Bands you "should like" but don't

[FatherAlabaster]

As you know, I love Pantera and Darrell was/is one of my favorite riffers... but there's no denying the huge bump in cultural status that his recordings got after his death. Having a gazillion crappy signature model guitars/pickups//pedals/amps with his name on them didn't hurt either.

[KSMASH]

Being that I like a million bands that the metal community shits on, I'll take a pass on the original question. If I may bring a related subject to the table (one that probably doesn't necessitate a separate thread), I tend to dislike bands that get a "pass" in the metal community when similar bands are almost universally hated. The Faceless, Job For a Cowboy, really any deathcore band that vied for legitimacy by actively avoiding that genre label on later releases. Whenever people praise those bands for going the "real" death metal route, I can't help but think, "So what?" To me, the music of these bands is still boring and my dislike is somewhat amplified by the fact that they basically hopped trends to attract a larger fanbase (even if their targeted audience is the "true" metal crowd)...

[KSMASH]

As you know' date=' I love Pantera and Darrell was/is one of my favorite riffers... but there's no denying the huge bump in cultural status that his recordings got after his death. Having a gazillion crappy signature model guitars/pickups//pedals/amps with his name on them didn't hurt either.[/quote'] There's a local band that plays a Dime signature Dean, and it sounds like shit. It's actually really sad how many shitty products come out under his name. Dimebag was a great guitarist, he could shred with the big boys but also knew how to play straightforward, headbang-inducing riffs!

[FatherAlabaster]

There's a local band that plays a Dime signature Dean' date=' and it sounds like shit. It's actually really sad how many shitty products come out under his name. Dimebag was a great guitarist, he could shred with the big boys but also knew how to play straightforward, headbang-inducing riffs![/quote'] I pretty much detest anything that's a "signature model". There are a few exceptions, but nothing that I personally own, and I really don't get the appeal. Marketing these days is all about lip service to "creating YOUR sound" and "finding YOUR voice" but you're supposed to do it with the Synyster Gates Schecter Whatever Model Bullshit 3000 through a Dime Distortion pedal and a Kerry King Marshall Crap-O-Matic 800? Ooooh. I should go over to the Rant thread but I don't have time right now...

[RelentlessOblivion]

I like the look of the Dime signature that I bought, I'm disgusted with the pickups so I've only played it a handful of times since I bought it, the irony is that it's in my profile pic on facebook (which I haven't changed in like forever chiefly because the pic I wanted to change it to has vanished off the face of the earth). Once I put some good pickups on the thing it'll be my first choice but right now it's a distant third.

[RelentlessOblivion]

While we're at it I agree with KSMASH bands that get a free pass despite sounding exactly like bands which cop shit all the time piss me off. lamb of god is a good example. They're a Pantera clone for all intents and purposes yet no one seems to notice this and shit all over Pantera whilst praising lamb of god.

[ThunderGod]

You're "supposed to like these"? According to whom? Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

I used to do some DJing at a local Rock and Metal pub on a Friday and Saturday nights. Most of the younger patrons (usually in their mid-20's) asked for the likes of Slipknot, Pantera, System Of A Down, Nirvana and tracks from Californication and Stadium Arcadium (or whatever that one was called). I really am not a fan of any of those bands/eras. Therefore I didn't like bands I was "supposed to" like.

[ThunderGod]

I'm with BAN here. I can't think of any headbangers who would say you "should like" those bands.

Well, that's obviously correct for your part of Oz and BAN's part of the world, but not for mine. Over the past 20-odd years, I've found tastes in Metal can be very regional and are definitely age-related.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Regional perhaps but I'm not so sure about them being age-related. If that were the case I'd be expected to listen to a lot of those shitty metalcore and deathcore bands. Ultimately I think what you experienced was a bunch of kids who are just trend-followers following the commercially appealing bands or those which sound similar to them. Amongst more serious metalheads (wow now that sounds really elitist) these bands are generally treated with disdain.

[FatherAlabaster]

Well' date=' that's obviously correct for your part of Oz and BAN's part of the world, but not for mine. Over the past 20-odd years, I've found tastes in Metal can be very regional and are definitely age-related.[/quote'] This is exactly what I've been saying. I totally agree. Who you're "supposed" to like changes with every social circle. I don't think there's any real consensus. But it is interesting to hear people's perceptions of who they think is popular, regardless of how they personally feel about them. I love Pantera, and I like Nirvana and SOAD a good bit, but then most of the metal people I hang out with here do as well.

[FatherAlabaster]

Regional perhaps but I'm not so sure about them being age-related. If that were the case I'd be expected to listen to a lot of those shitty metalcore and deathcore bands. Ultimately I think what you experienced was a bunch of kids who are just trend-followers following the commercially appealing bands or those which sound similar to them. Amongst more serious metalheads (wow now that sounds really elitist) these bands are generally treated with disdain.

You're an outlier. Now don't you feel elite?

