MetalheadFromBama

Just out of curiosity: If there was a course called Metalcore 101, what do you think it should cover? For starters, I think that the pioneers (Earth Crisis, Shai Hulud, etc.) should be covered, along with the bands that influenced them (Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, etc.). 

On 7/23/2020 at 4:59 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

I've been listening to death metal for almost thirty years and I honestly don't know where I'd start with this. Although to be totally honest I'd start with Hellhammer just because:

 

If the point is to get people interested in DM and give them a jumping-off point, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. If the point is learning about the genre, the one thing I see overlooked most often is demo recordings of the early stages of a lot of different scenes. I don't have the knowledge to give a great overview of everything that was going on at the time - I didn't start really enjoying DM until 1993 or 94, by which time it was already a decade old - but I've gotten a lot out of just listening to what I can find of the early days. It's fine to talk about early albums like Seven Churches or Scream Bloody Gore, but they didn't happen in a vacuum. Seven Churches in particular gets a lot of props for being "the first death metal album" but there's a lot of early thrash influence in there and it's always sounded transitional to me, rather than being some pure essence of a new genre. Honestly the whole crop of essentialist arguments bothers me, especially when we're talking about the early days of these genres, but that's a different topic. Here's a Possessed demo recording called "Death Metal" from 1984:

 

Here's a Mantas demo called "Death By Metal" from the same year (they became the band we all know as Death and I've seen pictures of this demo with either name on it). This is more savage and "death-metally" IMO - not that thrash inflections are absent here, or that the comparatively polished sound and musicianship of Possessed don't have their place in the genre, but this is straight up heavier if you listen past the recording quality:

 

And here's something from Necrophagia's "Death Is Fun" demo, also from 1984:

 

By 1985, the year Seven Churches came out, there was more going on - here's "Rotting In Hell", a demo recording from R.A.V.A.G.E. (who later became Atheist), I love the energy and musicianship even if the sound is primitive:

 

Also in 1985, here's Xecutioner, later Executioner, who finally became Obituary, with a much more thrashy sound than the monolithic walloping they'd become known for a few years later:

 

Also 1985 - Sepultura's "Bestial Devastation" demo:

 

Here are a couple from 1986 - Morbid Angel - "Scream Forth Blasphemies":

 

Massacre - "Aggressive Tyrant" (featuring Kam Lee, who did the vocals on most of the Mantas demo above):

 

Lots of other bands got their start during this time and over the next couple of years, and there's no way I could list all of them, but here's a handful: Carcass and Paradise Lost in England; Darkthrone (yes, that Darkthrone, first making shitty recordings as Black Death) in Norway; Sarcofago and Mystifier in Brazil; Nihilist, Edge Of Sanity, and Grotesque in Sweden; Sinister and Asphyx in the Netherlands; Funebre and Abhorrence in Finland; Ripping Corpse, Malevolent Creation, Brutality, Nocturnus, Cynic, Deicide (as Amon), Revenant (members of whom would form Incantation), Immolation (as Rigor Mortis) in various parts of the USA... There's really no way I could do justice to a proper list of bands that were active before the huge surge of popularity that DM saw in the 90s, but my point is, the groundwork for that was being done years in advance, and full-length studio albums are just the tip of the iceberg.

 

After 1990 I wonder if it's better to go scene by scene (Finnish death metal, the Buffalo-Tampa connection, why everyone in Norway jumped ship for black metal) or style by style (prog/doom/brutal/melodic/technical) and explore the developments through either lens. There are also books and documentaries that deal with all of this and could probably have a lot more to offer than we could. If you're just looking for some good music and don't mind digging around, there are lots of great recommendations going back years in our stickied threads.

Thanks for the recommendations. Since I can’t find anything about these certain events, what would you happen to know about the Buffalo-Tampa connection, and the reason why Norway jumped ship for Black Metal? Because nothing’s coming up when I search for those topics.

What would you all consider Orianthi’s music to be? Is that considered “metal” to you?

While it was probably used way before Debussy’s time, this Debussy piece uses Tritone. 

Does anybody else here like Davey Suicide? He sounds pretty similar to Marilyn Manson and NIN. 

What genre would you guys consider the band Aittala to be?

Speaking of glam metal, does anybody here like the band Nova Rex? 

Rebel Meets Rebel - Rebel Meets Rebel

Does anybody else here like Metalgrass? The Native Howl, Steve’n’Seagulls, stuff like that?

Thoughts on Limp Bizkit?

Has anyone heard SFU’s new album “Nightmares of the Decomposed”? I’m listening to it now, and it’s not too bad overall. However, I never knew that Yoda sang in a death metal band until now.

Rammstein - Asche zu Asche

Does anybody else here like old Western music? Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Marty Robbins, that type of stuff?

8 hours ago, ratsandmetal said:

I've only recently been introduced to bluegrass but I really like what I hear from Bill Monroe. What do you listen to?

I grew up on “coon hunting bluegrass” which includes artists such as Grandpa Jones and Jimmy Martin. But I also like Bill Monroe, along with Flatt & Scruggs. 

8 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Please include the band name and song or album title with your post so we can fix broken links down the road.

It’s “Timur Tragedi” by Power Metal. 

Here’s some good Japanese power metal.

Who on this forum likes emo music? 

4 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I haven't played one; I've read that they don't hold up to the "real thing" (and how could they, for the price), but they're fine for what they are. There are lots of good-quality, affordable import basses available now. What's your budget? What draws you to the Sterling in particular?

What draws me to it is that it’s cheap and that it’s a brand I’ve heard of before. I’ve found cheaper basses around $100-$200, but those are brands that I’ve never heard of. 

I’m thinking about getting a Sterling bass as my first 5-string Bass. Do their basses tend to be good basses? I know that there are better brands on the market, but I’m looking for something fairly cheap right now.

Just out of curiosity: If there was a course called Death Metal 101, what do you think it should cover? For starters, I think that the pioneers (Death, Possessed, Morbid Angel, etc.) should be covered, along with the bands that influenced them (Venom, Motorhead, King Diamond, etc.). 

I believe while musicians should take their work seriously and really focus on it, that there is a time and place for humor in music. For example, country/folk singer Johnny Cash took his songwriting and recording seriously, yet he was still able to write songs that were humorous to his audience (Cocaine Blues had the line “I thought I was her daddy, but she had five more”, and A Boy Named Sue would make people laugh), and goofy songs such as One Piece At A Time.

A good way to improve your playing is to learn how to play a bit of every genre. Especially if you want to play bass in a band, because there’s all kinds of bands out there with a large variety of genres and styles that they play.

Does anybody here like bluegrass music? I’ve started getting into it after listening to a bluegrass segment on one of my local radio stations.

On 7/26/2019 at 12:43 AM, CountNailz said:

Does Sevendust and BadBrains count???? Coz they're okay imo

Not sure about Sevendust, but Bad Brains counts, considering the fact that they fused reggae with punk music.

So I did a speech on the five main subgenres of heavy metal for my college speech class. What do you guys think about it?