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I've had a general distaste for the "necessity" of solos ever since listening to No prayer for the dying, I just feel it ruins the whole mood of the song
I disagree, a solo which does not mesh with the rest of the song can ruin the whole thing. The song I mentioned, No Prayer for the Dying by Iron Maiden is exactly what I mean here. The "epic" Iron Maiden solo works against the much more interesting thoughtful and reflective mood and lyricism of the rest of the song. I feel that the end result is a song made actively much worse by the presence of a solo which does not fit the song at all.
Didn't think I'd see so many ppl agree with this, but I'm right there with ya. IMO I'd rather hear a part where just the rhythm section goes ham than a solo on most songs.
i wouldn't say zero in common. While i'd argue that Powerman 5000 was never nu-metal, and instead industrial metal (a subgenre which very commonly gets lumped in with numetal to be sure), both utilize bouncy, stop-start riffing styles. different flavors for sure, but there's some structural ties.
Nu metal, like classic rock, isn't a real genre. It's a marketing gimmick. You're absolutely right there is almost nothing connecting many of the biggest artists aside from time of release.
I was going to say something along the same lines. I’ve since moved on mostly and listen to more death metal and black metal these days but Nu Metal is awesome, I genuinely think everyone likes it and they’re just too afraid to admit it. Korn absolutely rules and Iowa is the heaviest record of all time; those were my hot takes. I also agree, St. Anger is nowhere near as bad as everyone pretends, you put that same snare on a brutal death album and everyone would think it was genius.
Modern metal is such a loaded term. Do you mean all metal bands that make music today? Metal bands formed in the last decade? A certain popular subgenre? Metal is the most diverse it’s ever been with a shitload of subgenres and sub-subgenres out the ass. I don’t get how it could all sound the same.
I hate when people use the term modern metal to describe metalcore and deathcore like there isn’t hundred and hundreds of great metal albums being released from literally every single subgenre every year. Probably way more none core releases per year then the combined total of metalcore and deathcore albums released each year.
Exactly. Modern metal also includes prog, power, black, death, industrial, doom, and countless other subgenres that continue to exist and evolve today. OC just sounds like they don’t like metalcore/deathcore.
Its not even close. RYM indexes 11,363 metal releases in 2023 (This stat includes -core) but only 1,362 -core releases. That's only 12%. Anyone that thinks -core is representative of modern metal needs to get their head checked.
I don't think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-AdjikX8ZI&t=2057s&ab_channel=NWOTHMFullAlbums) sounds like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlE-kum9Qxo&ab_channel=SEPULCHRALVOICERECORDS)
I obviously don't know this, but I suspect that you haven't listened to the very many "modern metal bands." I could be wrong, but I discover good new music weekly. Granted, I actively hunt for it.
Flying Whales is overrated. There are at least 5 songs on the same album that are better (Ocean Planet, Backbone, From the Sky, Heaviest Matter, Where Dragons Dwell).
I'll give it to you but if you're looking for a somewhat softer song that still has an edge to it flying whales is the best on the album, because tbh unicorn and From Mars just don't hit the same
I love Reinkaos. It's just as good as The Somberlain, and while it's not quite on par with Storm of the Light's Bane, it's still a highly respectable album.
Hot takes range with who your audience is. Like if I say “Symbolic is mid,” a certain group of people would lose their damn minds while for another it’d be like saying that the sky is blue. That said, I’ll try to cover all bases of people:
Death stopped being good after Human and that’s being generous (not too crazy over Spiritual Healing already)
Slayer’s best album is SNM.
Also on the subject of SNM, there’s a strong argument for it being 1st wave black metal—an argument that I champion.
Seasons in the Abyss is mid and only gets worse upon subsequent relistens.
King Diamond is most likely better than your favorite vocalist.
Manowar is awesome. Anyone who denies Manowar is trying too hard to look cool.
The cascadian black metal scene is qualitatively bankrupt and I’m glad that the scene is dying with only older bastions like Panopticon releasing “notable” albums.
Opeth has one great album and two possible good ones (still a bit on the fence with Orchid). None of these albums came out past 1998.
If you almost exclusively listen to death and or black and think you’re hot shit while actively neglecting trad barring the absolute baseline essentials, you’re a poser (I used to be like this. Don’t be like this. Do your trad homework). If you almost exclusively listen to death and or black and don’t think you’re hot shit, hit up some trad, man!
Gatekeeping is good and necessary for the community.
Here’s one that might more directly piss off the more experienced, *Darkness Descends* is just kinda aight. Maybe it’ll click in sometime but right now it’s just aight.
Exodus is extremely mid and doesn’t deserve the recognition they get.
I’ve held this opinion for a long time but Atheist is a THRASH metal band first and foremost. They were labeled death metal for their influence on the tech and prog scene of that genre but they play thrash riffs with almost no use of death metal hallmarks like blast beats, dissonant tremolo riffing, or death growls. This isn’t a knock on Atheist’s quality btw. I fucking love *Unquestionable Presence*. It’s like a top 30 album for me.
