Metal Reviews

So what bands do you respect a lot for their contribution to Metal , but do not like their music for the most part?


Death Metal/Grind
Napalm Death
Cannibal Corpse
Deicide
Obituary (excellent at times, complete crap at others). Perhaps the only Death Metal band where owning a Best Of is a good thing.

Heavy Metal
Judas Priest

Black Metal
I can't stand it as a genre (unless Bathory and Venom and maybe Celtic Frost are considered Black Metal) but I respect the founding BM fathers for their influence on metal:

Dark Throne
Emperor
Immortal
Satyricon
Enslaved - respect these guys a lot. Yet I can't really get into them.
Impaled Nazarene - only like one song.

I respect The Ramones a lot, but never really liked them that much.

Pagan Altar- I completely understand their influence on occult doom but the vocals never clicked with me, and after a few songs Volume 1 just doesn't work for me.

Obituary-Slowly we rot has a few heavy riffs and Cause of death is much better, but compared to other Floridian bands Obituary has always been the dullest of the bunch. Granted, one can make the case that they don't sound like any of the other bands, but Obituary's heaviest moment is like diet coke compared to anything by Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, or even Atheist for that matter.

Cynic-Focus has its moments such as Celestial Voyage and Veil of Maya, but compared to albums such as Consuming Impulse and Piece of time the extremity level isn't as high.

Paradise Lost-I've listened to Gothic about three times and it still doesn't click. The leads are good, the vocals are ok, but the formula was perfected by Early SepticFlesh who were strongly influenced by Paradise lost. Draconian times was a good album but obviously not their best work either.

Asphyx- Some good melodies but the heaviness as well doesn't add up compared to bands such as Winter, Incantation, and Insatanity.

Those are some I can come up on the top of my head.

I was legitimately surprised to find that steve didn't make this thread

Anyway, I don't really listen to Opeth but I respect the hell out of 'em.

+1.

And my answer is, all of them. I respect all bands, all artists in general, even though I don't like what they do. Why should I disrespect them? And what for? That would be a waste of time and energy. I can voice a negative opinion (lately on some Iced Earth's songs, and Anthrax's Worship Music for instance), but that is no disrespect.

And before you ask, yes, I respect Linkin Park or Kate Perry, they're talented/clever enough to make people buy their stuff. That is respectable, even though I can't stand them.

edit: OK, I won't be a complete dick and answer the OP. Voivod.

Napalm Death and Darkthrone are my obvious picks.

Not really sure... I like, or enjoy most bands to some extent, even if it's ironical or for my own amusement like Limp Bizkit. Respect is something that I reserve for a few, who deserve it.

Pink Floyd (who I very moderately enjoy),
Pantera,
Iced Earth,
Napalm Death,
Fear Factory,
And many others, I believe...

Actually, just like Bruce, I don't see the point to disrespect any legitimate band or artist even if I really don't like their music. As long as it's not some marketingly-conceived product to please as many people as can, I don't have any problem with it (and we all know this kind of fake seldom happens in metal).

So what if it is? Blame the followers, not the artist. If people are dumb enough to buy crap, it's their problem.

The problem is this kind of crap has no artististic value whatsoever and no real artist at the bar.
And respecting everyone means repecting no one, in the end...

I disagree. Dumbasses need art too. Art they can understand, and enjoy. The kind of crap you're mentioning has an artistic value very close to zero, right, but still, it is something and it has its purpose.

*Boom boom poooow*



Hmm. Let me sleep on it. (Babay, baaabe...)

Radiohead again.

how someone likes metal but doesn't like Sons of Northern Darkness is mind boggling, that album is so fucking good.

Cause IMO pure Black Metal in my mind is quite removed from the rest of Metal soundwise.

I heard it a long time ago and never ever understood it. It doesn't seem to fit into Metal. And for a long time it existed on the very fringe of metal. It only became popular in the last 10 or so years.




By the way I don't refer to Venom, Bathory or Celtic Frost as Black Metal either - that's a retroactive change done by Black Metallers just like 1970's vintage Pentagram was relabelled Doom Metal in the 2000's - no such thing as Doom Metal in the 1970s.

Also these bands don't have much to do soundwise with what those Norwegians were doing in the early 1990s.

Listen to say Slayer and early Bathory - they fit. Listen to Darkthrone circa 1991 and Bathory and the Darkthrone's sound completely alien.


Not disrespecting BM , just my personal take on it. In fact I'm giving it a lot of kudos for being so revolutionary.

The thing about that particular Immortal album, however, is just how influenced it is by traditional heavy or thrash metal. Sons of Northern Darkness, disregarding one or two faster tracks, is crunchy, very heavy, mid-paced metal with black metal vocals. That album, sonically, is probably further away from Emperor's Nightside Eclipse than Master of Puppets. Listen to the track "Tyrants" and tell me it is more black metal than heavy metal.

And Norwegian Black Metal has been popular longer than 10 years, one only has to look at the success of Century Media's Century Black label in the mid to late 90s.

To answer the question:

Judas Priest
Ozzy
Megadeth
Anthrax
Voivod
Coroner
Fear Factory
Napalm Death (except Fear, Emptiness, Despair)
Fates Warning
Dream Theater (barring a few tracks)
Obituary
Deicide
Katatonia (liked their older stuff, respect how well made their new stuff is)
Solitude Aeternus
Candlemass


And I disagree with Bruce on stuff like Katy Perry. Kudos to the people making money of it, but at the end of the day, it is filling the heads of people that would be better served listening to genuine music. Bach, Ulver, Bob Marley...anything else would more acceptable than Katy Perry.

Surprised to see multiple mentions of Deicide.

I might have only really gotten into death metal in the last 12 months or so, but I instantly found Deicide to be the easiest to get into, and still appreciate them immsensely.

Pretty staggering that people don't "like" songs like this:

Judas Priest - (Take These) Chains

Megadeth - Headcrusher

Anthrax - Madhouse

Voivod - The Unknown Knows

Whatever your tastes, you have to appreciate good metal songwriting, no? Catchiness, hooks? Am I the only one that these still appeal to? Or does everyone listen to metal for its atmospheric womfg-effect these days?

My point is, I don't think these people can understand Bach, Ulver or even Bob Marley. They're not able to. They're stuck with their 5-year old musical taste, and this for the rest of their lives. For them, it's Kate Perry or nothing.

Would people start to listen to genuine music if the Perry, Black Eyed Peas, Spears, etc. were not allowed to perform? No. They'd listen to commercial tunes and ringtones instead. Because they are THAT stupid, musically speaking. The same goes with movies. Not everyone can enjoy [insert whatever movie you think is brillant]. That's why Vin Diesel exists. The same goes with sex. Not everyone can get laid on demand. That's why porn exists.

Etc.

Commercial tunes. As in Demolition Man! You can do better Bitenfils!