Best 3 albums of all time, in your opinion

[judasentinel]

^^ Stevie was absolute money.


And you other guys.. you've really pigeoned holed what you call good metal.

Come on, Chris, you know what we mean, lol. Metal will never be the choice of the majority and we metalheads are fine with that. In fact, that is precisely what gives us our sense of unity, brotherhood, and focus. Mainstream is always just that - mainstream. Swim against the current and that will show your substance.

There will always be PURISTS in every genre, who dismiss anything that is even remotely different from what THEY believe to be a primo specimen of their preferred genre of music.

Metal has evolved over the last 45 years. Yet, some things have remained constant throughout this history - shredding guitars/solos with an emphasis on overdrive/distortion, heavy drums, and high pitched/varied pitch vocals. If you find these ingredients in the music of any band, you can rest assured it is a metal band.

My whole beef with this NEW WAVE of so-called musicians (with the exception of Slipknot because they are good musicians) is that their primary focus is LYRICS, not singing, and definitely not the music itself. It is like writing a poem and putting some form of melody around it. If I really needed to delve into poetry, I would READ it. I listen to metal for music. And perhaps that is also the main reason why I despise (C)RAP, Hip-hop, R&B, etc..

[Oakville]

haha Munib do you really feel that way about the knot? I look back and comparing their old stuff with rest of whats been said here, its very lyric based. nonetheless, self titled and Iowa are able to get my head banging so thats all that counts

[judasentinel]

I am not a fan of Slipknot at all. Far from it. I have never downloaded or bought any of their albums, and have only seen some of their videos, especially when their drummer stood in for Metallica (when Lars fell sick on tour). Their drummer is FRIKKING amazing, and for a band to accommodate a drummer of his caliber simply means that they are more of musicians than some of their other colleagues within their category. They are still not even close to being called heavy metal.....

I would lump Slipknot into the same garbage box as the other alternative rock bands that are lyric-based, if it were not for their drummer. But as usual, what I say is purely my own opinion and nothing more than that.

[Paradis]

Come on, Chris, you know what we mean, lol. Metal will never be the choice of the majority and we metalheads are fine with that. In fact, that is precisely what gives us our sense of unity, brotherhood, and focus. Mainstream is always just that - mainstream. Swim against the current and that will show your substance.

There will always be PURISTS in every genre, who dismiss anything that is even remotely different from what THEY believe to be a primo specimen of their preferred genre of music.

Metal has evolved over the last 45 years. Yet, some things have remained constant throughout this history - shredding guitars/solos with an emphasis on overdrive/distortion, heavy drums, and high pitched/varied pitch vocals. If you find these ingredients in the music of any band, you can rest assured it is a metal band.

My whole beef with this NEW WAVE of so-called musicians (with the exception of Slipknot because they are good musicians) is that their primary focus is LYRICS, not singing, and definitely not the music itself. It is like writing a poem and putting some form of melody around it. If I really needed to delve into poetry, I would READ it. I listen to metal for music. And perhaps that is also the main reason why I despise (C)RAP, Hip-hop, R&B, etc..

Lol, oh i know. contemporary metalheads are some of the worst purists/elitests i know. If more than 100 ppl have heard of a band, suddenly that band isn't cool (despite talent). But there is a unity in those that appreciate heavy metal as it's always orbited the planet of music as tolerable to the world at large.

You're right that metal has evolved over the years, and it's kind of ironic that you described the necessary elements as those are out of date. You don't need solos and high pitched vocals to be metal. While there's 8000 subgenre's to metal, they all have the their place in the umbrella tree. The lyric based stuff you're talking about it is the MTV driven youth metal, numetal whatever you wanna call it, but there's lots of stuff out. Me personally? I've never been one to read lyrics or even pay attention. Its just another instrument to add to the overall sound and atmosphere.
(PS. slipknots first album is the only album they wrote for themsevles. Its their only release that i would call worthy and relevant)

The one constant about metal is that it pushes the boundaries of intensity and abrasive music. People talk about Bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica being institutions of metal... well its not that hard to be an institution when you make millions doing it.
To me personally, being a former vocalist of a grind type band, the thing that inspires me is these bands who plays insane off the wall music that comes totally from within their own internal motivation to play. There's no money in it. There's no pay off. They have to work dead end jobs because they're on the road for 4-5 months at a time, and make nothing. No stable paying job is gonna keep you around when you leave for half the year. THATS what i call true love of the music.

I emplore you to listen to these... the WHOLE track.

Take Dilinger Escape Plan. Their Calculating Infinite album probably is the most influential thing to come out in the past 15 years in the world of extreme metal. Relapse basically exists cause of this album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnv2r9AZucA

Then you got guys like High On Fire bringing relevance to that old sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmsXYwrZxV8

Mithras who write some of the most out of this world stuff i've heard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_HZRf5Ehw4

And Origin, who to this date, is the only band i've ever heard with the Drummer as the lead instrument. Probably too heavy for you, but listen to the track and follow the drummer's time changes. INSANE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y90UXIGPMfY

THey don't have to be your cup of tea, but if you're a metal head, you should be able to appreciate what they've created.