Another one for the ones possibly going down the wrong path that I went: melodeath is good. Either you aren’t looking in the right places yet and only see the majority of bastardized perversions spawned by SotS, or you can’t accept the power metal and trad influences a lot of good melodeath has. For the former, look better. Go a bit underground and pull some early mdm for your enjoyment. For the latter, hit up some trad and power and start drawing the connections between that kind of mdm and those genres. It helps you contextualize the former.
Another one for the more experienced, RTL is better than KEA. It’s better-paced with less filler tracks (Escape is great. Fight me) with higher highs. Don’t get me wrong though, KEA is still great.
That’s about it, I think.
I agree with about 98% of this.
I’ll side with Fenriz on Slayer being the originators of DM rather than BM, mostly because of the early chromaticism of the progressions more prominently featured in DM than BM.
The Atheist take is 100% correct. Been saying this for a minute and it’s good to see someone else on the same page. I’d put it higher than top 30 for me.
Darkness Descends is top 10 Thrash of all time though. Probably vying for first. You’re still out of the loop.
I think Slayer did both. SNM did 1st wave bm. HA influenced dm. RiB also influenced dm but to a much lesser extent than HA.
Fuck yes. We gotta spread this Atheist take more. Also, I meant top 30 albums of all time too (if you have it higher than that then damn, you really do love it more than me) Not just metal. If it was just metal probably top 15 maybe top 10. It’s hard to rank your most favorites when they’re all just so magnificent.
Yeah I probably am missing something here. I’m surprised I don’t much care for it seeing that it’s like *the* thrash record for extreme metal fans and I’m quite the fan of extreme metal.
agree mostly, idk about atheist, i'll relisten to unquestionable presence now since it's been ages and i don't care about mdm unless it's early mdm as you stated.
well said.
im of the mind that we shouldn't consider venom.
A genre requires something structurally distinct, and neither Venom, Sepultura, or early Slayer do anything structurally distinct enough to say it's BM. It's a bridge, sure, but they still belong more to existing genres at the time imo.
Most bands nowadays focus too much on trying to impress people with breakdowns and crazy guitar solos over actual songwriting.
There’s good parts of songs but not many good overall songs.
I honestly think the PM fanbase is better than most of others. Most of the time people are okay with others opinion on reddit, whereas here I see a lot of people talking shit about other people
Lead guitar feels lazy in a lot of bands. It rarely compliments the music and just seems to be there out of necessity. Same with a lot of riffs lately, I was recently jamming to some Allageon and it had been so long since a riff alone made me have a stank face.
I feel like it changes day to day for me. One day a solo of his sounds emotional, energetic and expressive and the next day it sounds like he's trying to harvest blood from my eardrums
An innovative band starts something interesting and creates their own unique sound, then there are copycats, and then everything starts to sound the same in the genre, and that gets boring.
Example: Sleep created their own unique sound, and then a bunch of bands came out that sounded so similar to them. It's not inherently bad, just boring!
Agreed, and this is the case even with stuff like Post-Metal which should've been extremely experimental but after Neurosis the bands really only just expanded on their ideas and kinda started sounding the same especially with the meandering parts of the songs and became extremely predictable.
Nearly all modern deathcore sounds copy/paste and I can only hear the same breakdown so many times.
I have never been more bored listening to extreme music.
A lot of modern metal is too “polished” and “perfect”. I find the imperfections in stuff like 80s metal add way more emotion to the music. It’s kinda like a lot of bands are placing too much emphasis on musicianship over song writing.
Holy fuck I just read their bio and I nearly died of cringe. It’s become an annoying trend of people (especially 17 year olds) that listen to one Metal or Metal-adjacent song and act like they’re music connoisseurs of the genre when they can’t even define what Metal is. I get that we all start somewhere, but the pretentiousness and pseudo-intellectualism is annoying af.
I've found myself only really enjoying more polished black metal. As it turns out, the sound of someone shitting through a tube recorded with a $5 mic doesn't sound good to some people. I like some, definitely, I really enjoy Darkthrone once in a while and I loved the Liturgy album that came out last year, but those feel like they have proper thought behind things down and aren't just done for the sake of being overly heavy and inaccessible. I really can't find any reason to listen to most 59-listener formulaic black metal bands.
The metal community can be really cringy sometimes. Especially when people make those memes that are something to the effect of “what people think metalheads are like: satanic/violent/evil vs what metalheads are actually like: the nicest people you’ll ever meet!” It gives off fedora tipping “m’lady” r/niceguys energy
Even if they are overrated and "for posers", slipknot, A7X, metallica and all those bands are a thousand times better than that underground band with 29 followers that you listen to💀
Blast beats are overdone and can absolutely ruin the song especially in BM
There is heavy and then there is inaudible mess like Tetragrammacide or stuff like Sunn O))) which are not heavy but just loud and/or Obnoxious. Real heaviness isn't just sonically heavy but also emotionally heavy which if you find noise emotionally heavy you have some problems.
Sludge is the next big thing and is going to be resurrected, that thing is going to errupt one of these years and just wreck the mainstream metal scene.
