Metal Reviews

I've been listening to maiden, power metal and stuff like that but got into IN FLAMES by accident!!!? It's the type of metal I thought I'd never listen to and I still don't know how I gave them a chance but...here I am. I know they are as "soft" as this genre can be but as you can se that's as much as I can cope with right now... so I'd be really gratefull if anyone could tell me names of bands that are really melodic with that something extra! I know that DARK TRANQUILITY is supposed to be simmilar but those vocals are to much for me, don't judge me I'm not dissing but that's sick! So I think you get the idea. THANX!

Soilwork, Detonation, Darkane and Within Y all have the screechier sort of growls that In Flames has. Scar Symmetry uses both harsh and clean vocals, so you might try them.

EDIT: You might also try Arch Enemy (ignore the thread asking why AE has shitty vocalists, neither Liiva nor Gossow are shitty).

Also, these are all bands that play in the same genre as In Flames (melodeath). If you're looking for other genres, check out stuff like Vintersorg, Ensiferum, Wintersun, Thyrfing, Falkenbach and Moonsorrow (folk/Viking metal tends to have less harsh vocals than death metal but still be fairly energetic).

I'm sure I'll think of ten other bands to recommend in the next half-hour.

What are you, gay?

If you're going to listen to pseudo metal shit like that, you can fuck right off. It's no indication whatsoever of what metal is about and shouldn't be given a second listen.

Grow yourself some balls and start with the classics of the genre, then if you still think N*FlAyMeZ is worth listening to, you can just give up on the genre completely.


[Moderator: You could have made your point without flaming the guy. Totally out of line.]

Asshole. :roll:

Listen to Carnifex, she knows her stuff.

Asshole? He wants guidance in the metal genre, and the last thing he needs to see when just starting out is a big list full of pseudo metal crap that doesn't represent the genre at all.

Oh, for crying out loud. You want to sit there and tell me that all the bands I mentioned aren't metal? Ensiferum aren't metal? Moonsorrow aren't metal? Not only is that one of the most ludicrous things I've ever heard, it's also one of the most useless. So this guy (or girl, Mikki is generally a girl's name, at least in America) doesn't like harsh vocals. That's perfectly fine. I used to hate growls too; it was through bands like Arch Enemy that I got used to (and eventually grew to love) them. In Flames didn't always suck; Subterranean, Lunar Strain, The Jester Race and Whoracle are all awesome albums, and even Clayman has its moments. Saying that you have to start off with the most br00thul death metal is foolish and, quite frankly, naive.

As a final note, mikki might also enjoy Children of Bodom or Imperanon.

Not necessarly not metal, just a bad representation of the genre. If they don't enjoy screams, they should still start out with some of the classics without screams. They like Iron Maiden, so that's a good start, but moving to In Flames from there is not.

They should first try the classics of the genre and progress into whatever appeals to them, not jump right into the easy listening stuff that came later missing out on all of the classics, history, and a whole slew of good bands.

I'm not saying start with "the most br00thal" death metal, becuase I think most brutal death metal is queer anyway. I'm saying start with metal that represents what metal is about and the classics of the genre.

And for the record, I think In Flames has always been crap.

"Classics" of the genre? What genre do you think we're talking about here? They mentioned In Flames and Dark Tranquillity; those are both melodic death. "Classics" include At The Gates and "Heartwork" by Carcass. After that, you've got old Arch Enemy, old In Flames, old Soilwork, etc.

Furthermore, why shouldn't they start listening to what appeals to them, and move on from there? Are you saying there's a right and wrong way to listen to metal? Please, enlighten us puny mortals as to the correct way to listen to metal.

By Classics, I mean of metal in general. Thrash, Death, Black, whatever. I am not talking about melodic death so much as metal in genreal, referring to the thread title about needing guidance.

Starting in what appeals to you isn't necessarly bad, but when somebody is trying to get into metal, starting with In Flames, no matter how "easy on the ears" it may be, isn't a good idea. You miss out on the classics and have to come back to them later.


Megadeth - Rust in Peace, Peace Sells
Exodus - Bonded by Blood
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill, Terrible Certainty
Sodom - Persecution Mania, Agent Orange
Bathory - s/t, Blood Fire Death, Under The Sign
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Darkthrone - Trasylvanian Hunger, A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Det Son Engang Var
Obituary - Cause of Death, Slowly We Rot
Entombed - Left Hand Path, Nihilist Demos
Autopsy - Severed Survival, Mental Funeral
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness, Blessed are the Sick

I think you get the idea of what I mean by classic. These all helped their respective genre progress, and should help a first time listener decide what he/she likes. It's good to check out what you're interested in, but a thread asking for metal guidance with a big list of later metal that doesn't represent the genre at all and no essentials/classics doesn't make any sense at all to me.

