The All-Purpose Metal Thread: Part Deux

In CBR days of yore, board metalheads congregated in one of the longest running threads in the now defunct music sub-forum. This is its reprise. A place to discuss and share our passion for all things heavy metal.

So, let's discuss.

1. What are your favorite metal bands and songs? Embed a video if you feel so inclined, I've discovered so many new bands that way.

2. What's your take on the current, very fractious state of metal? Is it stagnating?

3. Will there ever be another Metallica, or is the metal super band well and truly dead?

4. What got you into the genre? Mtv? Older brother? Friends? Radio? What was your path?

5. What's your take on the very generational argument over what makes a band "metal". Do bands like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC still qualify?

6. Did you post in the previous metal thread? What was your handle?

Restarting the conversation, with 8+ years of new **** to talk about. Welcome back.

[video=youtube;3M-og8yGNeU]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-og8yGNeU[/video]

1) Way too many bands to select just one as an outright favourite. I've always had a huge affection for Slayer though. The first band I ever saw live. I'll post this classic:

[video=youtube;Y2e47wBWTV8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2e47wBWTV8[/video]

2) I can't comment too much on the current scene. I've shown little interest in the more recent generation of bands ever since nu-metal reared it's ugly head. The biggest bunch of oafs to ever 'grace' a recording studio. I'd be very happy to take recommendations though.

3) That depends which Metallica we're talking about. The sublime 80's version of the band or the crappy 'Alternica' 90's sell-out version?

4) I grew up during the 80's when the music was at it's commercial peak. There was no avoiding it really. God, they were great days for music, right across the board.

5) As someone that's equally at home listening to Simon & Garfunkel or Testament I'm not really comfortable pigeon-holing music like that. I'm a fan of nearly all forms of what's now called 'Classic Rock' and see Metal as just one extension of a larger musical genre. For the record, although they were hugely influential on the scene, I don't class either Zeppelin or AC/DC as strictly Metal bands. Zeppelin's musical oeuvre is way too varied for that. We're labelling music again here.

6) Wasn't on the old thread but delighted to see someone start one up again. Kudos.

Speaking of Metal, I recently found myself with a fair bit of spare cash and, VERY belatedly (shame on me!), finally picked up a copy of the most recent album by the Lords of Metal:

[IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Iron_Maiden_-_The_Book_of_Souls.png[/IMG]

I'm happy to declare it a belter. It's a late career highlight for Maiden. Although I thought 'The Final Frontier' was packed with good material also, it was badly produced in my opinion. That's not the case here thank God.

Up the Irons!

I so wish I "got" Maiden. Don't get me wrong, I really do like some of their stuff, but... then as now, their presentation is just too cheesy for me. When I hear Dickinson start to sing I think of Trey Parker doing his metal voice, and it's like thinking of something funny and cracking up during sex; the mood is just killed.

Again, I think it's a generational thing. I didn't discover metal until the 90's, by which point thrash was king.

[QUOTE=beetheb;2840008]In CBR days of yore, board metalheads congregated in one of the longest running threads in the now defunct music sub-forum. This is its reprise. A place to discuss and share our passion for all things heavy metal.

So, let's discuss.

1. What are your favorite metal bands and songs? Embed a video if you feel so inclined, I've discovered so many new bands that way.

2. What's your take on the current, very fractious state of metal? Is it stagnating?

3. Will there ever be another Metallica, or is the metal super band well and truly dead?

4. What got you into the genre? Mtv? Older brother? Friends? Radio? What was your path?

5. What's your take on the very generational argument over what makes a band "metal". Do bands like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC still qualify?

6. Did you post in the previous metal thread? What was your handle?

Restarting the conversation, with 8+ years of new **** to talk about. Welcome back.[/QUOTE]

1) I'll be honest, my favorite metal stuff is from a generation ago. I've put some of it on the classic rock thread

2)Again, I'm not so sure for the current state of metal.

3)I'm sure there will be...

4)It's weird. What's now I guess would be considered "classic" metal was also considered classic rock when I was young ( Lep, Sabbath, etc) so it was on commercial radio when I was young. I was into punk rock/new wave but I got into the big four (thrash Metal) cuz they were into hardcore punk rock which I liked so it made me reconsider older metal. Of course there were also all the three initial bands that were big at the time as well.

5) Not something I worry about these days.


6)I did not but I look forward to posting in this one!

Scott Ian is a big comic book fan

[video=youtube;ZcLXOTwZ5tA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcLXOTwZ5tA[/video]

Kirk is not superhero guy, but he is horror movie guy. He is a big fan of the Kirby and Ditko monsters of the 50's-60's

[video=youtube;wunyc_T4S7E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wunyc_T4S7E[/video]

Anthrax covering Dio era Sabbath

[video=youtube;sp77usK-B0A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp77usK-B0A[/video]

Killswitch Engage covering Dio

[video=youtube;csqMHM106og]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csqMHM106og[/video]

If I had to name one band I've really been digging on the last few years it'd be Mastodon. None of their albums is anything less than great, and they have a few straight up masterpieces.
[video=youtube_share;Jx2fp-kKOIw]https://youtu.be/Jx2fp-kKOIw[/video]

Second would be Ghost. They're a little too over the top with their 'satanism turned to 11' approach for some, and they've been embroiled in an internal controversy as of late, but I still really dig a lot of their music. Can't describe it as anything other than Pop Black Metal.
[video=youtube_share;KOrXKiSy8ZY]https://youtu.be/KOrXKiSy8ZY[/video]

Third would be Volbeat. Mike Poulsen has a vocal approach that turns some off, but if it clicks with you they have tons of cool ****. Good ol' fashioned metal, with some rockabilly thrown in here and there for flavoring.
[video=youtube_share;G5zdal1MKf0]https://youtu.be/G5zdal1MKf0[/video]

I've been a huge admirer of Opeth for years now. Their last few albums, although excellent, have seen the band fully embrace their long-standing Progressive Rock leanings at the expense of their earlier Black and then Death Metal sound. Mikael Akerfelt is now in full sway to his 1970's record collection creative muse wise. Nevertheless, they've left us with a large catalogue of what I consider to be some hauntingly classic albums (hauntingly being the operative word there). Seriously, check out albums like 'Watershed' or 'Ghost Reveries'. Here's the title track from their seminal 2001 opus 'Blackwater Park'. This album was produced by Steven Wilson, further strengthening Opeth's prog connection:

[video=youtube;S1KPqet74EI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1KPqet74EI[/video]

Fully agreed on Opeth, mostly. I've always had a hard time stomaching some of the more extreme growling vocals, so I'm actually a bit more drawn to the more recent 70's Prog-inspired stuff, though albums like [I]Blackwater Park[/I] have some amazingly crafted pieces of music to be sure. And yes, Wilson's influence is very apparent all over those early-00's releases.

I'm not sure it's strictly a "metal" album, but [I]Damnation[/I] may just be my favorite Opeth record. And I love [I]Heritage[/I].
[video=youtube_share;G1pi7Dn87mY]https://youtu.be/G1pi7Dn87mY[/video]