Metal Reviews

I would rather refer to them as a "front person". I'm sure Angela Gossow would love to be referred to as a "frontman"...I wonder what her reaction would be?

For traditional heavy metal and power metal, the guitarrist is the most important guy IMO. That's where you will get melody. Remove Tolkki from Stratovarius and you kill the band. Same goes for Kai Hansen. And John Schaffer. And Adrian Smith.

For thrash and more agressive music, I think drums are more important.

I chose guitar because I like traditional and power metal more.

I believe there is a band that does this, Van Canto. Check out the best of 2006 on metal-rules.com where this band is mentioned. The only difference is, instead of one, they have 5 singers.

http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/index.php?id=14

Aside from Adrian Smith (who does contribute alot in writing Maiden material) you sited the main songwriters from those bands. The distinction with those guitarists is that they write the majority if not 100% of the material for their bands. So, it's not as much as a guitar thing as it is a song-writer thing. However, if you replaced some no name "joe blow guitarist" in an average band it wouldn't have the same impact as replacing one of the guys you sited.

Where is the option for: It all matters.

It all depends on the band or the type of music. For example, Primus wouldn't be anything without Les Claypool as their bassist...SYL wouldn't be very good without Devin Townsend on vocals.

Funny how I can't think of a band that wouldn't be very good without their guitarist (besides wankery like Cacophony and that stuff), but if I was to decide which is most important, it would be between guitars and vocals. I think I have to go with vocals, just thinking of bands like Edguy and Blind Guardian who have great vocalists and decent guitarists but are still very good.

EDIT: I'm surprised how many people voted drums...I really like great drums, but they don't really make or break a song.

I'm surprised too. I thought guitars would get the most after vocalist . As for "others", duh...... do trash cans count?

That's why song writing is the most important skill, but the thread was clear that we have to choose instruments. Since my favourite genre of metal is defined by guitar melody (mainly), I chose guitar.

Yes, apart from Smith all the guys I mentioned are the main song writers in their bands, but I assume they write the guitar parts, don't they? They dont write drums I suppose. Some may even write vocal lines, and when they do they must use their guitars to check out the melody. Anyway, what the hell do I know about what goes inside Tolkki's mind when he's writing.

I guess you've never played in a band? If your drummer can't play in time then your band will be shit, simple as

+1

A good drummer is more important than most people realize. A shitty drummer can negatively skew the perception of the rest of the band. I had a friend whose band went through three drummers before finding a really good one. It was really amazing to hear the same song recorded with the good drummer and the bad one. One version sounded very amateur, one sounded fantastic.

I just know that the vocalist is usually the least important factor and anything I listen to. I also think the "frontman" moniker is ridiculous in most genres of metal and should only be applied to whomever in the band writes the most music.

I don't know, my all-time favourite band is Maiden and I find Nicko McBrain pretty ... normal. Good, but far from amazing and far from defining Maiden's sound as brilliant.

I agree that drums are crucial for a song to WORK. If your guitar player is shit and he only knows power chords and simple palm-muting rythms ... your band will suck, but at least your songs will WORK, if you have a decent drummer. However, I still think it's the guitar, the melody, that puts real flavour in the music.

I think people tend to give more importance to drums specially when you actually play with your friends and you find out you CAN play some Maiden in your guitar but you just don't find a drummer that can keep up. Drums are way harder than guitars.

There's 5 good guitarists for every good bassist and 5 good bassists for every good drummer

I pretty much agree with that. Nicko isn't by any means in the conversation of best metal drummers, but he's competent. If he sucked, Maiden's songs would really suffer. The way I see it, if any instrument, including vocals, is played shittily, the song will suffer for it. However, to my ears, songs with awful drumming suffer the most.

I see your guys's points on how a band with a shitty drummer will suck...but my thinking was a great drummer really doesn't make a good band, whereas a band with a really great guitarist or vocalist can still be decent or even very good, even if the rest of the band members are just average.

I'd say the drummer. He is the one who sets the tempo of the song and is able to turn a shitty song into a great one. Frankly, everyone depends on the drummer.

I said Guitars as a good riff hooks you to a song (Think Rammstein - I hate the texture of his vocals, but those riffs just destroy). Dragonforce wouldn't be anywhere without their guitarists, yet they're one of the best around these days.

Even Iron Maiden - the band who has genius in every musician position - would struggle without the riffage of Remember Tomorrow or Phantom of The Opera as it was those riffs got me into Maiden, and in many ways Metal in general, and not the singing (it was pre-Bruce anyway, I suppose).

You're all right in reference to having the great songwriter in the band. I don't feel that it matters who the songwriter is or what instrument they play, as long as they create quality music. I voted for the singer/vocalist because they more or less deliver the "package"...so to speak. Kamelot's Tom Youngblood writes most of their material but without Kahn what would you have? I feel the same about Nightwish. Toumas has a fantastic musical mind but it comes down to the voice. We're all kind of wincing as we wonder who will replace Tarja, aren't we? I know I am.

Many bands have lost their foothold once their vocalist leaves the band. What happened when Steve Perry, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, and Vince Neil left their respective bands? Now, only a few have survived the loss of the frontperson...like Van Halen, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath...they found quality replacements and success afterwards. I think they're the anomily though. I could be wrong.

Agreed on AC/DC, but Van Halen and Black Sabbath kinda lost their magic after changing vocalists. Dio-era Black Sabbath is ok, though.

Hmmmm ... I'll have to sorta go ahead and disagree with you there...

Drums are the foundation and basis of every song (at least rock) and without decent drums the song will crash. Agreed on that part. But is this what IMPORTANCE means? If you think importance means what keeps things from falling apart, then its drums.

But to me, importance is what make things take off and go to another level. Take a look at the Eiffel Tower, without its foundation it would fall apart, but is the foundation what makes it such a beautiful landmark? No, it's the creative, beautiful and unique design it has.

And that's where true importance lies : MELODY. Everytime when someone asks you : "Hey, how does that Maiden song goes again?" ... do you mumble the melody or do you make "tum tum ta tum ts ts tum ta" drum sounds?

In metal, I think what defines the song, what gives the songs it's own identity, is guitar riffs, then the vocal lines. Of course there are exceptions where the drumming is so great to the point it makes the song instantly recognizable even you hear just the drums. Like Painkiller intro, or Raining Blood.