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Worst black metal bands


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5 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said:

You're not alone. I can tolerate and listen to their first album and EP once in a while, but otherwise, I can't stand them.

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The first thing I ever heard from them was this awful Slayer cover and it really turned me off.

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I also think Dimmu Borgir sucks. Cradle of Filth is terrible. 
Both bands went that way, but they also both started well enough and improved over the first few albums before going that way. At best though, Cradle of Filth has 2 albums that could qualify as black/gothic metal hybrids (my 2 favorites from them), otherwise they don't really belong in a black metal conversation.

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5 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I'm not saying that riffs need to be complicated, especially not in black metal, they just don't really go anywhere on TH. Sure, there's a pretty cool atmosphere, but the repetition makes my mind wander and wish that I was listening to something else.

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The same thing with repetition happens to me, but usually only when listening to stuff online.  The nagging feeling that I could be listening to anything else in the world makes me lose my focus.  That's why I prefer cds.

1 hour ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I don't care for Dead Skin Mask much to begin with, but their cover of it is atrocious.

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That was certainly not their best work.  However, I generally like the band.  DF is simple and easy to listen to.

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I like DF's first 3 albums...after that it seemed to start "meandering" a bit

I was definitely "disappointed" with Dimmu Borgir as  I only really "sampled" them when Spiritual Black Dimensions had come out.  It was not very interesting, and a ton of people had gushed about them. I did really like For Al Tid, but that was it

I will probably be in the distinct minority of saying that I  really can not take Mayhem for very long. I only have De Mysteriis... because I could not even listen to that for longer than 10 minutes...

I also could never get into Satyricon's stuff either

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I like DF's first 3 albums...after that it seemed to start "meandering" a bit
I was definitely "disappointed" with Dimmu Borgir as  I only really "sampled" them when Spiritual Black Dimensions had come out.  It was not very interesting, and a ton of people had gushed about them. I did really like For Al Tid, but that was it
I will probably be in the distinct minority of saying that I  really can not take Mayhem for very long. I only have De Mysteriis... because I could not even listen to that for longer than 10 minutes...
I also could never get into Satyricon's stuff either


Those bands all seem to be fairly divisive. Seeing as you listed 1349 as a band that you enjoy in the other thread though, I'm surprised that Satyricon's Nemesis Divina doesn't do anything for you. Give it a try if you haven't.



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On 25/12/2017 at 5:46 AM, Ikard said:

Im just gonna throw it out there: I fucking hate dark funeral.

On the balance of their releases, I can say that ‘I really like’ Dark Funeral. I own five of their albums. I don’t love them though. 

For me their best album is either their latest, ‘Where Shadows Forever Reign’, which is a great set of anthems, or the compelling ‘Diabolis Interium’ which also has their best song in ‘The Arrival of Satan’s Empire’. The latter release contains the fabulous Emperor Magus Caligula, one of the great black metal vocalists. Really cool albums. 

They did hit a bit of a mediocre period between these albums, but overall Dark Funeral release compelling and enjoyable blast/melody based black metal anthems. 

Live they are terrible though as their sound is very white noise the two times I’ve seen them.

On 25/12/2017 at 8:26 AM, Ikard said:

I also think Dimmu Borgir sucks. Cradle of Filth is terrible. 

See my posts on the first page of this thread to get my views on why both bands are (mostly) very good and why neither of them are really black metal, especially Cradle.

On 25/12/2017 at 12:32 PM, xUpTheIronsx said:

I like DF's first 3 albums...after that it seemed to start "meandering" a bit

I was definitely "disappointed" with Dimmu Borgir as  I only really "sampled" them when Spiritual Black Dimensions had come out.  It was not very interesting, and a ton of people had gushed about them. I did really like For Al Tid, but that was it

I will probably be in the distinct minority of saying that I  really can not take Mayhem for very long. I only have De Mysteriis... because I could not even listen to that for longer than 10 minutes...

I also could never get into Satyricon's stuff either

Our tastes are vastly different.

