[Fortis]

Oh man, everyone is tech right now. It's a good and a bad thing. I have a friend in a respected death metal band, and he says that he can't compete on that playing field, so he focuses on developing special techniques that make his own style more pronounced. It's an interesting theory.

Me? I just dick around on the guitar and try to play my favorite songs. I don't want to join a band or anything.

[Vaun]

(05-17-2015 10:12 AM)Fortis Wrote:  

Oh man, everyone is tech right now. It's a good and a bad thing. I have a friend in a respected death metal band, and he says that he can't compete on that playing field, so he focuses on developing special techniques that make his own style more pronounced. It's an interesting theory.

Me? I just dick around on the guitar and try to play my favorite songs. I don't want to join a band or anything.

yeah, its a beautiful thing, people taking their abilities to the absolute edge. It only progresses music as a whole. We had a devolution in the '90's when everything became so PC and metal was sneered at, then went more underground. People(like me) started getting away from soloing and into more bland alternative music. I went through a jazz phase and I think I am better for it. Had the trajectory kept going as a strongly from the 80's to now, I would like to think we would be in a completely different place.

[Lochte]

Mastodon is beautiful.

Animals as Leaders and Protest the Hero are my favorite of newer bands, though the latter is a bit on the left lyrically

[quino_16]

Any fans of Deicide? They kinda went of the rails lately. However, their first two albums are masterpieces of death metal.

[quino_16]

(05-17-2015 06:10 AM)UroboricForms Wrote:  

Any thrash fans? this is one of my favourite albums

Yup. Slayer, Sepultura and Metallica are probably my favorite thrash bands. Have you heard of Morbid Saint? They're a great band.

[TravelerKai]

(05-17-2015 11:28 AM)Lochte Wrote:  

Mastodon is beautiful.

Animals as Leaders and Protest the Hero are my favorite of newer bands, though the latter is a bit on the left lyrically

Animals as Leaders are bad fucking ass! 8 string guitar for the win!

[UroboricForms]

(05-17-2015 01:54 PM)quino_16 Wrote:  

Any fans of Deicide? They kinda went of the rails lately. However, their first two albums are masterpieces of death metal.

Hell yes, Legion in particular is beyond savage. Not as catchy as the debut but a doubly intense in every way. IMO that was the last really great one they did, there's one or 2 good albums following that (Serpents of the Light for example) but these days they are just horrendous.

(05-17-2015 01:57 PM)quino_16 Wrote:  

(05-17-2015 06:10 AM)UroboricForms Wrote:  

Any thrash fans? this is one of my favourite albums

Yup. Slayer, Sepultura and Metallica are probably my favorite thrash bands. Have you heard of Morbid Saint? They're a great band.

Yep, gotta love that classic no-nonsense brutal thrash style. Beneath the Remains from Sepultura is probably the apex of the genre imo. Morbid Saint is crucial listening too. Another big favourite of mine is Demolition Hammer's Tortured Existence album. I do love more experimental thrash like Voivod but for pure raw aggression nothing gets the job done like Beneath the Remains.

[Fortis]

I like Animals as Leaders, but I think that the project sometimes tries for too much and falls a little flat. Tosin is quite the guitarist, though. He will probably be one of the greatest guitarists out there if he manages to avoid the usual pitfalls that kill virtuosos: shitty management, lazy record labels, debt, drugs, alcohol or divorce rape.

I have a friend who is close with some people in that circle, so I often hear a lot of the metal gossip. Ha. Not much dirt on Tosin that strikes me particularly believable. Apparently, he has a big ego, but I don't see that as much of a character fault. I'm not paying him to be nice to me. I just want him to shred like an animal.

Speaking of awesome metal guitarists, I've always been partial to this man:

He's not exactly a shredder, but I think he's always writing the sorts of riffs I enjoy:

[TravelerKai]

I've heard Tosin is cocky too, but what musicians at that level of elite skillet isn't? Victor Wooten is egotistical as well. If people called you the Michael Jordan of the bass guitar, you probably would too.