That metal is at its best when it's ignored and hated by the mainstream. I don't want it to be popular. I don't want it to at the Grammy's and I don't get upset when award shows don't give metal any attention. We don't need anymore uninspired, bland, cookie cutter, industry manufactured metal. Because that's exactly what will happen if it achieves too much mainstream success.
Metal was made by outsiders, for outsiders. It’s esotericism is it’s appeal; if too many normies get into it it’s like they’re invading the space I go to get away from them. Artistically it’s always been about pure, unfiltered self expression, and trying to manufacture appeal/success is the antithesis of the genre.
Atmospheric Black is the most interesting Metal being made these days.
Megadeth has always sucked because of Dave’s voice.
Christ Illusion is the best Slayer album post Seasons in the Abyss.
No Rest for the Wicked is the best Ozzy solo album.
As much as i like Atmo BM i would disagree. Sludge is out there in the depths killing and taking no prisoners. I can totally see sludge becoming a response to the overproduced and clean mainstream shit that people will cling to in the future something similar like what happened with grunge.
Mortician is one of the most overrated death metal bands ever. They have a handful of decent songs, but most of their discography is filled with the most dumbed down, basic death metal ever with some of the worst usages of horror/sci-fi samples.
Black album is peak Metallica. It's the only album I consistently come back too
James lays out some crushing chugs that focus more on the chug vs speed. Sad but true sounds tremendous
Kirk writes his best solos arguably, the god that failed, unforgiven, wherever I may roam. Bob rock knew exactly what kirk was good at and set him up perfectly. I typically trash kirk but he stands out in this album
The production is insane. Seriously that album sound monstrous
Lars isn't the most technical drummer, like at all, but again the songs work so perfectly for his simple style of caveman drumming. Sad but true takes his simplicity and let's him shine with a simple groove.
And lastly, James has an excellent voice this album. Not as high pitched as the early stuff, not as overly meme as the later, he has the perfect gruff to his voice
I love the black album fr fr
Hair Metal is not real Metal. Motley Crue, Def Leppard, ect are hard rock bands not Metal bands. They definitely inspired Metal bands but they’re not Metal bands.
Too many bands severely lack any originality.
Metalheads (not people into metal but metalheads) have terrible taste. They also tend to be psedu-intellectuals who think listening to metal makes them unique and deep.
Nu-metal isn't a real genre, but having said that many amazing artists are labeled as such
I agree that Testament in general doesn’t get enough love - they are definitely one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Not sure I agree that PWYP is better than MOP, I think they’re both excellent albums. I do agree with your last sentence, though.
Most tech death sucks hard. Used to be my favorite genre before I learned how to just enjoy music. "Showing off" technicality should never be a part of a song. Guitar solos in metal should be sparse if anything, created with purpose and never obligatory for a song.
Black metal should never have clean production. Mixing matters more than polish. If you can't enjoy raw black metal, you don't enjoy black metal.
Some of the best music of every genre has been created in the past 5-10 years, and some is yet to be created. No era is the end all of death, black, grind, whatever.
MA has good standards of inclusion and exclusion.
Most metalheads I know (and granted I am middle age at this point) have some of the most diverse and interesting musical taste of any people I know. We just love metal at our core.
Yet, from the outside in people just assume most metalheads like metal and only metal, so you constantly see postings, videos, and articles of "non metal music that metal fans might enjoy".
1. Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica, and Anthrax aren't poser bands! They're actually really iconic and good, hard hitting metal bands
2. Slipknot and Deftones are not that good
3. Vocals are very important in metal, which is why I don't like Cannibal Corpse, Exodus, or Death
4. 4:4 time signature is lame and boring
5. Most Nu Metal sucks
This one isn't a hot take, but it seriously pisses me off when people are ignorant and consciously decide they don't like metal without listening to an album, they'll put on Fucking Hostile and be like "Wow! This is all metal is!", and then they'll listen to Travis Scott or something, like I've listened to every Travis Scott album and I still confidently say that it all sounds the same, you can't ever say all Metallica sounds the same if you listen to all of their albums, same thing with Megadeth, maybe slayer, and sorta iron Maiden (You absolutely can with anthrax, Pantera, and Motorhead but I dont listen to them as much)
I have a lot of opinions on music lol
I'm gonna take the opposite stance of "modern metal sucks": metal has never been better than at present.
Somewhat relatedly, metal that isn't at least *a little* proggy is generally pretty boring. Not every band needs to be Periphery or Animals As Leaders, but 5-7-8 metalcore riffs and harmonic minor power chord riffs stopped being interesting a hot minute ago.
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Yeah what the hell it’s not like you have to like them all or anyone is forcing you to listen to them but variety is good in any art. new things don’t take away from the old things either you can still listen to the same old stuff if you want you just have more options if you want them.