1. See my Dark Funeral comments.

2. Dimmu’s ‘Spiritual Black Dimensions’ is the epitome of interesting with its varied vocals, compelling song structures and epic swathes of keyboardy goodness. It’s off the charts.

3. Mayhem is my all time favourite band.

4. Satyricon’s second album ‘The Shadowthrone’ is my favourite black metal album of all time and their first three albums are life changing for me.

Everyone’s naming great bands in the worst bands thread! ;)

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8 hours ago, Natassja7 said:

Hmm I like most of the bands and albums that are getting ragged on this page so I guess each to their own. Shame really, as there is obviously a lot of good stuff being missed out on.

Yeah. There’s also a sense that rather than people pointing out ‘proper’ black metal bands that they feel fall short on quality, they are prone to criticising the popular genre outliers like Cradle, Dimmu and Dark Funeral. 

A (one man) black metal band that I find hasn’t lived up to quality control is Judas Iscariot. I remember 15 years ago really liking this guy, but when I’ve put one of the three or four albums that I own on recently I’ve been surprised at how weak it sounded. 

I also personally find the artistic carry-on of bands like Deathspell Omega a little alienating. People seem to really like ‘Kenose’, and I’ve tried it to death, but it doesn’t get me on any level really. 

I would still take Deathspell and Judas Iscariot over pop music though, so don’t get me wrong. 

 

 

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Yeah. There’s also a sense that rather than people pointing out ‘proper’ black metal bands that they feel fall short on quality, they are prone to criticising the popular genre outliers like Cradle, Dimmu and Dark Funeral. 
A (one man) black metal band that I find hasn’t lived up to quality control is Judas Iscariot. I remember 15 years ago really liking this guy, but when I’ve put one of the three or four albums that I own on recently I’ve been surprised at how weak it sounded. 
I also personally find the artistic carry-on of bands like Deathspell Omega a little alienating. People seem to really like ‘Kenose’, and I’ve tried it to death, but it doesn’t get me on any level really. 
I would still take Deathspell and Judas Iscariot over pop music though, so don’t get me wrong. 
 
 
I love both bands, but they are both a lot harder to get into than the mainstream bands listed above. Deathspell Omega is really dense, daunting, and dissonant, often coming across as an impenetrable wall of noise and chaos. It's a ways beyond traditional black metal, and traditional music for that matter. Judas Iscariot is a band that often fell victim to their own technical limitations, especially on albums like Heaven In Flames. The songwriting was always there, I really feel like they were one of the best in terms of vision for nailing that nihilistic Darkthrone inspired sound, but the performance on most of their albums is extremely lacking and I can see many people being put off by that. They got their shit together on their last album and seemed to finally be able to play what they wrote, so if you haven't been able to get into their other albums, try To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding.

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Pisses me off when some people are all so quick to slag off a band without sometimes even hearing a full album nevermind back catalogue or be aware of any sort of history.
I don't agree with this. Sure, bands are often written off for reasons that are unfair, but I also don't need to hear a full album/discography from a band to know that they aren't for me. There's way too much music out there to fight trying to find something enjoyable in a sound that you hate, so I would rather spend my time listening to what I do like rather than giving a band more chances than they should receive to do something different than what I'm already hearing that isn't working for me.

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1 hour ago, BlutAusNerd said:

I don't agree with this. Sure, bands are often written off for reasons that are unfair, but I also don't need to hear a full album/discography from a band to know that they aren't for me. There's way too much music out there to fight trying to find something enjoyable in a sound that you hate, so I would rather spend my time listening to what I do like rather than giving a band more chances than they should receive to do something different than what I'm already hearing that isn't working for me.

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Your call on both Deathspell and Judas accurately reflect my experiences of those bands. I’ll have to check out the one you mentioned, as the last JI album I bought was ‘Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotton’. I definitely love the attitude, aesthetic and style - but yes the performance is poor.

As for hearing one track and writing a band off - I tend to agree with @Natassja7, like I often do. There’s a post here bagging Dark Funeral because they heard a Slayer cover. It’s like me bagging ‘Bonded by Blood’ because I heard a track or two and wrote it off as a Metallica rip off. Even I know that this is a poor call that requires more listening experience.

