(Un)Official Metal Thread

[Matt]

And as implied in the other thread... I envy you so much. And what really put the icing on the cake, this guy I know told me on the Friday that up until the Tuesday he had 2 spare tickets he was trying to get rid of

[SRN]

So, the Devin Townsend Project. Being a huge fan of Devin I awaited nis new effort "Ki" with baited breathe and anxiety, but now that he has revealed his true thought behind the project, I am even more excited for it to be released. There is an interview up on his MySpace conercning his new project(s). Read it here.

[lari]

New Heaven and Hell track:

Bible Black

[Evil Chase K]

Everyone suggesting Metallica albums to the guy forgot their best album (IMO)...

St. Ang...

Just kidding.

I'm talking about ...And Justice For All

[tristy]

so i've been getting into the "new wave of american heavy metal" again, like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.

What are some other bands like those? I'm already promising myself i'm going to give Strapping Young Lad a chance, so there's one.

[lari]

I guess Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium. And Strapping Young Lad are Canadian... and I sort of don't think they ever were in any musical movement.

[DFF]

I guess Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium. And Strapping Young Lad are Canadian... and I sort of don't think they ever were in any musical movement.

And Bullet are Welsh.

[SRN]

Give SYL a chance. If not one, then four. They are concentrated awesomeness packed on compact disc form with some drugs, alcohol and bipolar disorder thrown in (well, at least on the "Alien" album).

[Gabriel]

Quick list of stuff that's awesome... but I'm not sure what the fuck New Wave of American Heavy Metal would classify as...

Rumpelstiltskin Grinder

The Agony Scene

Keep of Kalessin

Nebacudnezzer

Watain

Austrian Death Machine

just good, relatively new shit.

[wolves]

Here's something that's been bothering me and maybe bothering others about metal music...

What is the deal with these bands that play "death metal" that feel the need to put breakdowns in EVERY song. Now obviously that sounds a little exaggerated so I did an experiment. For a little while now I've heard that I should be listening to a few newer bands. So I got some tracks from Annotations of an Autopsy, Oceano, War From a Harlots Mouth, Whitechapel, and Impending Doom. Not only did every song I listen to by these bands have a generic sounding breakdown, they almost always happened around the same point in the song. The average song length was about three minutes and most of the songs had a breakdown either towards the beginning after a riff or two or smack in the middle. To me this is just lazy songwriting and things like this make me less and less interested in hearing more modern metal. Maybe it's because I'm a musician myself and I nitpick things but I have to imagine someone out there agrees with me in some aspect. The worst part is that some of these bands have really redeeming qualities. Either some really good drumming or creative guitar writing. Then they just muck it up by sounding exactly like every one else. Ten bucks says that if I gave someone each a track from those bands and didn't give track titles or the band name, they would think it's the same band.

I'll stop complaining now.

[DFF]

See, I prefer my death metal either melodic, or proggy, or both. So, stuff like Between The Buried and Me just about hits the spot.

[DFF]

Also, it seems I'm now very very likely to be going to Bloodstock. Awesome. Should be able to confirm tomorrow. Clearly and EWB meet up is in order (even if it's just me and Reil >_>)

[BuddyAwesome]

Judas Priest is going on tour to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their British Steel Album, and they're playing the album in int's entirety plus other Priest classics! The opening act is Whitesnake! I'll be seeing them twice this summer once at Concord, CA and the other for the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, CA. Anybody else going to go to this?

[Liam]

so i've been getting into the "new wave of american heavy metal" again, like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.

What are some other bands like those? I'm already promising myself i'm going to give Strapping Young Lad a chance, so there's one.

Dillinger Escape Plan really stand out like a sore thumb in that list, but I'm not complaining, as anyone getting back into listening to DEP gets props from me. I really should have another spin with their Ireworks album. As for bands who don't really fit into your list but are well worth a look, pick up Torche's 'Meanderthal' or Big Business's last album (can't remember its name now, and I assume you'd probably have their stuff anyway). Both more Mastodon than DEP, but with DEP's ability to rock out some awesome hooks as well as some harsher riffs.

And SYL aren't really 'NWOAHM', but they are batshit insane with a little bit of an industrial twist on some of their albums, well worth a look. Also, Devin Townsend Band stuff is interesting, if only for comparison with SYL.

With 'NWOAHM', I dunno, you've covered a fair few of the bands that I'd list. Otherwise, you'd only be looking at acts like Bullet and Trivium, as have been stated, and who aren't really any better than the stuff you already have. Worth a look though if you are going that way.

