Metal Music Chat

[Selig]

Hey everyone.

[Gzar]

Time for some underrated thrash.

[TheBertRam]

I LOVE Ares Kingdom, and have for a while. But that's probably because I've paid close attention to everything Nuclear War Now! releases.

[Marbles]

I love metal too, but what exactly is the dividing line between hard rock and metal? For example, would Linkin Park, Korn, or Evanescence be considered metal?

[Orrax]

It's kind of a blurry line, imho. I will say that I don't personally consider any of those bands you listed to be metal. Then again, I've only ever heard what's been played on the radio for Korn and Evanescence, so I may not be the best judge of those two bands.

[TheBertRam]

No those three bands would not be considered metal, the line between hard rock and metal hmmm. It probably has to do with the whole approach to the sound, like ACDC not metal but hard rock, but then Black Sabbath certainly has a good number of metal riffs. Yes that explained almost nothing.

[Seamus]

I'd say that lyrical content plays a role in distinguishing between hard rock and metal. There are metal songs about the same things as hard rock songs, but you don't get hard rock songs about 'metal' subjects as often.

If that makes any sense. It might not. Here's some death metal.

[TheBertRam]

Wow a new guy that has wonderful taste in death metal, from the sound of the clip at least.

[Gzar]

I'd say that lyrical content plays a role in distinguishing between hard rock and metal. There are metal songs about the same things as hard rock songs, but you don't get hard rock songs about 'metal' subjects as often.

Coven begs to differ:



But you appear to have good taste, so I forgive you.

Richard Christy's column in Decibel reminded me of Hypocrisy. They're going on my radio show tomorrow (more specifically this song):

[Seamus]

Derp, totally forgot about Coven. When I first heard about them I thought they were some kind of hoax (Oz Ozbourne and a song called Black Sabbath, a year before Black Sabbath? Come on!).

Wow a new guy that has wonderful taste in death metal, from the sound of the clip at least.

Aww shucks.

I haven't heard of Hypocrisy before, but this song is awesome. I'm predisposed to like any metal song about aliens and sci-fi.

Like this, which I just discovered:

[TheBertRam]

Now Nocturnus that's one I know of, great stuff except shame they couldn't keep up the consistency of great work.

[Selig]

One of my favorite thrash metal songs.


Great scotts! Incredible album, if you haven't picked it up yet.


Pseudo-Symphonic Folk metal. It kicks ass.

[TheBertRam]

Wow, I mean I knew that there were bands out there that sounded similar to metallica but that voice holy shit hahaha.

[Selig]

Wow, I mean I knew that there were bands out there that sounded similar to metallica but that voice holy shit hahaha.

I always thought of it as a mix between Hetfield and the guy from Metal Church. Xentrix are an amazing band. Near Toxik and Testament levels of underrated thrash.



This is awesome.

[Orrax]

I really don't think Testament is that underrated. They're kind of the proverbial "fifth band" to the big four and had a fair amount of success back in the day. Toxik's probably underrated, yeah, but I've never really been able to get into them so my knowledge of them is somewhat limited.

Besides, there are a lot of underrated thrash bands, imho. Anacrusis, Coroner, WatchTower, etc, etc. Or maybe I just mean under-appreciated, I don't know.

On a prog metal related note, Ron Jarzombek does some strange stuff (understatement):

[TheBertRam]

Underrated thrash, there really aren't even that many thrash bands doing something interesting to get that kind of rank.

[Orrax]

"Doing something interesting?" That's a pretty vague phrase; can you explain?

I will say that I don't really consider any of the current thrash stuff particularly underrated. The genre's for the most part kind of dead now, I think, as far as evolving new and unique musical ideas is concerned. Most of the bands I'm considering were bands that I think were either original and influential for their time but got largely overshadowed by later bands or were simply screwed over by silly things like bad location or lack of record label support.

[TheBertRam]

As in not just a metallica clone, does something different with the vocals are creates some stunning riffs. I'm fine with old thrash bands albums coming back and being re-released, I actually fucking love that. I guess I've just never been into thrash so I need something in the music to grab me, but then on the other hand I could listen to countless speed metal bands that all sound similar... god I'm a monster.

[Gzar]

That's why I've loved the black thrash renaissance. Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch and Vektor get so much of my love (though I wouldn't call any of them underrated besides Vektor).

Speaking of speed metal, I really hop blackened speed metal will be a renaissance. Hell's Headbangers had a nice run last year with Midnight and Speedwolf. That Midnight album in particular... So good... I just ordered me a vinyl copy yesterday (along with a shit ton of merch on Hell's Headbanger's site. They've got damn good merch). But anyways, Midnight:

[Orrax]

As in not just a metallica clone, does something different with the vocals are creates some stunning riffs. I'm fine with old thrash bands albums coming back and being re-released, I actually fucking love that. I guess I've just never been into thrash so I need something in the music to grab me, but then on the other hand I could listen to countless speed metal bands that all sound similar... god I'm a monster.

No, I think that's fair. After the initial explosion, thrash metal started engendering more and more clones and...yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

And Gzar, I'm enjoying that Midnight song. But I know almost nothing about black metal and have nothing to post in response, so here's some Diablo Swing Orchestra instead:

[Selig]

Related? Maybe. Kicks ass booty.

[TheBertRam]

OH HELL YES MIDNIGHT! I love that group, and their new album was certainly in my top 10 of last year, and yeah that Speedwolf I ordered a whim and was really happy with it. Blackened Speed metal, oh god I hope it comes back in bigger strides and less retro-thrash. I'd also say I know a good bit about Black Metal, easily one of the things I listen to the most along with Doom Metal.

[Seamus]

Blackened speed metal...?

...Continue.

Black metal is one of those things that I'd desperately interested in but just plain can't get into. I like some of the spinoffs but don't listen to any of it reliably.

[TheBertRam]

Blackened speed metal...?

...Continue.

Black metal is one of those things that I'd desperately interested in but just plain can't get into. I like some of the spinoffs but don't listen to any of it reliably.

It's hard to find good stuff as there are thousands upon thousands of bedroom black metal bands. And the countless number of Darkthrone clones aren't helping anyone, even if I have fallen prey to a few of those...

[Stij]

awww yiss metal thread

I love prog metal. Bands like Dream Theater were my gateway drug but I've gotten into tech death and prog death stuff like Cynic, Opeth, Obscura, Gorod, etc. a lot recently.

The whole "djent" scene is kind of tiresome but there are some really good bands coming out of there too. I love Animals As Leaders.

I'm not a huge fan of metalcore as a rule but there are some kids out there doing crazy innovative stuff as well. Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero, etc.

I can't really get into black metal but there are definitely some bands out there I can respect, like Wolves In The Throne Room and Krallice. Just not the sort of thing I'd listen to all the time.

Oh yeah, and I love power metal and I'm not ashamed to admit it


Anyway, I've been listening to this a lot lately:



Wasn't a huge Mastodon fan at first, but they've grown on me.

Incidentally, I'm seeing *deep breath* Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis, The Safety Fire and Today I Caught the Plague next week. So puuuuuuuumped. The last two are fairly unknown but they sound promising from what I've heard.