Chances are certain metal fans will never like Dimmu Borgir and that’s fine, providing it’s because they’ve honestly listened to tracks like ‘Mourning Palace’, ‘Reptile’ and ‘Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny’, and that they don’t compare them to Darkthrone and that they don’t judge the band purely on promo pics or what their mates think. If they still don’t like the band then fair enough. 

Look how many posts here bag Cradle and Dimmu as black metal bands. Do these posters even black metal??

 

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3 hours ago, Natassja7 said:

Pisses me off when some people are all so quick to slag off a band without sometimes even hearing a full album nevermind back catalogue or be aware of any sort of history.

There are indeed huge amount of bands that have evolved plenty during their career (for better or worse) and there are lot of bands that have couple really bad albums yet some amazing ones. Still.. there is helluva lot of music out there, so if there isn´t anything particular in a recording that makes you want to explore more to their discography, it´s really easy just to forget about the band and move on. I´ve had this happen quite few times personally where sometime later i come across something else from the same band and love it. If only there were endless amount of time... :D Btw. Theres no use in getting annoyed by someone hating something you love.. doesn´t make it any less good for you.. i guess i´m too used of liking stuff no one else gives a crap about. :) 

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I am talking about morons who slag bands off and are very vocal about it, at gigs.. whatever. Not about deciding something isn't right for you and not bothering with it.  To be honest I was recalling a situation with some idiot at a gig who was slagging a band off and when I asked if he had heard some classic album by the band he had no idea. Fuckin tools like that need to keep their opinions to themselves without tainting the band or other peoples view, as unfortunately some people are weak minded enough to listen and/or don't have the brain capacity or ear to make their own opinions either, which I also have found is sadly true.  

edit..

I couldn't give a fuck if someone doesn't agree with my tastes, I listen to stuff that makes ME feel good..as I said it is when they are self righteously vocal about it, when they haven't got a fuckin clue basically.

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Your call on both Deathspell and Judas accurately reflect my experiences of those bands. I’ll have to check out the one you mentioned, as the last JI album I bought was ‘Dethroned, Conquered and Forgotton’. I definitely love the attitude, aesthetic and style - but yes the performance is poor.
As for hearing one track and writing a band off - I tend to agree with [mention=6955]Natassja7[/mention], like I often do. There’s a post here bagging Dark Funeral because they heard a Slayer cover. It’s like me bagging ‘Bonded by Blood’ because I heard a track or two and wrote it off as a Metallica rip off. Even I know that this is a poor call that requires more listening experience.
Chances are certain metal fans will never like Dimmu Borgir and that’s fine, providing it’s because they’ve honestly listened to tracks like ‘Mourning Palace’, ‘Reptile’ and ‘Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny’, and that they don’t compare them to Darkthrone and that they don’t judge the band purely on promo pics or what their mates think. If they still don’t like the band then fair enough. 
Look how many posts here bag Cradle and Dimmu as black metal bands. Do these posters even black metal??
 


Well, writing a band off because of a cover is silly, it's not even their song! There are plenty of great bands that play terrible covers. I'm meaning that if I hear a track by, say, Six Feet Under that doesn't compel me to listen any further, I won't feel like I'm missing out on anything or not doing my due diligence by not checking out the rest of the album. Sure, I could be wrong, and I may try again with enough recommendations from people I trust, but I'm usually not wrong based on my first impression. All I'm saying is some things don't need more exploration, especially if it's a style that you're generally not into. When there's SOOOOOO much quality out there explore, why fight against the current to try to make yourself listen deeper to something that doesn't appeal to you?

Dethroned, Conquered, and Forgotten was better recorded than albums like Heaven In Flames, but still had some issues. I'm down for some sloppy playing if it's loose and energetic, but some of JI is just plain bad in terms of performance. I can overlook it to some extent, but even though i like the songwriting, it's hard for me to listen to. Give this one a go:



To use the same example, if someone was to do this with me regarding Six Feet Under, I might be persuaded to try again. If I was told, "I can see why you don't like what you heard, they were better on their debut and used better vocals with better riffs and songwriting", I could see giving it a listen. In cases like that, yes, I would have been missing out. I'm not above revisiting things, but first impressions are often telling.

