JBarracudaL:
You probably heard Forsaken or some crap, here's something a bit more Metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kONQ8cp3Tlc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDGSvbpB9Kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-w3A1KOPZc

They're Prog, so of course their music will incorporate time changes that go from heavy to soft.

I feel I need to defend them a bit because way back when, they were the greatest Progressive Metal band, they released some great records.
The drivel they're releasing now is a sad shell of what they were.

Haha...i really enjoyed Systematic Chaos...In the presence of Enemies was awesome :P
At what point do you think they started going downhill?

Rusty Bucket:

ANTI-SANTA:
I'm more into Classic Rock. I used to be REALLY into metal but I like Classic Rock better. Also I really don't like those band that just thrash the hell out of their guitars and just scream, I like my metal to actually have some rythm.

I can understand you not liking it, but to say it has no rhythm is just plain idiotic. Why do people hear growled vocals and instantly assume the band is talentless and has put no effort into there music?

since everyone else is doing this, here's my top list (in no order):
The Absence
Dark Tranquillity
Mors Principium Est
Abigail Williams
Archons
Prey for Nothing
Arsis
At the Gates
Behemoth

I'm not say they all have no rythm, just the low key ones that arent as famous as say Slipknot or Disturbed. Now those guys have rythm.

Like I said before, Metropolis 2 is the last album by them I consider good although I did like the second half of Six Degrees.
That overly forced Methul sound which started in The Glass Prison and HAS NOT FUCKING STOPPED SINCE is what killed my love of the band
They had substance, but got together one day, presumably after taking near lethal quantities of crack and decided "Hey! We're juggernauts of Prog Metal, we've established a very unique style, we have no duplicate... let's abandon that and try to imitate other groups not as good as us!"
I just don't get the direction they took at Train of Thought. (Though, Stream of Consciousness and the song Octavarium are very good and true to their old identity, imo)

I found Systematic Chaos to be "fun" and nothing more.
Clearly, it's music that requires immense talent to play, but you have to go pretty far out of your way to turn such talent into such passionless copy pasta.

Rusty Bucket:

The_Deleted:
No love for Meshuggah?!
Byzantine and Scar Symmetry are some of the more recent bands I've discovered.

Love Scar Symmetry. What did you think of their new album? I thought t was a good step forward for them. Gutted the vocalist left though, he was stunning.
I've been meaning to get ObZen by Meshuggah, what's it like?

I've yet to properly listen to the new SS album because Pitch Black Progress is one of those albums I've listened to non stop, so I kind of OD'd on that one album.
Obzen is fantastic, a real return to form (ie: Destroy Erase Improve era).

JBarracudaL:
Like I said before, Metropolis 2 is the last album by them I consider good although I did like the second half of Six Degrees.
That overly forced Methul sound which started in The Glass Prison and HAS NOT FUCKING STOPPED SINCE is what killed my love of the band
They had substance, but got together one day, presumably after taking near lethal quantities of crack and decided "Hey! We're juggernauts of Prog Metal, we've established a very unique style, we have no duplicate... let's abandon that and try to imitate other groups not as good as us!"
I just don't get the direction they took at Train of Thought. (Though, Stream of Consciousness and the song Octavarium are very good and true to their old identity, imo)

I found Systematic Chaos to be "fun" and nothing more.
Clearly, it's music that requires immense talent to play, but you have to go pretty far out of your way to turn such talent into such passionless copy pasta.

I guess it's a case of each to his own. I hear a fair few fans feel the same way you do about the difference in sound. Their earlier stuff was certainly unique, but i tend to think that "Falling into Infinity" was their weakest album (with LaBrie).

KyleTheAngry:

I guess it's a case of each to his own. I hear a fair few fans feel the same way you do about the difference in sound. Their earlier stuff was certainly unique, but i tend to think that "Falling into Infinity" was their weakest album (with LaBrie).

Certainly to each their own, afterall, matters of musical quality are all just opinion.
Falling Into Infinity was rather lousy, though I still prefer it over the subsequent releases post Six Degrees.
Falling Into Infinity had some magic on it, Lines In The Sand is easily one of my favorite Dream Theater songs.

JBarracudaL:

Falling Into Infinity had some magic on it, Lines In The Sand is easily one of my favorite Dream Theater songs.

A fair call

I tried reading in on this and was met with a ton of people talking about metalcore (which isn't metal), nu-metal (which also isn't metal), and bands I personally can't stand.