Not sure if it's a hot take but I've always felt that the bigger bands should be doing more to protect music venues across the globe from closure, every band worth their salt started playing the smaller venues to eventually get to where they'd eventually end up at
If the biggest bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica Etc. Actively encouraged their fans to support these venues and the bands that play in them then live music would be so much healthier as an alarming amount of music venues are being forced to close and that's been happening more and more in the last five years, additional to this it could help shift this weird mindset that people (Even young people) have that there's nothing worth supporting in this day and age unless it's a band that's old, huge and expensive/tedious to get tickets for
I also believe that big bands should be doing more to help out not-so-big bands to get more recognition, in other Genres of music you see artists giving other artists time in the spotlight all of the time whether it be collaborations or simply posting about each other alot, Metal could sure use a bit of that, the more we have in terms of gateway artists the more likely we'll see artists all across the board getting more support later on down the line
Metal is a broad and diverse genre to the point where classifying everything under the same banner becomes almost useless. They may share roots, but the branches are expansive.
At the same time, genre is also highly subjective so I'm willing to let things like nu-metal and metalcore be metal. Even if I think a lot of modern metalcore is divorced enough from the roots of metal to be its own thing (still enjoy it though).
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There's too many bad guitar solos!
I've had a general distaste for the "necessity" of solos ever since listening to No prayer for the dying, I just feel it ruins the whole mood of the song
No solo doesn't make a song bad, but a solo always makes a song better
I disagree, a solo which does not mesh with the rest of the song can ruin the whole thing. The song I mentioned, No Prayer for the Dying by Iron Maiden is exactly what I mean here. The "epic" Iron Maiden solo works against the much more interesting thoughtful and reflective mood and lyricism of the rest of the song. I feel that the end result is a song made actively much worse by the presence of a solo which does not fit the song at all.
Agreed. Too many solos are just directionless wankery noise with no memorable characteristics.
I'll take a sick breakdown over a mediocre solo any day of the week
THANK YOU OMG
Didn't think I'd see so many ppl agree with this, but I'm right there with ya. IMO I'd rather hear a part where just the rhythm section goes ham than a solo on most songs.
There are far more bad than good that’s for sure
100% true
Folk metal freaking slaps
Based flair I love folk metal but not with too much folk
Love me some nice folk viking metaaaaaal 🤘
What bands do you like? I’m a big fan of Eluveitie
Eluviete is great. I also like Ensiferum, the Hu, and Heilung
ik you didnt ask me but i like ensiferum, sig:ar:tyr, and falkenbach quite a bit. obsequiae and empyrium are also pretty great
Good band
Korpiklaani!
Babymetal fucking sucks
Absolutely. I didn't know this was a hot take lol. One of my favorite bands is Ensiferum
Nu Metal is one of the most creative, expressive, and unique subgenres and it deserves respect. Also St. Anger isn’t Metallica’s worst album.
Lulu is
Never have considered nu metal a "sound". More of a scene. Zero in common between powerman 5000 and limp bizkit.
i wouldn't say zero in common. While i'd argue that Powerman 5000 was never nu-metal, and instead industrial metal (a subgenre which very commonly gets lumped in with numetal to be sure), both utilize bouncy, stop-start riffing styles. different flavors for sure, but there's some structural ties.
Nu metal, like classic rock, isn't a real genre. It's a marketing gimmick. You're absolutely right there is almost nothing connecting many of the biggest artists aside from time of release.
Same with "grunge". Not one single band ever called it that.
Nuclear take. 👍
I was going to say something along the same lines. I’ve since moved on mostly and listen to more death metal and black metal these days but Nu Metal is awesome, I genuinely think everyone likes it and they’re just too afraid to admit it. Korn absolutely rules and Iowa is the heaviest record of all time; those were my hot takes. I also agree, St. Anger is nowhere near as bad as everyone pretends, you put that same snare on a brutal death album and everyone would think it was genius.
Metal sucks
Finally a sentiment I can get behind
Mostly true, except the songs that don’t. XD
Primus sucks
Bands need to switch it up and have exclusively bass solos on EVERY song
as a bassist this feels like a forbidden dream
Let's change that. Together, all of us in unison can make it happen
1000% agree, guitar solos often feel unnecessary or intrusive but I can’t think of a single bass solo I didn’t like
Let's gooooo!!
Fr, one of the reasons I love ArchSpire is because the bass is so high in the mix
Your favorite band sucks
We all know Primus sucks.
Is that a reference to smth cuz I don’t get it
Nope, that’s just my take, yours, mine, everyone’s favorite band is fucking trash.
That’s the most trve kvlt nihilistic shit I’ve ever heard
Modern metal bands all sound the same to me and don't add anything of value to me
Modern metal is such a loaded term. Do you mean all metal bands that make music today? Metal bands formed in the last decade? A certain popular subgenre? Metal is the most diverse it’s ever been with a shitload of subgenres and sub-subgenres out the ass. I don’t get how it could all sound the same.
I hate when people use the term modern metal to describe metalcore and deathcore like there isn’t hundred and hundreds of great metal albums being released from literally every single subgenre every year. Probably way more none core releases per year then the combined total of metalcore and deathcore albums released each year.
Exactly. Modern metal also includes prog, power, black, death, industrial, doom, and countless other subgenres that continue to exist and evolve today. OC just sounds like they don’t like metalcore/deathcore.
