, you're bound to find something you like. try www.shoutcast.com or www.soma.fm

You misunderstand me

I DO try other music- lately (thanks to this board) I've been getting into stuff like Notwist and Boards of Canada. I was just saying that most metal is limited.

 

[Lucid]

Check out Fear Factory, Isis, Falkenbach, and Moonsorrow.

For Fear Factory... I recommend the following songs:
Replica
Edgecrusher
Digimortal
Piss Christ
Spinal Compression
Concreto
Descent
Resurrection
Echoes of my Screams
Back the Fuck Up
Zero Signal
Linchpin
Slave Labor

As for Falkenbach...
Get everything from their Heralding the Fireblade album.

And Isis, listen to Antipop about them.

For Moonsorrow... everything on their Kivenkantaja album.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Ahh i love my metal of many different styles etc.

I'll just list a load that i like/love
(Big Four)
Iron Maiden
Mastodon
Fear Factory
Machine Head
Guns n Roses (Appetite only as metal)
System of a Down
Rammstein
QOTSA
Rob Zombie
Static-X
Disturbed
Trivium
Stone Sour
Slipknot/Korn
Opeth
Children of Bodom
In Flames
Lamb of God
Archh Enemy
Sabbath
Cradle of Filth
Dream Theatre
Firewind
Korpilkaani
Sepultura
Tool
Soulfly
Ill Nino
Chimaira
Coal Chamber
36 Crazyfists
Killswitch Engage
Type O Negative
Testament

I class all of them as Metal or having done Metal in the past, or one of the many diverse sections of Metal

If sea comes back, he's gonna rip you a new one.

 

[133]

Opeth

all of their albums

 

[Darkside55]

Nobody in this thread really has any idea what they're talking about.

First of all, to say metal is defined by technicality is ridiculous because there is plenty of metal that is excellent and yet musically is quite simple. There are plenty of bands with stuff that is quite hard to play, but sounds awful.

Yes there're a lot of metal songs that aren't very technical but if you were going to define metal as a genre, that's probably what comes out most, the fast, heavy style with a lot of complexity. And while that's not to say all metal has to be that way it's the predominate theme. To bring up a comparison to rap again, rap's generally defined by its backbeats and the spitting of lyrics, but I've listened to some slow rap songs, slow to the point where they're just talking over a bass line.

Second, I will not argue the point that most metal is garbage. This is true of all music.

90% of everything, not just music.

I agree with most of what else you said though.

 

[Space Farm]

nothing makes a track lose its meaning more than lyrics

An interesting way of interpreting things. I always think lyrics are the least important component of a song, but I guess that really depends on the genre and the listener, I'm sure Bob Dylan wouldn't have got very far if he thought that way though!

I mostly pay attention to the delivery of the vocals, then the instruments themselves - then maybe I'll have a look at the lyrics but it doesn't really interest me that much. Maybe it has to do with the right side/left side brain where some people are more visual while others are more verbal?

Also, while I'm on the subject of vocals, I really think metal needs the harsh growls and guttural vocals, especially on the more extreme subgenres of metal, could you imagine Cryptopsy or Gorguts with high falsetto clean vocals? Kind of defeats the purpose...All these hardcore bands going around these days singing choruses with clean vocals then screaming during the verses just sounds like shit to be honest.

Also, well said sea.

 

[Evo]

If sea comes back, he's gonna rip you a new one.

Well yea that obvious

And QOTSA, what would you class 'em as? Rock pssh they have done heavier stuff than what i would call rock

 

[Stigmata]

As for such vocal styles requiring no talent... well, you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

I agree that it does require a certain "talent", so to speak, but I have never heard it sound good.

 

[Absinthe]

Fitting watermelons into your anus can be considered a talent. The contention is wether or not it's worth one's time.

 

[Beerdude26]

I agree that it does require a certain "talent", so to speak, but I have never heard it sound good.

You just can't understand them, that's all

Singing is so goddamn painful if you do it wrongly ;(

 

[CyberPitz]

I mostly listen to the old metal bands, bands like Kiss, AC/DC, Twisted Sister, Poison, Slayer, Whitesnake, Motorhead...new stuff, try Lordi.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[J_Tweedy]

Mastadon was mentioned in a list there, but to answer the original Q of this thread (which seems to have been lost somewhere along the way) that would be a good band to continue on your happy path towards a new taste in metal, whatever 'metal' may be.

 

[Seppo]

if you want to listen to metal...

post 1990: crap
pre 1990: quality

Best metal comes from the 80's, with the exception of bands like Sabbath who produced some of the best metal in history, in the 70's

Oh yeah and the 21st century gets an honorable mention for bringing the worst piece of shit "metal bands" of all time. There's absolutely no feeling or musical talent in the bands anymore, they just scream over messy riffs which all sound the same (and yes, i know there are some exceptions).

 

[Space Farm]

sea definitely has his head screwed on properly.