FatherAlabaster

Neurosis has their high points and low points too. I know people who like their older stuff, and it's growing on me, but my all-time favorite of theirs has to be Times Of Grace, followed by A Sun That Never Sets. It took me quite a while to get into the vocals, which I still don't totally love - they sound forced and overly mannered on a lot of their material.

For Suffocation, Efiigy Of The Forgotten tends to be the "cult classic" but I prefer Pierced From Within - especially the title track, still one of the heaviest death metal songs I've heard. After that album they fell off for me a little bit. I'm not a huge Vader fan but I know plenty of people who like them. They're often lumped in with Decapitated and Behemoth because, you know, they're all Polish... I've actually never listened to Hate Eternal! Which I should do, I've heard good things.

Most of the metalheads (and most of the musicians in general) who I know really like Alice In Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden. But then most of the metalheads I know are from the USA, and a few who grew up in the UK, and we're all between 28 and 40. Which is why I keep saying it's regional and generational. Go figure. If you guys think the songwriting is "lazy", you'd only be doing yourselves a favor by learning to see beyond the song structure and figuring out how those songs actually work. Even a simple song with a simple melody can have a lot to offer. And just because a metal song has more moving parts doesn't make it any better, as I know you know. The phrase "lazy songwriting coupled with bad vocals and pseudo-aggression" could also be applied to lots of metal bands, including some bands we all actually like.

Rush - Chemistry

I think, if something like that almost happened, he should almost write a book about it, and we should almost care.

He's a "dualist" at heart... For me it's the sound that expressed what I couldn't express with words when I was growing up. So far beyond "Fuck you" that there's almost no comparison. Now it just sounds like "music" to me, and everything else sounds like... meh, everything else. There are times when metal as a whole gets on my nerves, but I always come back to it. And the act of writing metal songs lets me involve my anger, my enjoyment of puzzles, my need to understand my overwhelmingly negative emotions, and my love of melody at at the same time. It taps into places in my head I couldn't access otherwise. It's a conduit I couldn't do without.

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Tool's "Holy Gift", right? I've seen that on youtube. I'll check it out. I've actually been listening to Lateralus more since your response in that thread. It's growing on me. I bought it the day it was released and was initially really disappointed by it, and I've only put it on infrequently over the years. 10000 Days has yet to make a positive impression on me. For that matter, Soundgarden's "Down On The Upside" only has three or four songs I like, the self-titled Alice In Chains has only recently begun appealing to me (though I love the unplugged MTV video), and though I think Pearl Jam's first two albums are amazing, I think most of what they've done since then is garbage. The point I was trying to make is that, regardless of whether or not someone personally enjoys those bands, I don't think anyone could say that you're "supposed" to hate them in the same way that anyone in polite society is expected to despise, say, Vanilla Ice or Hootie And The Blowfish.

I'm impressed that you manage to run the forum without a home computer. Smartphones are insidiously addicitive. I didn't even realize how frequently I looked at the thing until it died. I still find myself glancing at it every so often. Behavioral conditioning. Unfortunately, in NYC, they're the lifeblood of professional and social circles. I miss having the camera to take pictures of my kid when he does cute stuff. And I used it as my mp3 player, so I kind of miss that, but I shouldn't use earbuds for a while anyway. I have something wrong with one of my ears - it keeps filling up with fluid, especially at night. It sucks because I'm close to finishing my recording and I want to have my ears fresh for any mixing tweaks that need to happen. No way I could pay a pro to mix the stuff for me.

What's really on my mind now: My kid figured out how to pour milk into his glass. Unfortunately he's not great at it just yet. So half the carton wound up in his glass; the other half is on the floor. Now he's swirling a spoon around in his glass and taking out spoonfuls of milk and dumping them on the table. Yes! Amazing! And my beloved Galaxy Note II has a malfunctioning USB port, so it won't charge. So it's dead. And my wife forgot hers at work on Long Island, by sheer coincidence. I'm liking phoneless life, I'd forgotten how relaxing it was.

Sometimes I've had problems when the two guitars have different intonation, but little tuning issues aren't usually as apparent in a third, at least not to me. Eh. Theory is all great, but I usually just use my ear and when something sounds cool, I figure it out afterwards. I'm sure you guys will get it sorted out. I'll be interested to hear new stuff, I like what you've got on soundcloud.