They are both extremely meticulous in their preparation and as a result they become self aware of how good they are.

[UroboricForms]

I've seen Gorguts live and spent a few minutes chatting to Lemay. Great guy. They're probably my favourite death metal band, the show was just blindingly good.

[Fortis]

I'm not against it. I'm not paying these guys to be nice. I'm paying them money to be awesome musicians. If a guy is feeling himself because he's good I'm all for it. Humility is a good value, but I do think a lot of guys just use it as an excuse to underachieve and be pussies.

All that said, I have yet to meet Wooten or Abasi, so I can't actually say any of that is true. If a metal guitarist is able to draw in crowds on his name alone, that is a really wonderful thing.Making it in metal takes pro-management skills, raw talent and a pair of brassy balls. These labels don't play around and have taken bands down with debt. What makes it even worse is that the genre is glutted with a lot of talentless hacks, so it's so hard to be heard. I knew this one band that stole another bands entire album and put it on their Soundcloud as though it were their own. It's a grimy genre if you're not really about it.

One of my favorite bands from about 10 years ago !T.O.O.H.! Originally broke up because Eachache (I think) records debt raped them when they were young and inexperienced in the music industry. I'm sure a ton of other bands I liked went that route as well.

[Honorable Man]

I like System of a Down, Mastodon, and Queens of the Stone Age. Outside of that, I don't find the genre to hook me in a significant way. Maybe if I played guitar this would be different, but I'm too biased towards a focus on melody.

[TravelerKai]

(05-17-2015 04:31 PM)Honorable Man Wrote:  

I like System of a Down, Mastodon, and Queens of the Stone Age. Outside of that, I don't find the genre to hook me in a significant way. Maybe if I played guitar this would be different, but I'm too biased towards a focus on melody.

Queens of the stone age are not heavy metal. Maybe not even metal at all. More like hard Rock, like. Disturbed. System of a down probably as well. Mastodon is heavy metal though.

[aphelion]

Gothic metal is the pinnacle of metal. I appreciate lots of forms of metal, but nothing does it for me like the beauty and the beast stuff. Theatre of Tragedy, The Sins of Thy Beloved, Even Song, Nightwish, Therion, Tristania, list goes on.

I'm heading to Amsterdam in October for the Femme Metal Event. Possibly the single hottest lineup I've ever seen, and I'm not talking about looks. Lacuna Coil, Therion, Tristania, Draconian, Visions of Atlantis, Xandria, are you kidding me. Plus some stuff I never even heard of before.

[Vitriol]

(05-17-2015 04:59 PM)aphelion Wrote:  

Gothic metal is the pinnacle of metal. I appreciate lots of forms of metal, but nothing does it for me like the beauty and the beast stuff. Theatre of Tragedy, The Sins of Thy Beloved, Even Song, Nightwish, Therion, Tristania, list goes on.

I'm heading to Amsterdam in October for the Femme Metal Event. Possibly the single hottest lineup I've ever seen, and I'm not talking about looks. Lacuna Coil, Therion, Tristania, Draconian, Visions of Atlantis, Xandria, are you kidding me. Plus some stuff I never even heard of before.

Lacuna Coil's Comalies and Therion's Vovin are probably two of my favorite albums of all time. However, I think most of the bands you mentioned were putting out their best stuff in the 90s and early 2000s. I really liked the first few albums from both Tristania and Theatre of Tragedy, but they changed around their members and their newer stuff is pretty much unlistenable to me. Theatre of Tragedy used to sound almost like Candlemass, then they went all techno-pop. Nightwish went from having lots of classical influence and shredding to basically being a rock'n'roll band. Therion was death metal, then they gradually started to add classical influences and opera singers, now they've kind of went off the deep end on the last couple of albums, etc.