Now I will explain how they aren't metal: metalcore is just punk sped up with distorted guitars added. (Yes I understand some 'metalcore' doesn't fit that definition but pretty much 99% of it does, and yes I'm biased so that 99% might be wrong.) Nu-metal doesn't really play the same as metal. Its riffing is different entirely, it uses pretty much everything as a rhythm instrument, it's practically rap with electric guitars. It's all tripe marketed to younger kids whining about *feeeeelings* instead of doing something interesting, which makes me think of grunge before metal. I've heard people characterize it as having a base of hard rock and then fusing other stuff into it, but I don't have a wide musical palate so I couldn't say there.

Try giving this a read; http://metal-archives.com/ . Encyclopedia Metallum is a pretty good place to go for metal. I've found a number of interesting bands no one's ever heard of before thanks to it (off the top of my head, Kalijuge).

Kudos to the guy on the front page who namedropped The Absence.

Now, personal taste time! Doom is good, but I tend to prefer genre-bending doom that's mixed up with melodeath. Funeral doom is listenable but I generally save it for things like "I'm trying to sleep." Thrash is good but I don't like a lot of it for seemingly random reasons. Melodeath is great but I don't listen to much straight death (generally find it boring and when they go all gore-styled it's just ridiculous and childish). Tech death I find somewhat hard to listen to but when the mood strikes me, it's amazing. Prog is ok but I can't STAND Dream Theater and that's all any one seems to talk about when 'prog metal' is in question. Black I don't much like the sound of but I've heard a little done well.

Something fast (Metallica, Slayer), something powerful (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath) and something EPIC(Dio, Manowar).

Note: these are examples.

Not really up to date on what band is thrown into what genre anymore but I'm pretty sure Theater of Tragedy is metal, anyone heard of them before? They haven't been mentioned yet.

Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!
It's as bad as fanboys moaning about a console.
Metal is what metal does!
Korn and Maiden both get the juices going so who cares?
We supposed to start threads for every iterarion of every kind of metal to keep the snobs happy?

The_Deleted:
Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!

Watanking?

Copter400:

The_Deleted:
Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!

Watanking?

Trying to keep it civil...

Alphavillain:
Cryptopsy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pity theyve gone shit now. They need Lord Worm back, even though hes dying, or at least the black guy they had for a while.

The_Deleted:
Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!
It's as bad as fanboys moaning about a console.
Metal is what metal does!
Korn and Maiden both get the juices going so who cares?
We supposed to start threads for every iterarion of every kind of metal to keep the snobs happy?

Probably. I personaly dont like it when someone mentions metal and someone like Linkin Park/As I Lay Dying/some other shite in the same sentence (unless they say they arent metal) but I can over look it. Unless the person keeps doing it or something.

Anyway, anyone here from Ireland see Opeth the other week? They were amazing.

The_Deleted:

Copter400:

The_Deleted:
Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!

Watanking?

Trying to keep it civil...

Dude, this is the Internet.

I can't be bothered to go back 5 pages to check but.

This thread is f'ing metal.

That is all

The_Deleted:
Could all those Metal elitists w@anking on about what is and isn't metal just STFU!

Could all those non-metal emotionally unstable crybabies stop whining about how obviously superior our taste in music is?

I like most classic bands, my metal favourites are:

Black Sabbath w/ Ozzy
Metallica
AC/DC
Iron Maiden
Ozzy Osbourne
Megadeath
and Kamelot (a little)

Thats enough for me!

Shit, I forgot Atheist.

The_Deleted:

Rusty Bucket:

The_Deleted:
No love for Meshuggah?!
Byzantine and Scar Symmetry are some of the more recent bands I've discovered.

Love Scar Symmetry. What did you think of their new album? I thought t was a good step forward for them. Gutted the vocalist left though, he was stunning.
I've been meaning to get ObZen by Meshuggah, what's it like?

I've yet to properly listen to the new SS album because Pitch Black Progress is one of those albums I've listened to non stop, so I kind of OD'd on that one album.
Obzen is fantastic, a real return to form (ie: Destroy Erase Improve era).

You should give it a listen. The vocals have improved a lot, they really seem to have grown into their sound well.
Just finished listening to ObZen. Wasn't overly impressed, but i expect that'll come woth time. Really loved Bleed though.

TSED:

Kudos to the guy on the front page who namedropped The Absence.

Thanks, i've been name dropping them all over this thread, trying to get as many people interested as possible. They deserve the attention.

