Metallica's new album, Sep 12th, your thoughts?

[LeoSeven]

Guess I'm more in agreement with Mushroom as well.

Personally speaking, i love the late 80s and early 90s music, to me it was more melodic.
Yes it could do with my age, or my personal stages as at early 90s i picked the guitar. But the way I look at it, at that time we had:
- "And Justice For All..." best Metallica album ever, followed by Master of Puppets & the Black album... (kill em all & ride the lighting come 3rd & 4th).
- "Painkiller" one of the most polished Metal albums ever.
- "Images & Words" weak vocals, but impressive musicians and off-beats.
- "Hysteria", yes sort of "electronic" hard rock, but that album was special.
- Annihilator, they were not that famous, but had some really god tunes.
- Some very interesting bands were doing some good music like Guns n Roses, Manowar, Bon Jovi, and WASP.
- Numerous albums were good, even to me "Faith" by George Michael & "Bad" by Michael Jackson were good albums

Megadteh seems to be the most consistent so far. Its ironic how i used to think that Dave Mustaine could have done better by sticking with Metallica, as now Megadeth seems more focused than Metallica!!

Guess I got dragged into talking about non-Metal music here, and that I'm talking from my personal perceptive, and yes I'm not in good position anymore to properly judge things as I don't follow music now as I used to do; but the way i see it: till mid-90s you had some really good music that focused on the melody... now most of the music seem to focus on the beat!!

It's all about personal taste, but I wonder if anyone would share similar opinion. ... And I still hope the new Metallica album turns out to be a good one!

[ultrablue662]

Fact, more metal albums are sold TODAY than back in the day. yeah, very low demand.

I know where you're coming from, the ill informed "the big old bands died or are dying down so metal buts have a small fan base" story.

Not true. Every band I listed moves between 200 and 600 thousand albums each release. The swedesh bands move AS MANY as metallica or Megadeth, in the 2 million park. A good 20 million albums are moved a year in the metal genre. 20 if you add its sub genre. That is more than were moved in 1988, at the hight of GNR/Metallica/deth/slayer....

Back then you have a few bands moving large quantities, today you have ALOT more bands moving smaller quantities. the end result is the same... well, slightly more today.

I guess you never stood outside a 10,000 seat amp. theater in 10 degrees to watch Darkest Hour, I have.

I agree that MTV and the commercial avenues wont play this... because it isnt commercial, and was never meant to be. Smart music for smart people isnt going to appeal to the masses and automatons that plague this world. Those bands that did make it big did so by luck and because people thought it was "cool" to like it. Metallica was a fad. The proof is that Justice sold a mear 3 million albums, but when the fad was in ful swing, the black album, they sold 18 million. A few years later, they were back down to 3 with load.

And in their case it was a very special situation. their main music and lyrics writer had just been killed. the remaining band members were... eh. Even Kirk himself has said in many interviews that cliff almost single handedly wrote their 2nd, and 3rd albums... their best ever.

Fanpyre, if you cant find good metal bands today, you either arent looking, or have been living under a rock for the past 8 years. I'll give you a list of at least 50 bands today that are big, commercial, and better than Metallica ever was. 100 if you want smaller bands.

Demand is VERY high today, and supply is as well. Especially with bands like Killswitch Engage and Avenged Sevenfold. I used to see these bands in around 2003 playing small 3000 person venues, both play the largest arenas in cities and move a million albums each a release.

This, 2005 ongoing, is the 2nd best era in metal, the 1st was around 78 when the NWOBHM bands hit the international stage. Sure, some of these bands you need to special order their albums from the states, but heay, you do what you need to for good music.

[ultrablue662]

The fact that someone stated that Megadeth is the most consistent tells me what Im dealing with here.

There is a big difference between a metal "fan" and someone who's world revolves around metal. a fan will state that oh, its not as popular now, and Michael Jackson is ok... and this or that album from my youth was great! (it wasnt)

The other kind of person has never owned anything other than a metal album ever since he 1st bought Slayer's Rain in Blood. Drives a black car because the world only consists of 2 colors, black and charcoal. quotes metal lyrics more than religious texts (That gets you into trouble) and would never ever ever say that the noise that is michael jackson is even remotely decent. it's not even music. and must play a few hours of guitar a day just to stop him from trying to commit suicide for the 3rd time.

A fan listens to the melody, and find out about the album when its on MTV. a metal kid find solace in the music, and gladly carves it's lyrics into his flesh as to never forget.

A fan listens to it as music. A metal kid owes his life to it. if not for it, he'd be dead. and that 2nd kind of person is in touch with the scene, and makes sure he knows whats what, because if he doesnt... a razor blade is waiting on top of his book shelf.

A fan see a metal band as musicians, a metal kid sees them as pseudo prophets.

