(Un)Official Metal Thread

[Jerichoholic23]

I have went through every page of this thread and not once did I see my favourite band metioned. That would be Disturbed. I saw their show the other night and they were really great in concert. They put on an amazing show.

[Nevermore]

That's because Disturbed aren't meant to be in this thread. Hehe.

[wolves]

I remember when I was in 6th grade, Disturbed came to town and I was so excited. I left that show absolutely hating them and stopped listening. With an audience of 99% dudes, their singer did more hip thrusting and grinding than I ever needed to see.

[livid]

What the fuck were you watching then? As I've seen them a couple of times in concert and he's moved around but definitely not thrusting or grinding.

And yeah, I was into them when I first started to like rock and stuff but they're pretty average at best now.

[SRN]

I heard a commercial for one of their albums once, looked at my Dimmu Borgir and Arch Enemy records and said "nah, fuck this shit".

[DFF]

Anyone picked up the new Alestorm album? It's definitely a whole heap of fun, especially Keelhauled. It'll help flesh out their live sets somewhat, as I felt the first album was a half-good-half average kind of thing.

[SRN]

I really liked the first album, also saw them live and they were really good. Immensely powerful stage presence and the songs work very well in live performance as well. But if the new album is even better then yay.

[DFF]

I really liked the first album, also saw them live and they were really good. Immensely powerful stage presence and the songs work very well in live performance as well. But if the new album is even better then yay.

I'd say the second album has a bit of a more professional feel to it and are generally higher standard. That said, outside of Keelhauled there aren't many with the sheer awesomeness of, say, Wenches & Mead or Captain Morgan's Revenge.

I'd love to see them tour on this album, the setlist could be immense.

[Liam]

I picked it up, not had a chance to have a proper listen yet though.

[YI]

I love lying to metalheads.

You'll be having a conversation, they'll bring up a bunch of bands, one or two your recognise, they suddenly think you're on the same wavelength...drop something like In Flames or any random Scandenavian band you know like 3 songs by...then they'll start bringing up band after band you wont recognise, but you just fall back on the whole "They're a bit too heavy for me" or "They're not melodic enough for me" (cos you know these are the kind of bands that sound like someone banging hammers in a shed) and they think you're a living legend for knowing obscure shit they love.

[Liam]

Remember any bands that they brought up?

[YI]

He brought up Children of Bodom and Katatonia first...who I knew enough to bullshit. Can't remember the rest though.

Edited June 9, 2009 by YI

[Liam]

I had a bit of a boner for Katatonia back in the day, not so much now. Still, they had 3 albums in a row that all rocked....if you like melancholy gothic rock, that is.

[lari]

Okay, here's the who's offered to do what list for the EWB Guide to Metal

Jushin 'Thunder' Liam - Death/Doom/Black Metal (and a bit of thrash...)

Farmer Reil - Power & Folk?

nwo Hollywood - Power/Speed Metal

lari - (Proto-) Metal

Sterrob - Prog Metal

Bushmeister - see Liam.

Evil Chase K - Stoner Metal

Verbal Puke - Thrash Metal

I've started on the proto metal part. I don't want to clog it with history, but since it'd be the sort of introduction to the whole thing I have to put a bit more effort in it, too.

And if we're making this into a guide of sorts, I guess we need a unified format.

Right now I have 'background', 'distinctive characteristics', 'essential albums' and sort of an end or even a "downfall" segment might be appropriate for certain genres, I guess.

I am not submitting it as a definitive piece that no-one can edit. You, if people agree on things, can add and remove as much as you see fit. Then maybe we'll compile them and put up a totally new thread.

So....

I have an introduction.

Then there's the background, ie. what actually already existed (that had effect on this subgenre) before this movement of music came around. In this case, prog rock, blues rock, rock in all forms in general. Maybe add different kinds of influences (literature, pop culture, whatever), what bandmembers of pioneering groups were doing before 'discovering' the subgenre. For proto metal I am mostly looking at Zeppelin, Purple and Sabbath.

Distinctive characteristics: What makes the (sub)genre differ from what already existed at the time. For proto metal, I got something like the loudness and distortion of the guitars (I'm a bit borderline on shredding, as it was more prevalent in the 80s actually, though originally came from 70's heavy metal guitar wizards), the screeching vocals, pounding rhythm section that made the heaviness. Also, outside of the music you have things like leather and motorcycles and all.

Essential albums. Self-explanatory, one would think. Just name a couple of albums. Maybe make a longer list as 'added listening' or 'for fans of the genre'.

Then I just have a summary of what lead to the decline of popularity (or what made the subgenre fall out of mainstream). In this case you have new wave and punk rock entering mainstream that hurt, but also the lifestyles of the most popular metal stars and somehow also the success that turned the original big three into sort of dinosaurs, while the smaller bands were also oversaturating the market. Oversaturation has for sure caused the decline of a lot of musical movements (glam, power and nu-metal for instance).

I need feedback though. Also, if someone wants, I can pm the whole piece I have right now. It's not that long.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Just got Black Clouds & Silver Linings in the post today, which was weird because I was expecting it next week. I should start remembering release dates >_<

I forced myself to not listen to the album before getting it, not even the free single they released (because by the time I remembered it was on-line it was off-line)

So far it's pretty good, I've found myself trailing off on some songs through lack of familiarity, but the ending to the 12 Step Suite really makes up for it. The covers are ace too... despite already having To Tame A Land from the Kerrang album.

[lari]

I got the new Skyclad album in the mail today. "In the... All Together". I absolutely loved the previous one, A Semblance of Normality, and actually think it's in my top three albums of the decade, so my expectations might be too high. I'm giving the new one its second listen now - so far it's a bit hard to say anything. It's not an instant pleaser, but Skyclad never really is. There's potential - a lot of the tracks seem like they got better the second time. It's maybe a bit less bottom-heavy as Semblance, but I guess the vocals being somewhat harder make up for it.

[Crybaby Bunting]

So after checking through the Play.com sale and finding several albums I'd been monitoring for a while cheap I also discovered that there are plenty of Paradise Lost and Opeth albums there too.

So with student loans to burn, what Opeth or Paradise Lost should I be checking out?

[DFF]

So after checking through the Play.com sale and finding several albums I'd been monitoring for a while cheap I also discovered that there are plenty of Paradise Lost and Opeth albums there too.

So with student loans to burn, what Opeth or Paradise Lost should I be checking out?

For Opeth I'd say Blackwater Park, Watershed and Damnation.

[Liam]

With Paradise Lost, it depends really. They started off as a gothicky doom band, but somewhere in the middle, they went to gothicky Depeche Mode-esque band, before returning back to incorporating a bit of both over the last few albums. The best one is probably One Second, with Gothic pretty good, but some of their more synthy stuff isn't bad, Host being worth a look. I have about 6 of their albums, so I've liked them in either incarnation, really.

But yeah, One Second might be the way to go.

[Douglas]

CHILDREN~! I have RETURNED!

And once again, I ask for some bands!

I have been really getting into Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Demons & Wizards, Hammerfall and Dragonland these past couple of months.

Can anyone name some bands/albums I should take a look at?

Thanks,

Tha' D.