[RelentlessOblivion]

Well I'm the Living Embodiment Of Metal for a reason

[BlutAusNerd]

Re: Bands you "should like" but don't

Being that I like a million bands that the metal community shits on, I'll take a pass on the original question. If I may bring a related subject to the table (one that probably doesn't necessitate a separate thread), I tend to dislike bands that get a "pass" in the metal community when similar bands are almost universally hated. The Faceless, Job For a Cowboy, really any deathcore band that vied for legitimacy by actively avoiding that genre label on later releases. Whenever people praise those bands for going the "real" death metal route, I can't help but think, "So what?" To me, the music of these bands is still boring and my dislike is somewhat amplified by the fact that they basically hopped trends to attract a larger fanbase (even if their targeted audience is the "true" metal crowd)...

Yep, it's no different for shit like Trivium and Abigail Williams. So they decided that the metalcore/deathcore trend was getting them some hate, so they try their hand and making "legit metal" to fit in ? That's no different than the pandering they were doing to the masses in the first place. I wouldn't care if one of these guys actually made a good album, but not only do they never seem to shed all of the crap from their original sound, their "conforming" sound (which pretty much defies the point of playing metal) is almost always half assed and uninformed. Playing some blast beats and not using breakdowns doesn't make you death metal, playing death metal does. It reminds me of a quote from the wisdom of Hank Hill, when Bobby gets involved in the Christian rock scene, Hank tells the band leader that has been hanging out with Bobby, "You're not making Christianity better, you're just making rock worse." You should be making music to express what you cannot express with words, not to make money/friends/whatever other non-musical motive you may have. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[RelentlessOblivion]

Exactly. Make music because it's your passion not because you see it as an easy meal ticket. If these bands were serious about their music they wouldn't give a fuck that people don't like what their doing. Would Death have cared if people said what they did sucked? I doubt it. Darkthrone certainly don't care what people think otherwise they'd make Transilvanian Hunger II already.

[Artemisia]

I don't care much for Dream Theater. I simply cannot stand the vocalist. I encounter a lot of people who prattle on about how wonderful and progressive they are; I tried to listen to them but it was unsuccessful. I also don't give two hoots about Nirvana and I don't understand the idolatry surrounding Kurt Cobain. That also goes for the Mayhem/Burzum crowd, though I find them marginally more interesting than Cobain.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Dream Theatre sound more like a musical excercise then a metal band to me. Ok the guys can play their instruments and play them very well but so what? Their songwriting lacks creativity and their music whilst technically very good is lacking in the passion that makes great metal music. In my opinion Dream Theatre suffer from the same problems as Spawn Of Possession they try to be too rigid and technical thus everything they do is just boring.

[FatherAlabaster]

For me it's like Artemisia said, the vocals are just awful. Every time I listen to them, it turns me completely off to whatever else they're doing.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Those vocals certainly don't help their case. It wouldn't matter who the hell was doing vocals for the band though their music would still be unappealing for the reasons I stated previously.

[emprorzurg]

I started getting into thrash a while ago, and of course, a good starting point were the Big Four. I just can't get into Slayer or Megadeth though, for some unknown reason. I don't like Mustaine's vocals, and to me, for some weird reason, I either can't tell Slayer's songs apart or they simply aren't memorable for me.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Mustaine's vocals take some getting used to. He's very nasally (if that's a word) but the musicianship on their first four albums is top notch. As for Slayer what albums/songs have you listened to? Pretty much all you need is Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits. I suppose one could make a case for South Of Heaven, Divine Intervention, Diabolus In Musica and Reign In Blood but those four are considerably weaker and as for the rest of their work I wouldn't touch it if you paid me. Having said all of that the "big four" are only the best selling bands not the best on a broader spectrum and I prefer most of the lesser known bands in the genre.

[FatherAlabaster]

I just can't get into Slayer or Megadeth though, for some unknown reason. I don't like Mustaine's vocals, and to me, for some weird reason, I either can't tell Slayer's songs apart or they simply aren't memorable for me.

I totally agree about Megadeth, his vocals are awful. They've been turning me off to Megadeth consistently for over twenty years. They totally ruin it for me. Slayer, ah, liked 'em in high school, but I haven't put them on in a long time.

[RelentlessOblivion]

As I said Mustaine's vocals take some getting used to. He can't sing and that's pretty obvious. His vocals do have a nasty tinge to them and I quite like that. Especially on Killing Is My Business (my favourite Megadeth record) where it's coupled with their most vicious riffs. Megadeth aren't one of my favourite thrash bands but out of the big four I'd put them second only to Slayer (and that's really only because I'd take Hell Awaits over any Megadeth album)

[NTNR]

I also can't stand Kreator or Kataclysm.

[FatherAlabaster]

I also can't stand Kreator or Kataclysm.

I don't like Kataklysm either. Their music sounds like it was written by a bunch of uninspired guys that really wanted to be in a metal band. And their lyrics are dumb as balls from what I remember. Kreator I kind of liked when I was a teenager, but I really moved away from thrash.

[orcslayr23]

Stratovarius. I checked them out again yesterday because i'm probably going to ProgPower next year and they're headlining one of the dates. The vocals are so bland, I can't take it.