[Honorable Man]

(05-17-2015 04:51 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

Queens of the stone age are not heavy metal. Maybe not even metal at all. More like hard Rock, like. Disturbed. System of a down probably as well. Mastodon is heavy metal though.

Yeah, you're right. Kyuss is probably borderline metal but Queens of the Stone Age is definitely on the rock side of stoner/alternative. System of a Down too, although they definitely get a lot closer to being metal on average. I know Mastodon is metal, but honestly I only really like their progressive/indie sounding stuff.

I like the sound of sludge metal though, this is probably my favorite:

I do enjoy High on Fire somewhat, and I think The Sword is a fantastic band. Maybe I'm getting closer to the topic? I would definitely appreciate suggestions based off what I've posted.

[TigerMandingo]

Damn, thank you guys for pointing out to bands I'd never even heard of before. Checking out some of this stuff right now and it's great. My favorite metal bands are probably more mainstream, or at least known throughout the metal community:

Opeth
Burzum
Rammstein
Satyricon
lamb of God
Slayer
Slipknot
Marilyn Manson

[General Stalin]

Didn't know there were so many serious death/black metal fans on here.

I'm actually in a metal/hardcore band of local fame, have done a handful of US tours and put out a couple albums (working on our third right now). I listen to a lot of soft stuff these days, but I jam some hectic shit.

If it has ignorant breakdowns or is overly complex/mathy then I'm into it. I'm bored of run-of-the-mill deathcore and hardcore these days, though I always rock my old faves. Going to see Dillinger Esc. Plan next month.

[aeroektar]

Heres some of what I've been listening to lately. I get the best workouts when I have some metal going on.

[Isaac Jordan]

Huge death metal fan here (in addition to other metal genres as well). I went through a phase in high school where it was pretty much all I listened to. I remember going crazy when Napster and the like first came out, downloading just about anything I could get my hands on.

My all-time favorite DM album is Lykathea Aflame's Elvenefris. It is, simply put, an artistic masterpiece. Beauty and brutality effortlessly intertwined, as the intensity of death metal meets sublime Middle Eastern melodies amid lyrics of spiritual enlightenment. Drummer Thomas Corn also shows off some of the best drumming since Cryptopsy's Flo Mounier:

My other favorites:

Arsis's A Celebration of Guilt

Psycroptic's The Scepter of the Ancients

Atheist's Unquestionable Presence

Death's Human

Gorguts's The Erosion of Sanity

Demigod's Slumber of Sullen Eyes

Gorod's Neurotripsicks

Those are just off the top of my head; I've got a hard drive full of albums I could look through if y'all want any similar recommendations.

[Isaac Jordan]

Also, a shout-out to perhaps the greatest sludge/doom metal band of all time: Acid Bath. When The Kite String Pops may be one of the catchiest metal albums of all time. If you're into Kyuss or Queens of the Stone Age, but want something heavier, check them out:

[Lochte]

I've met Tosin a few times before they were big, have a fair amount of signed merch. He might be bigheaded with peers but with fans he was always pretty enjoyable. (Sully Erna of Godsmack is a great singer, but definitely takes the cake for largest ego Ive ever met).

Im happy At the Gates did a new album, not that it was superb. Older Darkest Hour has kind of filled that stylistic niche for me

[Isaac Jordan]

One more recommendation: metalcore group Memphis May Fire. They've got this bluesy, southern feel (especially in their earlier albums) that mixes delightfully with the crunchy guitars and screams/growls. Excellent workout music:

[Isaac Jordan]

The last post got me thinking about metalcore, so I felt obligated to post my favorite song from my favorite album of one of my favorite metalcore bands, Between the Buried and Me. This is off their masterful album Alaska:

[Other Barry]

Lots of good discussion in here. Great to see lots of metal fans.

(05-17-2015 05:21 PM)Honorable Man Wrote:  

I like the sound of sludge metal though

Alright, now we're talkin'!