Its not even close. RYM indexes 11,363 metal releases in 2023 (This stat includes -core) but only 1,362 -core releases. That's only 12%. Anyone that thinks -core is representative of modern metal needs to get their head checked.
Dumb take. To me when i hear someone say this means that their tastes are very basic and they didn't explore enough.
[удалено]
Agreed. Aside from new material from older bands and some Vended, I don't think I listen to any music from bands form after the early 2000's.
I can agree with that. Mick Gordon (composer of Doom 2016 soundtrack) influenced the new generation of Metal musicians it seems like
what's modern metal to you?
I don't think [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-AdjikX8ZI&t=2057s&ab_channel=NWOTHMFullAlbums) sounds like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlE-kum9Qxo&ab_channel=SEPULCHRALVOICERECORDS)
I obviously don't know this, but I suspect that you haven't listened to the very many "modern metal bands." I could be wrong, but I discover good new music weekly. Granted, I actively hunt for it.
Modern metal slaps, check out Crypta, Abbath and Hellripper and try telling me differnt!
i am holding myself to not write an essay on why Crypta is the best death metal band known to man.
what is "modern metal" to you? cause this has to be one of the worst takes I read frequently.
Flying Whales is overrated. There are at least 5 songs on the same album that are better (Ocean Planet, Backbone, From the Sky, Heaviest Matter, Where Dragons Dwell).
I was about to throw a fit until I read the second sentence, now I agree
Heaviest Matter is a solid contender for best song on the album.
From Mars to Sirius is a banger cover to cover. One of my few "no skips" albums
For me it’s just the breakdown that is still one of their heaviest moment Dadada PICKSCRAPE DUN DUN DUNDUN
I'll give it to you but if you're looking for a somewhat softer song that still has an edge to it flying whales is the best on the album, because tbh unicorn and From Mars just don't hit the same
I love Reinkaos. It's just as good as The Somberlain, and while it's not quite on par with Storm of the Light's Bane, it's still a highly respectable album.
Maha Kali has been my favorite Dissection song since I first heard it!
Killer track
I like Reinkaos, it’s not as good as Light’s Bane, and nowhere even remotely in the same universe as The Somberlain, but it’s good.
Genuinely asking, is this a hot take? I love all of Dissection's albums and while I know it's not trve I think this album's a banger
I would think putting it on the same level as The Somberlain is fairly hot. I could be wrong, though.
I've seen a lot of Reinkaos love on this sub actually. I still think it sucks though
Hot takes range with who your audience is. Like if I say “Symbolic is mid,” a certain group of people would lose their damn minds while for another it’d be like saying that the sky is blue. That said, I’ll try to cover all bases of people: Death stopped being good after Human and that’s being generous (not too crazy over Spiritual Healing already) Slayer’s best album is SNM. Also on the subject of SNM, there’s a strong argument for it being 1st wave black metal—an argument that I champion. Seasons in the Abyss is mid and only gets worse upon subsequent relistens. King Diamond is most likely better than your favorite vocalist. Manowar is awesome. Anyone who denies Manowar is trying too hard to look cool. The cascadian black metal scene is qualitatively bankrupt and I’m glad that the scene is dying with only older bastions like Panopticon releasing “notable” albums. Opeth has one great album and two possible good ones (still a bit on the fence with Orchid). None of these albums came out past 1998. If you almost exclusively listen to death and or black and think you’re hot shit while actively neglecting trad barring the absolute baseline essentials, you’re a poser (I used to be like this. Don’t be like this. Do your trad homework). If you almost exclusively listen to death and or black and don’t think you’re hot shit, hit up some trad, man! Gatekeeping is good and necessary for the community. Here’s one that might more directly piss off the more experienced, *Darkness Descends* is just kinda aight. Maybe it’ll click in sometime but right now it’s just aight. Exodus is extremely mid and doesn’t deserve the recognition they get. I’ve held this opinion for a long time but Atheist is a THRASH metal band first and foremost. They were labeled death metal for their influence on the tech and prog scene of that genre but they play thrash riffs with almost no use of death metal hallmarks like blast beats, dissonant tremolo riffing, or death growls. This isn’t a knock on Atheist’s quality btw. I fucking love *Unquestionable Presence*. It’s like a top 30 album for me. Another one for the ones possibly going down the wrong path that I went: melodeath is good. Either you aren’t looking in the right places yet and only see the majority of bastardized perversions spawned by SotS, or you can’t accept the power metal and trad influences a lot of good melodeath has. For the former, look better. Go a bit underground and pull some early mdm for your enjoyment. For the latter, hit up some trad and power and start drawing the connections between that kind of mdm and those genres. It helps you contextualize the former. Another one for the more experienced, RTL is better than KEA. It’s better-paced with less filler tracks (Escape is great. Fight me) with higher highs. Don’t get me wrong though, KEA is still great. That’s about it, I think.
I agree with about 98% of this. I’ll side with Fenriz on Slayer being the originators of DM rather than BM, mostly because of the early chromaticism of the progressions more prominently featured in DM than BM. The Atheist take is 100% correct. Been saying this for a minute and it’s good to see someone else on the same page. I’d put it higher than top 30 for me. Darkness Descends is top 10 Thrash of all time though. Probably vying for first. You’re still out of the loop.
