Rock is dead

[Romulus141]

I was wondering if any metal would be mentioned in this forum. Although it's turning up in a rock thread, this will do for now.

Here are some other current metal bands that are putting out some amazing stuff:

Mercenary - The album "11 Dreams" and especially the soon to be store released "The Hours That Remain" (which I've... uh... "sampled") are amazing pieces of work. Aggression, energy, composition/flow, and an excellent sense of melody and harmony permeate these albums.

My Dying Bride - "Turn Loose the Swans," "The Dreadful Hours," and "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" are all wonderful death/doom metal albums full of gothic tinges. These guys are great at creating atmosphere, and the tempo transitions are quite wonderful.

Redemption - "The Fullness of Time." A prog metal supergroup with current Fates Warning frontman Ray Alder combines catchy and energetic speed metal sensibilities to the technical progressive realm.

Fates Warning - "X" was a good album that focused more on melody than on crushing metal riffs. Still quite the effort, and their earlier catalogue is quite accomplished as well.

Dream Theater - Whole catalogue. Granted, I'm a little biased here, as they're my favorite band, but nearly all their work is consistent and enjoyable. Good starting points are "Images and Words," "Awake," and their newest album "Octavarium." Unless you like really technical displays, I'd avoid "Scenes From A Memory" and "Train of Thought" (ironically, the albums that most fans show first, and tend to garner the comments of them being 'showoffs' with 'wanking guitar/keyboard solos') until you've figured out their sound.

All That Remains - "The Fall of Ideals." These guys come out of the metalcore wave, but do it really well, particularly on their newest album. Their singer, Phil Labonte, formally of Shadow's Fall, has a great vocal variety for this subgenre of metal.

Gamma Ray - All albums post-1995 to the present. An excellent power metal band that isn't afraid to have grit in their sound. Fast, powerful, and great twin guitar harmonies.

Blind Guardian - Whole catalogue. Another great power metal band, quite like Gamma Ray in that they're aggressive, but with a more traditional, epic take on their lyrical imagery. Their first two albums are more speed metal than power metal, BTW.

Symphony X - Pretty much their entire catalogue. They focus on Greek/Roman mythology for their inspiration (so it can be cheesy from time to time [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ), and their newest album's centerpiece is the title song "The Oddyssey," which musically tells the entire story of Oddyseus.

Iron Maiden - The classic metal band is still pumping out music, and still being pretty consistent at it. Their early albums are legendary, but their newer stuff stands its ground. Famous for pioneering the galloping twin-guitar attack that so many metal bands have emulated, both in the genres of power metal and melodic death metal.

Dismember - Their new release, "The God That Never Was" is an excellent return to their brand of death metal. Brutal and uncompromising, their riffs are also infectious. The vocals are growled quite well.

The Sword - "Age of Winters." Great, doomy Sabbath-influenced band. Huge, infectious riffs combined with tinges of early hard rock sensibilities makes for a great debut album. Vocals could use a little work, but an impressive effort.

Other good bands already mentioned include Mastodon (I think their material pre-"Leviathan" is more impressive, but less accessible), Dark Tranquility (Their newest album "Character" is great), Opeth (I don't like their new album much, but their other stuff is quite good), Dragonforce (really fun and fast power metal), Amon Amarth (great melodic death metal), Arch Enemy (avoid all albums after "Wages of Sin" however, stick with their earlier catalogue), and In Flames (avoid "Soundtrack to Your Escape" and "Reroute to Remain" like the plague. However, their new album "Come Clarity" is quite catchy, and their catalogue pre-"Reroute to Remain," particularly "The Jester Race," is definitely worth checking out).

Of course, then there's the other metal bands that have great early catalogues, but their current stuff just isn't worth checking out (Metallica and Slayer are poster-children for this), or great metal bands that are no longer together (such as Carcass). I'll leave that for another time.

[daveymck]

Its interesting to me that you included My Dying Brides last two record cos for me they have lost their way on those recent releases, the return to their more original sound hasnt worked, I still think Like Gods of the Sun is a brilliant album. However they are the best band at getting across the emotion of pure and total sorrow and despair. Anaethema are still the better band of their generation.

I totally love Gamma Ray every album for me is a classic.

I also disagree with you In Flames opinions I dont think STYE and RTR are that bad although I agree the earlier stuff is better, but they at least have tried to experiment and change their sound.

Although I can understand why we would have differences of opinion as I find the American prog metal of Dream Theatre and Symphony X a total turn off have never go into them.

[Romulus141]

[ QUOTE ]
Its interesting to me that you included My Dying Brides last two record cos for me they have lost their way on those recent releases, the return to their more original sound hasnt worked, I still think Like Gods of the Sun is a brilliant album. However they are the best band at getting across the emotion of pure and total sorrow and despair. Anaethema are still the better band of their generation.

I totally love Gamma Ray every album for me is a classic.

I also disagree with you In Flames opinions I dont think STYE and RTR are that bad although I agree the earlier stuff is better, but they at least have tried to experiment and change their sound.

Although I can understand why we would have differences of opinion as I find the American prog metal of Dream Theatre and Symphony X a total turn off have never go into them.

[/ QUOTE ]

To each their own when it comes to genre preferences. Gotta listen to what makes you happy [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I still like My Dying Bride's latest material the most though. The better production mixed with the complete sense of melancholy just appeals to me, I guess. Other bands that have a good sense of conveying this emotion are Agalloch and Cryptal Darkness (now defunct).

"Reroute to Remain" has its moments. I don't dislike every song on that album, but I felt like the experimentation didn't do a whole lot of benefit to their sound.

"Soundtrack to Your Escape," to me, was way too influenced by modern hard rock/nu-metal. I dislike the way Anders Friden sounds on this album, and he overdoes the quality of his clean, 'angsty' vocals. He cleaned up his scream and clean vocals a bit on "Come Clarity," which is why I like it much better. Also, STYE had barely any twin guitar, and the guitar tone (and production overall) was almost vacuum-cleaner-like. Very fuzzy. That, and I just didn't enjoy the flow of the songs, overly simple and superficial IMO (uninspired chord progressions, overly anthemic choruses, etc). That was my beef with STYE anyway.

I'm used to Dream Theater and Symphony X being love/hate bands for most people. Once again, more preference than anything else.

As for another power metal band album I enjoy, I really dig Edguy's "Hellfire Club." I've also listened to some of "Vain Glory Opera," but "Hellfire Club" has a thrashy, crunchy guitar tone and awesome riffs. I hear tinges of Iron Maiden throughout the album. 'Mysteria' really has an awesome chorus.

Nice to know there are some metal fans on 2+2 though. And, if you haven't checked out http://www.metal-archives.com/ yet, it would be a good idea to do so. Great metal archival site.

[CheckRaise]

I really dislike RTR and STYE. Jester Race/Black Ash Inheritance combo disk is my favorite In Flames album. I haven't heard their new album Come Clarity but I read that it is a return to their older days, can you guys confirm that?

[daveymck]

I wouldnt say a pure return to the old sound there is still bits of electronic noise etc on it.