What's the issue, does it not fit the song or does it actually sound out of tune? Is your bassist hitting the right note? Shit like that does just happen sometimes... I treat it as a sign to pare things back. I just did a really nice vocal harmony intro that doesn't seem to fit with my song the way I'd intended, so you're not alone...

Vocals or guitar harmonies? Why don't you like it?

Eating: nothing Drinking: water Listening: nothing Doing: vocal warmups Thinking: three lines away from finishing lyrics for this song. Then I have one and a half songs to go before the album is done. I'm very excited to start real practice with a real band. Hope this works. And T-Mobile's customer service sucks goat balls. And beer is yummy.

Gothic. It's my favorite PL track. Amorphis: My Kantele or Black Winter Day?

Anathema - Sunset Of Age (live in Krakow)

RelentlessObliv - er, I mean Restless Oblivion, though it's hard to pick. You inspired me to watch that live DVD. Great album. My Dying Bride: Your River or Two Winters Only?

I understand, I just think our answers will be more illustrative of our particular scene than they are of anything universal. The only bands I can think of that have that universal recognition, globally, among young and old, are Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. I know there are Burzum fans here, but none of my friends listen to them, and generally, if they come up, you'll hear comments like "ah, that shit sucks" or "I just never really bothered with Burzum".

Ah, ok. Great! Good luck! I hope to be putting together a Black Harvest live band within the next few weeks. I've played with a few other bands while writing Black Harvest material, but haven't done a show as BH in nearly nine years. It's fucking exciting. I look forward to hearing some of your stuff.

See, I really like them a lot. I'm not talking smack about Tool. I'm just comparing them in the following way - for me, their high point was Aenima. Soundgarden's high point was Superunknown. They've each got highly regarded, hard-hitting, complex drummers. They've each got distinctive, world-class vocalists who went on to other projects. They've each put out two albums since their "peak" (again, my opinion only) in the mid 90s. To me, Lateralus (which I do enjoy) is like a flattened-out Aenima - it doesn't have the low points or the high points. The actual songs aren't as compelling, and they're surrounded by a bunch of texture that doesn't really go anywhere. It sounds like they keep recycling the same scales and the same few sonic ideas. I suspect that, where I hear self-indulgent aimless dicking around, BAN hears the odd atmosphere that he seems to really enjoy in his favorite music, and so for him it works. Where I hear a song that's too long and doesn't seem to have a point, I'm guessing he hears progressive experimentation and evolution that he can sink his teeth into. BAN, I wouldn't presume to speak for you, I'm just guessing. Soundgarden retains much tighter song structure, which is something I find relevant and enjoyable, but within that they have a wide variety of melodies, odd chords, odd timing, and strange textures. It's to their credit that they can write recognizable rock songs that make this weird stuff sound straightforward. And with all their musical skill, they're not afraid to be simple. Where BAN hears boring retreads, I hear personal, unique music with a wide emotive and dynamic range made by guys who aren't afraid to leave their old ideas far behind - even if it means falling on their faces sometimes. There's much more to Soundgarden than there is to, say, Audioslave. I don't think every song is a gem, but that's kind of the point. Finally, I don't think it's an accident that most of my favorite albums by most of my favorite bands came out between 1992 and 1995. That's when I was really first developing my own taste in music, and discovering all kinds of new sounds, during those tender coming-of-age years that they make shitty movies about. Someone in a different time, place, and peer group would obviously have the same revelatory personal experiences with different music. That's why my list in the "albums that changed your life" thread looks like it does. Threads like this aren't about right and wrong, they're about what it's like where you live, or inside your head. All the more interesting because we're so far-flung, physically speaking. Eh, TL;DR.

Everybody's answers will be different because there's no definitive global list of bands that you "should like". I took shit for listening to GNR when I was a kid. Now I can't stand them and they're really popular here and people are like, "what do you mean, you don't like GNR?"

Tool - H. the message was "too short" until I typed this blurb

Death Metal, but, whatever...

Spiritual Healing! Satyricon: In The Mist By The Hills, or Havoc Vulture