ANTI-SANTA:

Rusty Bucket:

ANTI-SANTA:
I'm more into Classic Rock. I used to be REALLY into metal but I like Classic Rock better. Also I really don't like those band that just thrash the hell out of their guitars and just scream, I like my metal to actually have some rythm.

I can understand you not liking it, but to say it has no rhythm is just plain idiotic. Why do people hear growled vocals and instantly assume the band is talentless and has put no effort into there music?

I'm not say they all have no rythm, just the low key ones that arent as famous as say Slipknot or Disturbed. Now those guys have rythm.

Of course it has rhythm, all music has rhythm. How can it not. What have you heard that has no rhythm? You can't say this stuff without examples.
Yes, Disturbed and Slipknot do both have rhythm. They are also both appaling bands.

RabidPotatoe:
Shit, I forgot Atheist.

Piece of Time!!!
Now you've brought that beauty up it's reminded me of
Sabbat: History of A Time To Come
Bathory: Hammerheart (an aquired taste, but dripping with atmosphere)

ANTI-SANTA:

I'm not say they all have no rythm, just the low key ones that arent as famous as say Slipknot or Disturbed. Now those guys have rythm.

Of course they have rhythm, it wouldn't be music otherwise. Oh, wait, I forgot that commercial/famous bands = good music.

More recently, I've picked up The Fathomless Mastery by Bloodbath, Vertebrae by Enslaved, OM by Negură Bunget, and I also found a limited edition digipak re-release of The Erosion of Sanity by Gorguts. All of those obviously come highly recommended. I also picked up Eld by Enslaved and Blot by Einherjer (both of which I'd downloaded years ago, but wanted to support the artists and have them in higher quality), the latter of which is an excellent power/thrash metal album with black metal and folk metal overtones and Viking-themed lyrics (which are actually quite excellent), and the former of which is known to be one of the best epic Viking metal albums ever released (it's up there with Hammerheart and anything by Moonsorrow, for sure).

KyleTheAngry:
Haha...i really enjoyed Systematic Chaos...In the presence of Enemies was awesome :P
At what point do you think they started going downhill?

Ever since Awake came out, they've basically tried to be heavier and heavier. The problem is that they're a bunch of silly, arrogant Christian pricks and their pseudo-metal image is so transparent it makes me want to wretch. They need to just going back to making melodic, progressive, and vocal-oriented rock/metal, because that's what they're good at.

ANTI-SANTA:
I'm not say they all have no rythm, just the low key ones that arent as famous as say Slipknot or Disturbed. Now those guys have rythm.

Those bands are not metal, nor are they even remotely decent. Rhythmic, I suppose, could be used to describe Slipknot, who pay people to dress up in goofy masks and bang on garbage cans. That doesn't make them good. In fact, it makes them terrible.

Speaking of Meshuggah above, I'm not sure what to think of their new album. I haven't bought it, but I have listened to a few songs. I really liked Nothing and Catch Thirtythree for a while, but eventually started to bore the hell out of me. They just strike me as kind of bland, and it's as if I prefer the idea of the music more than the music itself.

One of the problems i have with Meshuggah (and experimental/progressive metal in general) is that they often seem to experiment for the sake of experimentation, not because the sections drive the songs forward. I have to say though, Meshuggah's new album is already starting to grow on me. The double bass patterns in bleed are mindblowing, and i love the simplicity of combustion.

Rusty Bucket:
One of the problems i have with Meshuggah (and experimental/progressive metal in general) is that they often seem to experiment for the sake of experimentation, not because the sections drive the songs forward. I have to say though, Meshuggah's new album is already starting to grow on me. The double bass patterns in bleed are mindblowing, and i love the simplicity of combustion.

Yeah, that's why I say I always thought the idea of their music is better than the music itself... a blend between futuristic groove/thrash metal with some doom and progressive elements sounds great on paper, but half the time it just turns into plodding, mind-numbing drudgery.

Strapping Young Lad anyone?

The Kind Cannibal:
Strapping Young Lad anyone?

Meh. Pretty intense and great production, but again, I found myself tiring of them after a few months of obsession. The mild nu-metal and metalcore elements don't help either.

I would like to hereby mention that Gorgoroth is the worst metal band out there as of now.

Windir, Bathory, The Summoning, Wolves in the Throne Room...

Those are better examples of Black Metal.

searanox:

Rusty Bucket:
One of the problems i have with Meshuggah (and experimental/progressive metal in general) is that they often seem to experiment for the sake of experimentation, not because the sections drive the songs forward. I have to say though, Meshuggah's new album is already starting to grow on me. The double bass patterns in bleed are mindblowing, and i love the simplicity of combustion.