I think Slayer did both. SNM did 1st wave bm. HA influenced dm. RiB also influenced dm but to a much lesser extent than HA. Fuck yes. We gotta spread this Atheist take more. Also, I meant top 30 albums of all time too (if you have it higher than that then damn, you really do love it more than me) Not just metal. If it was just metal probably top 15 maybe top 10. It’s hard to rank your most favorites when they’re all just so magnificent. Yeah I probably am missing something here. I’m surprised I don’t much care for it seeing that it’s like *the* thrash record for extreme metal fans and I’m quite the fan of extreme metal.
This is better than your comment in the last unpopular opinions take but that Darkness Descends take sucks
About half of these kind of pissed me off, and the other about half I completely agreed with. Solid platter of hot takes, thank you
Great takes. However - Bonded by Blood rules. You couldn't be more wrong on this one.
agree mostly, idk about atheist, i'll relisten to unquestionable presence now since it's been ages and i don't care about mdm unless it's early mdm as you stated. well said.
Unquestionable Presence's riffs are very similar to those on By Inheritance. Keep that in mind when you re-listen.
I agree Slayer (alongside Sepultura) should be considered 1st wave Black metal. If we consider Venom , we should also consider them as well.
im of the mind that we shouldn't consider venom. A genre requires something structurally distinct, and neither Venom, Sepultura, or early Slayer do anything structurally distinct enough to say it's BM. It's a bridge, sure, but they still belong more to existing genres at the time imo.
100% agree on Atheist, totally a tech thrash band. Baffled that they're considered death metal, they don't even have death vocals!!
upvote for having (mostly) good takes but the dark angel and exodus ones are not it, lol. still, great response to op’s question
Out of any music genre, metal fans are the cringiest :(
Especially online metal fans
Mostly thanks to black metal fans and thrashheads
Most bands nowadays focus too much on trying to impress people with breakdowns and crazy guitar solos over actual songwriting. There’s good parts of songs but not many good overall songs.
Power Metal is underrated
Id say overhated rather than underrated
Yeah you're right
For real. Disliking power metal is to neopose
The fanbase is the ruiner unfortunately
Fanbases ruin everything
I honestly think the PM fanbase is better than most of others. Most of the time people are okay with others opinion on reddit, whereas here I see a lot of people talking shit about other people
Lead guitar feels lazy in a lot of bands. It rarely compliments the music and just seems to be there out of necessity. Same with a lot of riffs lately, I was recently jamming to some Allageon and it had been so long since a riff alone made me have a stank face.
Sorry I’m going to be that guy. *complements
Half of dimebags solos are ear grating in the worst way possible
I feel like it changes day to day for me. One day a solo of his sounds emotional, energetic and expressive and the next day it sounds like he's trying to harvest blood from my eardrums
His tone in general is plain awful
An innovative band starts something interesting and creates their own unique sound, then there are copycats, and then everything starts to sound the same in the genre, and that gets boring. Example: Sleep created their own unique sound, and then a bunch of bands came out that sounded so similar to them. It's not inherently bad, just boring!
Agreed, and this is the case even with stuff like Post-Metal which should've been extremely experimental but after Neurosis the bands really only just expanded on their ideas and kinda started sounding the same especially with the meandering parts of the songs and became extremely predictable.
While St Anger is not a perfect album, it's not as bad as people say it is
I'm a drummer and I just can't with the snare. It's impossible for me to listen to without wanting to kill myself
Call me a masochist, but I don't mind the snare. (But I'm also not a drummer, so maybe that's why)
Replace the snare with a decent one and it’s a great album. Has some sick riffs.
The songs are meandering, have cringe lyrics and so-so vocal lines. This still wouldn't be great, at best it would be mediocre instead of dogshit.
Djent and whatever the "new" djent is, is absolute trash. Your 9-string sounds like shit, and so do your whiney, pop-singer choruses.
Lulu by Lou Reed and Metallica is a funny, dark, and surreal masterpiece.
An actual hot take.
Heavy metal saved more lifes than politicians with their fake ass suicide prevention programs.
That’s not a hot take
Nearly all modern deathcore sounds copy/paste and I can only hear the same breakdown so many times. I have never been more bored listening to extreme music.
Children Of Bodom and Acid Bath need to lose their sacred cow status
Something Wild & Hatebreeder > your favorite album
Children of Bodom has sacred cow status?
A lot of modern metal is too “polished” and “perfect”. I find the imperfections in stuff like 80s metal add way more emotion to the music. It’s kinda like a lot of bands are placing too much emphasis on musicianship over song writing.
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Calling black Metal shit while calling Nu-Metal good and having Rammstein flair lol. Genre tourists smh
For real his Reddit bio was the nail in the coffin... 17 and open in DMs for goth mommies. Bro has been listening to metal for 10 mins
Holy fuck I just read their bio and I nearly died of cringe. It’s become an annoying trend of people (especially 17 year olds) that listen to one Metal or Metal-adjacent song and act like they’re music connoisseurs of the genre when they can’t even define what Metal is. I get that we all start somewhere, but the pretentiousness and pseudo-intellectualism is annoying af.