Thats the truth.

[LeoSeven]

Originally Posted by ultrablue662

The fact that someone stated that Megadeth is the most consistent tells me what Im dealing with here.

I think you were referring to me here, but I got lost after that!
But anyways and like it has been said: guess we can agree to disagree and respect each other's opinion

[fangpyre]

News flash, Leo.
This discussion is too young too die.
As any EmiratesMac user knows, no music post will die before the 5th page.

Ultra, I think your last post is the defining post here.
I love Metal.
But in your terms I would classify myself as a fan.
And thus the lack of mainstream content.

I think a fair analogy to this is Linux.
Its going strong.
But, its not mainstream.
If I'm not a hacker / geek I won't know anything about Linux.
And I won't know how to reach it.
But PCs & Macs are easy to get.

As for a list, I would love that, please.
But one last thing.
I think it is better to focus on each band and its success than the genre in its totality.
As you put it, I guess the genre's pie is about the same size if not bigger.
But no contender has a large slice like the old guys did.
And that is what matters to me when I go out to buy a CD.
I see it, I try it, I like it, I buy it.
If any of those steps are missing I won't get it.
And it might as well not exist, as far as I'm concerned.

[Mushroom]

I admire you passion, ultra. You are a true HM fan. I too love it, but I prefer the classics to the new HM bands. I have many stories from me being kicked out of school for talking and showing pics of Ozzy biting off bat heads, Alice Cooper's incident with the chicken. Then of course there was my favorite WASP tee shirt, contents of the back of which are probably too disturbing to post even here. And then of course I cannot forgot how I shaved TS (Twisted Sister) logo on the back of my head and went like that to my high school prom. And all of the in the late 80s in the Soviet Union.

fangrype gave you a Linux example and imma give an example that might him yoru nerve but I think it will illustrate perfectly what I was implying about the death of HM.

That brings me... to... your car...

Its american built. Its big. Its got a huge engine. You can call it muscle car and you will be right.

HOWEVER!!!

You car has very little to do with the muscle cars of the golden era. And while companies make these cars now and people buy them, the muscle cars have been DEAD since the oil crisys of the 70's. What we have, love, buy and drive now can sure be called muscle cars, but they are just not the same and they are not as popular as the original Baracudas and RoadRunners once were.

[ultrablue662]

I agree 100% with the linux analogy.

However, as for the muscle car thing, How can you say that today's muscle cars arent as popular when FAR more are sold today than in the 60s and 70s.

I agree, they arent huge steel michigan made carborated monsters. but technology changes. and one where a muscle car was only found in a few places, today they are sold worldwide, far outselling the golden age muscles.

Dont get me wrong, I understand your point, NOTHING will ever be what a 1969 charger was, so much so that I am in the market to buy one provided I can find a black on black with a 440 motor.

But to say that they are less popular today isnt accurate since most muscle cars back then only sold a few thousand a year, where today they are sold worldwide, and much much more are sold.

I think what you mean is that back then, it was a fad, a part of americana, full on with songs glorifying muscles and some what of a national treasure. Today, it is very subtle... but much more popular.

And just a note, Twisted Sister and Wasp were butt-rock bands, not metal bands.

Fangpyre:

Darkest Hour
Arch Enemy
In Flames
Dark Tranquillity
Carcass
Avenged Sevenfold
Iron maiden
Shai Hulud
Kill Switch Engage
Trivium
Himsa
Shadows Fall
Night Wish
Night Rage
Stratovarius
All That Remains
As I Lay Dying
Atreyu
Avenged Sevenfold
Between the Buried and Me
Biohazard
Byzantine
Chimaira
Damageplan
DevilDrive
God Forbid
Down
Hatebreed
Lamb of God
Life of Agony
At The Gates
Mastodon
Otep
Poison the Well
The Agony Scene
The Black Dahlia Murder
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Red Chord
Throwdown
Unearth
Dismember
Amon Amarth
Blind Guardian
Children of Bodom
Slayer
The Haunted
Soil Work
Opeth
Kalmah

There are of course lesser known bands, but these are the heavy hitters of today, or (like of or so on the list) that dont exist anymore BUT were instrumental in shaping today's metal bands (At the Gates are the fathers of Swedish Death metal for example, so are Carcass, and himsa were pioneers of that genre in the US, shaping countless bands on this list.)

[Mushroom]

Yeah I know that TS and WASP are rock. I just said it so you won't think that I am some Justin Timberlake loving fan who is attacking your Heavy Metal beliefs.

[ultrablue662]

Ah! Like the snot nosed kids roaming around in black jeans and T shirts with SLIPKNOT on them? Gotcha! lol.

[fangpyre]

Thanks for the list Ultra.
I'll try to test them out.