Yeah, that's why I say I always thought the idea of their music is better than the music itself... a blend between futuristic groove/thrash metal with some doom and progressive elements sounds great on paper, but half the time it just turns into plodding, mind-numbing drudgery.

I find them ok in small doses, but can't listen for any great length of time. I really like combustion from obZen though. It's more like a standard metal song with better drums. That's really the only reason i keep listening to them, Tomas Haake is a beast of a drummer.

Arsen:
I would like to hereby mention that Gorgoroth is the worst metal band out there as of now.

Windir, Bathory, The Summoning, Wolves in the Throne Room...

Those are better examples of Black Metal.

Gorgoroth are amazing, in my opinion. Yes, the band members are all complete dicks, but they have produced some of the absolute most aggressive, destructive and downright evil black metal ever made. There are bands I prefer, but you cannot argue with their influence or the force of their wrath.

Bathory is first-wave black metal and hardly comparable to newer bands. I've heard of Windir, but haven't listened to them. I'm not sure what "The Summoning" is, but Summoning (no The) is a two-man symphonic/atmospheric post-black group from Austria and produce some very nice and highly melodic music. Bathory and Summoning (if you're referring to them) are nothing like Gorgoroth, who have more in common with 1349 and the like.

By the way, if you're into more melodic black metal (without keyboards and stuff) then check out earlier Satyricon (first three albums) if you haven't already. I think you'll approve. If you want raw atmosphere, Leviathan and Xasthur are both excellent (though incredibly depressing) and continue the ideas set down in Burzum years ago.

The Kind Cannibal:
Strapping Young Lad anyone?

Yes. I like most of the stuff Devin puts out, even the goofy stuff. He'll probably never top City or Ocean Machine, though.

searanox:

Arsen:
I would like to hereby mention that Gorgoroth is the worst metal band out there as of now.

Windir, Bathory, The Summoning, Wolves in the Throne Room...

Those are better examples of Black Metal.

Gorgoroth are amazing, in my opinion. Yes, the band members are all complete dicks, but they have produced some of the absolute most aggressive, destructive and downright evil black metal ever made. There are bands I prefer, but you cannot argue with their influence or the force of their wrath.

Bathory is first-wave black metal and hardly comparable to newer bands. I've heard of Windir, but haven't listened to them. I'm not sure what "The Summoning" is, but Summoning (no The) is a two-man symphonic/atmospheric post-black group from Austria and produce some very nice and highly melodic music. Bathory and Summoning (if you're referring to them) are nothing like Gorgoroth, who have more in common with 1349 and the like.

By the way, if you're into more melodic black metal (without keyboards and stuff) then check out earlier Satyricon (first three albums) if you haven't already. I think you'll approve. If you want raw atmosphere, Leviathan and Xasthur are both excellent (though incredibly depressing) and continue the ideas set down in Burzum years ago.

Leviathan is the type of Black Metal I don't like. It lacks the beauty of certain other bands who are more atmospheric than overly hateful and destructive. Xasthur...wow. I tried listening to one album and it sounded like the evilest sowing machine I had ever heard.

All in all, Black Metal is good when it is done right. However, if it lacks the element of beauty then it detracts from the overall atmosphere of it. Burzum, Wolves in the Throne Room, Dissection, Windir, Bathory, and many other bands all have that essential element. Gorgoroth, though good musicians, lack that beauty.

Believe me, I know Black Metal front and back. Satryicon's "Rebel Extravaganza" is one of their best albums. Emperor of course with Anthems to Welkins at Dusk...is probably THE best Black Metal album ever made. I must make that claim here.

Thrash Metal baby... Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Death Angel,
Alternative Metal... SlipKnot
Death metal... Arch Enemy, Lamb of God, In Flames
Symphonic Metal... Nightwish
Groove Metal... Pantera, Machine Head
Industrial Metal... Rammstein

Just a taste of my metal library :) I'll clarify my faviorite is Thrash

Brokkr:
I'm a big fan of Progressive, Power, and Symphonic Metal.

This defines my primary metal tastes, but I'll listen to some heavy stuff from time to time...like Cattle Decapitation. They're a vegetarian deathgrind/goregrind band. They protest the so called evils of the meat industry. Soilwork is really as close to death metal as I listen to on a regular basis, though.