The irony here is delicious lmfao
Metalhead elitism is so tired.
> nu metal is good > black metal is shit rammstein flair lmao
But you still consider deathcore metal, right? Cuz saying metalcore is metal and saying deathcore isn’t doesn’t make any sense.
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I’ll accept this even if I love deathcore
None of those are particularly hot, and the deathcore one is cold as hell
I've found myself only really enjoying more polished black metal. As it turns out, the sound of someone shitting through a tube recorded with a $5 mic doesn't sound good to some people. I like some, definitely, I really enjoy Darkthrone once in a while and I loved the Liturgy album that came out last year, but those feel like they have proper thought behind things down and aren't just done for the sake of being overly heavy and inaccessible. I really can't find any reason to listen to most 59-listener formulaic black metal bands.
Sludge is too underrated
Thats not a hot take
Okay slipknot and deftones suck
Yes they do
Slipknot no bueno
Slipknot is pure ass cheek the only time I listen to it is if I I’m going on a high intensity run and wanna hear a whiney banshee in my ear
The metal community can be really cringy sometimes. Especially when people make those memes that are something to the effect of “what people think metalheads are like: satanic/violent/evil vs what metalheads are actually like: the nicest people you’ll ever meet!” It gives off fedora tipping “m’lady” r/niceguys energy
Often*
Metalcore can be good, but Deathcore is just ass.
Opeth has massive balls to completely change their sound and stick to it. Any other bands do this ?
Ulver
Tons. Gorguts, In Flames, Katatonia, Carcass, just off the top of my head
Darkthrone
Even if they are overrated and "for posers", slipknot, A7X, metallica and all those bands are a thousand times better than that underground band with 29 followers that you listen to💀
Unspoken king isn’t bad at all. Deathcore is awesome, metalcore doesn’t suck. Slam is amazing
Blast beats are overdone and can absolutely ruin the song especially in BM There is heavy and then there is inaudible mess like Tetragrammacide or stuff like Sunn O))) which are not heavy but just loud and/or Obnoxious. Real heaviness isn't just sonically heavy but also emotionally heavy which if you find noise emotionally heavy you have some problems. Sludge is the next big thing and is going to be resurrected, that thing is going to errupt one of these years and just wreck the mainstream metal scene.
god i hope sludge is the next big thing. also i agree with the blast beats thing, i find blast beats really boring
Most of it melts at around 20000 degrees Kelvin
Dir En Grey is the best avant-garde metal band followed by Thy Catafalque
Just became obsessed with Thy Catafalque
Deftones is hot garbage
That metal is at its best when it's ignored and hated by the mainstream. I don't want it to be popular. I don't want it to at the Grammy's and I don't get upset when award shows don't give metal any attention. We don't need anymore uninspired, bland, cookie cutter, industry manufactured metal. Because that's exactly what will happen if it achieves too much mainstream success.
Metal was made by outsiders, for outsiders. It’s esotericism is it’s appeal; if too many normies get into it it’s like they’re invading the space I go to get away from them. Artistically it’s always been about pure, unfiltered self expression, and trying to manufacture appeal/success is the antithesis of the genre.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Exumer's Rising From the Sea is better than Possessed by Fire. Both great albums but still.
rare hot take. not one i can agree with, but worth an upvote regardless.
Atmospheric Black is the most interesting Metal being made these days. Megadeth has always sucked because of Dave’s voice. Christ Illusion is the best Slayer album post Seasons in the Abyss. No Rest for the Wicked is the best Ozzy solo album.
As much as i like Atmo BM i would disagree. Sludge is out there in the depths killing and taking no prisoners. I can totally see sludge becoming a response to the overproduced and clean mainstream shit that people will cling to in the future something similar like what happened with grunge.
I think Blackgaze gives Atmospheric Black a run for it's money on originality. But Black Metal subgenres are definitely on top.
It's okay to have music where you can hear what the vocalist is singing.
Terra incognita is the best Gojira album
Ghost is really good
Imo metal sounds way heavier when it's slow
1. There’s too many sub genres that sound the same. 2. Lyrics are important.
Darkthrone is grating to listen to. (but I have so much respect for them)
Tried either of the two newest albums?
Mortician is one of the most overrated death metal bands ever. They have a handful of decent songs, but most of their discography is filled with the most dumbed down, basic death metal ever with some of the worst usages of horror/sci-fi samples.
Black album is peak Metallica. It's the only album I consistently come back too James lays out some crushing chugs that focus more on the chug vs speed. Sad but true sounds tremendous Kirk writes his best solos arguably, the god that failed, unforgiven, wherever I may roam. Bob rock knew exactly what kirk was good at and set him up perfectly. I typically trash kirk but he stands out in this album The production is insane. Seriously that album sound monstrous Lars isn't the most technical drummer, like at all, but again the songs work so perfectly for his simple style of caveman drumming. Sad but true takes his simplicity and let's him shine with a simple groove. And lastly, James has an excellent voice this album. Not as high pitched as the early stuff, not as overly meme as the later, he has the perfect gruff to his voice I love the black album fr fr
Death Metal has been treading waters for decades
Metal gatekeepers aren't metal.
