LaughsInHidden

Indeed. I think that's just the reality of most record companies unfortunately. Tom Warrior from Celtic Frost/Triptykon is another one on that list who has been very vocal about his hatred of big labels for this reason.

I realise this is an old thread but it seemed pointless to start a duplicate Ministry discussion. I was browsing YouTube and came across some old Al Jourgensen interviews from his cheesy synthpop era. He has always been extremely critical of his first album With Sympathy, maintaining that the record company he was signed with at the time (Arista) forced him into it and he has more or less completely omitted it from his musical legacy. Personally I don't believe he hated it at the time as much as he would have us believe. His earliest singles like Cold Life were recorded before he even got signed, and while they were perhaps not quite as "poppy" sounding as the With Sympathy album itself, they show that he was at least that way musically inclined. And then came Twitch, an album he recorded under the Sire label which he was granted much more creative control over - more aggressive sounding than his previous work but still not Ministry as we know it today. I can believe that Arista took advantage of his young age/inexperience and fucked him around, but I can't help but feel that completely disowning his early work has always been a bit of an act to boost his credibility among his industrial/metal audiences, which seems a bit sad for a musician to do, especially considering for what it was, it wasn't all THAT bad. What's your take on this? As a big Ministry fan I've always been fascinated by their genre-confusion and perhaps one of the most radical transformations in the history of music.

I prefer the Dio era of Sabbath and my favourite album is Heaven and Hell. Paranoid and Master of Reality were decent but I must admit I don't really rate the other albums from the 70s - too experimental/just generally too bland for my liking. I respect all that Ozzy did for the band and the genre as a whole but Dio was the breath of fresh air they needed. Funnily enough I happen to love Ozzy's solo stuff.

Motorhead - Marching Off To War

That would depress me a bit. Let the masses keep their House/EDM/whatever is in at the moment (I don't really take much notice).

Not to go off topic, and I see where you're coming from but I hope you're not suggesting that wearing a Metallica/Iron Maiden t-shirt (presuming by "big act" you're referring those kinds of bands) automatically flags you as a poser? I wouldn't consider Iron Maiden to be any less of a genuine metal band just because of their popularity among people who are perhaps not typically metal-inclined (I won't comment on Metallica - personally I'm a fan but I know they're a subject of controversy in the wider metal community so I'll leave that can of worms unopened ). As for the topic at hand, I don't think metal in and of itself is necessarily any more chauvinistic than other scenes or sub-cultures. The style comes across as masculine in nature but really it's all just on the surface. It's the "image" that metal happens to project, not necessarily on purpose, just an unintended result of the themes it typically incorporates into the music. It's not necessarily for better or for worse, it's just what metal is. So maybe it's just natural that this appeals more to men than it does to women. Any genuine male chauvinism that occurs in metal (groping women at gigs or whatever) is really down the attitudes of the individuals perpetrating it and is not a reflection of metal as a whole. It's certainly not what metal is about.

For me it all started just over 10 years ago when I was about 12-13. I didn't really have much knowledge of the genre at all (Guns n Roses was about as close to metal as I had ever experienced) and didn't have any particular interest in any other kinds of music either. I did a lot of online gaming back in the day (more specifically WoW ) and a few of the guys I played with got into the habit of playing Linkin Park through their mics for the rest of us to hear. This sounds laughable now but at the time this was pretty much the heaviest stuff I had ever heard! One day I found myself in a record store and decided to pick up one of their albums. I listened to it pretty much on a constant loop, and looking back that's really what planted the seed. From that point I was driven to discover more of this heavy, aggressive sounding music, and eventually graduated to the likes of Metallica, Maiden, Ozzy, Motorhead etc. Since then I've explored the various sub-genres of metal and even today my tastes range from Sabaton, Volbeat, Ministry, Obituary and Celtic Frost just to name a small few. But that's the long and short of how I came to be a metal fan - from some crackly background music to Slayer mosh pits . Naturally I've moved on from Linkin Park but will always give them credit for bridging myself and many of the younger generations as a whole into the world of metal. Metal is a wonderful genre that speaks to me in a way that no other kind of music ever will. And behind the heavy sounds and "don't give a fuck" attitude that we all know and love I'd be hard pressed to find a scene/sub-culture that fosters such comradery and inclusion among its followers as metal does.

Don't know if that poster has any real credibility or not but surely Anthrax should be further up on the bill?

Man to be honest it was more that I felt he deserved a mention in the "Metal Legends" section than anything else. But I guess in a sense he's not really dead, you just have to press play and listen.

Sorry dude not been active for a few days. In all seriousness that would be great but unfortunately I'm a bit tied up with the current group and other real life shit. Will bear that in mind for the future though.

I got some inside intel.

Last year at Download when I went drunk driving on the dodgems till the sun came up.

We should get a group started on these forums at the moment I've been listening to a lot of Testament, Sodom, Metal Church and I'm also into all the usual suspects like Slayer/Anthrax etc.

Definitely not to everyone's tastes although they did do a track called Evelyn with Barney Greenway from Napalm Death which you might enjoy.

Just a little over two years ago, the world suddenly became a much quieter place...

One of Denmark's finest exports latest album was a bit pop-sounding for my liking but I'm hoping that'll change next time round.

Not strictly a metal band I know but any Ultra Heavy Beat fans here? What's your favourite album and have you ever seen them live?

Sitting here waiting for my mate to wake the fuck up so we can go for hangover chicken wings with about 50 different flavours to choose from...plan B is a fish finger sandwich.

Another Scot here (more specifically Edinburgh)! Here for some intellectual chat about all things metal. Into most sub-genres but in particular thrash. Apart from metal some interests include films/TV, games, bit of DnD (normally combined with alcohol but that's neither here nor there ) Download 2018 anyone?