Here's something that's been bothering me and maybe bothering others about metal music...

What is the deal with these bands that play "death metal" that feel the need to put breakdowns in EVERY song. Now obviously that sounds a little exaggerated so I did an experiment. For a little while now I've heard that I should be listening to a few newer bands. So I got some tracks from Annotations of an Autopsy, Oceano, War From a Harlots Mouth, Whitechapel, and Impending Doom. Not only did every song I listen to by these bands have a generic sounding breakdown, they almost always happened around the same point in the song. The average song length was about three minutes and most of the songs had a breakdown either towards the beginning after a riff or two or smack in the middle. To me this is just lazy songwriting and things like this make me less and less interested in hearing more modern metal. Maybe it's because I'm a musician myself and I nitpick things but I have to imagine someone out there agrees with me in some aspect. The worst part is that some of these bands have really redeeming qualities. Either some really good drumming or creative guitar writing. Then they just muck it up by sounding exactly like every one else. Ten bucks says that if I gave someone each a track from those bands and didn't give track titles or the band name, they would think it's the same band.

I'll stop complaining now.

That's just the way the newer, younger death metal bands seem to be going. 'Deathcore' or whatever it is, Death Metal with some of the facets of hardcore. I dunno, I prefer my Death Metal somewhat groovier rather than just ballsout loud, so I don't listen to many of those bands, but they seem to split people down the middle

[Evil Chase K]

so i've been getting into the "new wave of american heavy metal" again, like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.

What are some other bands like those? I'm already promising myself i'm going to give Strapping Young Lad a chance, so there's one.

People actually call it that?

How...disrespectful.

Seriously, if that's the best America can do than I think we can declare this a win for British.

Though I do like Mastodon so I guess it's not all bad.

[Matt]

so i've been getting into the "new wave of american heavy metal" again, like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.

What are some other bands like those? I'm already promising myself i'm going to give Strapping Young Lad a chance, so there's one.

Well given that your spectrum ranges from Killswitch to Mastodon to Lamb of God, I'd say pretty much any band who puts the word metal in their genre. However, Wikipedia recommends the following:

* All That Remains[7]

* As I Lay Dying[1]

* Atreyu[8]

* Biohazard[2][1][6]

* Bleeding Through

* Byzantine[1][9]

* Chimaira[10][11][8][9]

* Damageplan[1]

* Darkest Hour[1]

* DevilDriver[1]

* God Forbid[12]

* Down[1]

* Hatebreed[13]

* Killswitch Engage[11][14][15][16][17]

* Lamb of God[3][11][16]

* Life of Agony[1][6]

* Machine Head[2][1][6][8]

* Mastodon[3][4]

* Otep[1]

* Poison the Well[1]

* Prong[1][6]

* Shadows Fall[3][11][16][18][19][17]

* Slipknot[2][1][6][8]

* Superjoint Ritual[1]

* The Agony Scene[1]

* The Black Dahlia Murder[1]

* The Dillinger Escape Plan[1]

* The Red Chord[1]

* Throwdown[1]

* Trivium[20][21]

* Unearth[1]

[wolves]

The new wave of American heavy metal is such a joke. Half of the bands that get lumped into that label are metalcore bands. Basically bands that take some traditional metal elements and throw in heavy hardcore elements. Back a few years ago there were some really good bands doing that kind of thing, Shadows Fall, Unearth, As I Lay Dying. All three of those bands have gone down the crapper these days. Unearth did release a fantastic album that you should check out if you like them, The Oncoming Storm. Probably one of the most talented bands that just wasn't big enough during those days was Reflux. That had a guitarist that was talented beyond arguably anyone in the genre. These days metalcore is just so overdone with every band using the same song structure and sounding exactly like each other. Much the same as my post above. Some band does something different and then 100 others copy them, thus instantaneously ruining a genre of music. On paper, things like metalcore and deathcore should be the ultimate heavy form of music. In reality though it's just really bland and generic sounding.

[DFF]

I guess it's only like Metal Hammer now who are trying to push a new movement called 'New Wave of Traditional Metal', and including bands such as Amon Amarth and Wolf.

[TheRyno]

With my computer down and radio being a pile of suck, I've pretty much been listening to nothing but the new Mastodon and Cattle Decapitation albums. I'm already calling Crack The Skye for best album of 2009 thus far. And for seemingly being the only person disappointed with Karma Bloody Karma, The Harvest Floor kicks a ton of ass.

[BuddyAwesome]

Besides Children of Bodom, Mastodon, and Behemoth, I haven't heard any real good new metal bands in a while.