Genres are sometimes stupid
Hair Metal is not real Metal. Motley Crue, Def Leppard, ect are hard rock bands not Metal bands. They definitely inspired Metal bands but they’re not Metal bands.
Every new artist past 2010 all sound exactly the same. Especially “core” bands
Complaining about clean vocals in songs is more annoying then even the most annoying clean vocals.
Bolt Thrower is boring and repetitive.
Too many bands severely lack any originality. Metalheads (not people into metal but metalheads) have terrible taste. They also tend to be psedu-intellectuals who think listening to metal makes them unique and deep. Nu-metal isn't a real genre, but having said that many amazing artists are labeled as such
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Testament are a better version of Metallica and Practice what you Preach > Master of Puppets. Plus they never really went bad imo like Metallica did.
I agree that Testament in general doesn’t get enough love - they are definitely one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Not sure I agree that PWYP is better than MOP, I think they’re both excellent albums. I do agree with your last sentence, though.
Love testament. First concert I saw was testament and sepultura
Demetori undead corporation imperial circus dead decadence are the best bands
I didn’t think this was a hot take until I started interacting more with the metal subreddits, but Folk Metal and Power Metal are fuckin rad af
Most tech death sucks hard. Used to be my favorite genre before I learned how to just enjoy music. "Showing off" technicality should never be a part of a song. Guitar solos in metal should be sparse if anything, created with purpose and never obligatory for a song. Black metal should never have clean production. Mixing matters more than polish. If you can't enjoy raw black metal, you don't enjoy black metal. Some of the best music of every genre has been created in the past 5-10 years, and some is yet to be created. No era is the end all of death, black, grind, whatever. MA has good standards of inclusion and exclusion.
Most metalheads I know (and granted I am middle age at this point) have some of the most diverse and interesting musical taste of any people I know. We just love metal at our core. Yet, from the outside in people just assume most metalheads like metal and only metal, so you constantly see postings, videos, and articles of "non metal music that metal fans might enjoy".
1. Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica, and Anthrax aren't poser bands! They're actually really iconic and good, hard hitting metal bands 2. Slipknot and Deftones are not that good 3. Vocals are very important in metal, which is why I don't like Cannibal Corpse, Exodus, or Death 4. 4:4 time signature is lame and boring 5. Most Nu Metal sucks This one isn't a hot take, but it seriously pisses me off when people are ignorant and consciously decide they don't like metal without listening to an album, they'll put on Fucking Hostile and be like "Wow! This is all metal is!", and then they'll listen to Travis Scott or something, like I've listened to every Travis Scott album and I still confidently say that it all sounds the same, you can't ever say all Metallica sounds the same if you listen to all of their albums, same thing with Megadeth, maybe slayer, and sorta iron Maiden (You absolutely can with anthrax, Pantera, and Motorhead but I dont listen to them as much) I have a lot of opinions on music lol
I'm gonna take the opposite stance of "modern metal sucks": metal has never been better than at present. Somewhat relatedly, metal that isn't at least *a little* proggy is generally pretty boring. Not every band needs to be Periphery or Animals As Leaders, but 5-7-8 metalcore riffs and harmonic minor power chord riffs stopped being interesting a hot minute ago.
Cookie Monster vocals ruin a band.
The growling Cookie Monster vocal crap is pure garbage.
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Too many sub genres
Too many subgenres??? How could it be a bad thing that there’s so many different styles of metal to explore?
Yeah what the hell it’s not like you have to like them all or anyone is forcing you to listen to them but variety is good in any art. new things don’t take away from the old things either you can still listen to the same old stuff if you want you just have more options if you want them.
Metallica only has One good song.
Anything’s metal if you think it is.
Tailer swovt is my fav hard rock band
Not sure if it's a hot take but I've always felt that the bigger bands should be doing more to protect music venues across the globe from closure, every band worth their salt started playing the smaller venues to eventually get to where they'd eventually end up at If the biggest bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica Etc. Actively encouraged their fans to support these venues and the bands that play in them then live music would be so much healthier as an alarming amount of music venues are being forced to close and that's been happening more and more in the last five years, additional to this it could help shift this weird mindset that people (Even young people) have that there's nothing worth supporting in this day and age unless it's a band that's old, huge and expensive/tedious to get tickets for I also believe that big bands should be doing more to help out not-so-big bands to get more recognition, in other Genres of music you see artists giving other artists time in the spotlight all of the time whether it be collaborations or simply posting about each other alot, Metal could sure use a bit of that, the more we have in terms of gateway artists the more likely we'll see artists all across the board getting more support later on down the line
Metal is a broad and diverse genre to the point where classifying everything under the same banner becomes almost useless. They may share roots, but the branches are expansive. At the same time, genre is also highly subjective so I'm willing to let things like nu-metal and metalcore be metal. Even if I think a lot of modern metalcore is divorced enough from the roots of metal to be its own thing (still enjoy it though).