So they want to explore Melodic Death? Why not figure out where it came from, listening to the Iron Maiden influence, then old-school swedish death, Carcass, At the Gates, etc?

What I'm saying is starting with stuff like In Flames, Soilwork, etc. is working in reverse, and basically gives a false idea of what metal is all about.

For Melodic Death Recommendations, besides the ones I listed above:

Eucharist - Mirrorworlds
Dismember - Like an Ever Flowing Stream (Not quite Melodic Death, but tons of melody)
Intestine Baalism - Banquet in the Darkness
Autumn Leaves - As Night Conquers Day
Arghoslent - Incorrigible Bigotry
Amorphis - Tales From the Thousand Lakes

There's no proper way to listen to metal, only a better way of going about getting into the genre.

You know, I had a whole huge response to all the incredibly stupid points you made, but I really think this sums it up:

So what you're saying is that there's no proper way of listening to metal, you just have to discover it in a certain way for your experience to be valid.

Clearly you have your head shoved so far up your ass, you not only missed the point of the original post (recommending Obituary and Dismember to someone who thinks Mikael Stanne's vocals are too harsh is incredibly stupid) but you also managed to make a fool of yourself in the process. Congratulations.

You don't have to discover it in a certain way to be valid, just that starting from the beginning makes more sense and makes sure that you try everything and know what you like rather than starting in a random place and backtracking all over the genre until you figure out what you like. Personally I started with In Flames, etc, and consider my experience very valid, so there goes your point.

(As to missing the point of the first post, they want guidance in metal (specifically melodic death) and that's what I've covered. Not the In Flames stuff, but still pretaining to the post.)

If you want to start with me about recommending harsh vocals, at least look at the black metal releases. If you see those and comment about how I'm recommending releases with too harsh of vocals, you are the idiot. I'm recommending classics, not easy listening.

This is what I mean. When you start with all this easy listening stuff, you get this false idea that it's what metal is about and are missing out on the entire point. Therefore it makes more sense to start in the beginning and work your way through it picking out what you like and don't like, then moving on from there.

So I am humiliating myself for thinking somebody should start at the beginning, rather than randomly throw themselves into different parts of metal and miss out on all of the classics? I wish somebody had told ME this when I started.

Clearly, I am an idiot, because I have no idea what you're talking about. Personally, I was entirely unaware that metal has a universal point that everyone must understand, and which can only be understood by listening to releases in a certain order.

Where are you getting that it has to be done in a certain order? I'm merely suggesting an order that makes more sense to me and an order I wish I started in.

If they never want to get further into the genre than In Flames, etc, then fine, they can think whatever they want of the genre, but I'm saying that In Flames, etc, aren't representative of the rest of the genre and they'll get a false idea of what metal sounds like. When I say what it's about, I mean how it sounds and what feeling it conveys, etc, etc, etc.

For example, I started with In Flames, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy, etc. I thought that this is what Death Metal was and thought that most metal was like this. When you're starting you have no idea. This was a false idea of what it was about, and when I decided I wanted to get into more stuff it took a lot of backtracking and research.

Rather than starting in the beginning and moving forward, I started in a random spot, and jumped around randomly until I'd finally heard enough and wasted enough of my time on worthless bands that I knew what I liked. If I had started in the beginning I could have done this in half the time.

As it's clearly a race.

I'm going to start repeating myself soon, so I'll leave the topic at this:

Mikki, if you want bands that are like In Flames, you have my suggestions. If you want an Introduction To The Grand World Of Metal, you have Aeothe's. Just keep in mind that there are a few things on that list you will fucking loathe, at least right now. Lord knows I would have hated Dismember if I'd heard them four years ago.

That is all.

Not a race, necessarly, but I would have liked to have saved the money on a bunch of worthless stuff that I got and had to re-sell.

And if you want something similar to In Flames that is actually pretty decent, get Eucharist - Mirrorworlds.

Why the fuck do you have to always give a Fuck-tarded comment?

Dude, it's probably a chick.

Man you're a moron.

Dude, you got pwned by a girl...

*Sexist, apologises*

Yeah, to the threadstarter- listen to Carnifex...