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1 hour ago, Natassja7 said:

I am talking about morons who slag bands off and are very vocal about it, at gigs.. whatever. Not about deciding something isn't right for you and not bothering with it.  To be honest I was recalling a situation with some idiot at a gig who was slagging a band off and when I asked if he had heard some classic album by the band he had no idea. Fuckin tools like that need to keep their opinions to themselves without tainting the band or other peoples view, as unfortunately some people are weak minded enough to listen and/or don't have the brain capacity or ear to make their own opinions either, which I also have found is sadly true.  

edit..

I couldn't give a fuck if someone doesn't agree with my tastes, I listen to stuff that makes ME feel good..as I said it is when they are self righteously vocal about it, when they haven't got a fuckin clue basically.

Oh right. I sort of automatically figured it was more directly related to the topic at hand. The world is full of people having strong opinions about things they have no real clue about.. Trick is to avoid people. There are unfortunately limits how far you can take that. :D  

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3 hours ago, BlutAusNerd said:


 

 


Well, writing a band off because of a cover is silly, it's not even their song! There are plenty of great bands that play terrible covers. I'm meaning that if I hear a track by, say, Six Feet Under that doesn't compel me to listen any further, I won't feel like I'm missing out on anything or not doing my due diligence by not checking out the rest of the album. Sure, I could be wrong, and I may try again with enough recommendations from people I trust, but I'm usually not wrong based on my first impression. All I'm saying is some things don't need more exploration, especially if it's a style that you're generally not into. When there's SOOOOOO much quality out there explore, why fight against the current to try to make yourself listen deeper to something that doesn't appeal to you?

Dethroned, Conquered, and Forgotten was better recorded than albums like Heaven In Flames, but still had some issues. I'm down for some sloppy playing if it's loose and energetic, but some of JI is just plain bad in terms of performance. I can overlook it to some extent, but even though i like the songwriting, it's hard for me to listen to. Give this one a go:

 

 

 

 

 



To use the same example, if someone was to do this with me regarding Six Feet Under, I might be persuaded to try again. If I was told, "I can see why you don't like what you heard, they were better on their debut and used better vocals with better riffs and songwriting", I could see giving it a listen. In cases like that, yes, I would have been missing out. I'm not above revisiting things, but first impressions are often telling.

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Yeah, this all makes sense and I’m this way too.

I’m talking about cats like the dude who posted ‘The Byronic Man’ as an example of Cradle of Filth being crap. ‘The Byronic Man’ has the singer from HIM guesting on it for crying out loud and it’s from their controversial ‘Thornography’ album. It’s from their bland experimental (there’s a paradox for you) stage and not at all typical. 

Yes, it’s still a valid example because it IS Cradle of Filth, but if someone judges the band on that song and thinks that all Cradle is like this, or that all Dark Funeral is like their ‘Dead Skin Mask’ cover, then that would be a pity. Someone else could direct them to ‘The Principle of Evil Made Flesh’ or even ‘Cryptoriana’ as much more  relevant examples for your average thick-neck metalhead if they want a sense of Cradle of Filth’s quality. (Ironically these two are their debut and latest albums and therefore useful examples). 

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7 hours ago, ChainsawAkimbo said:

Oh right. I sort of automatically figured it was more directly related to the topic at hand. The world is full of people having strong opinions about things they have no real clue about.. Trick is to avoid people. There are unfortunately limits how far you can take that. :D  

Well it is related to topic and yes ..I have my people avoiding skills honed down to a fine art :D 

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Yeah, this all makes sense and I’m this way too.
I’m talking about cats like the dude who posted ‘The Byronic Man’ as an example of Cradle of Filth being crap. ‘The Byronic Man’ has the singer from HIM guesting on it for crying out loud and it’s from their controversial ‘Thornography’ album. It’s from their bland experimental (there’s a paradox for you) stage and not at all typical. 
Yes, it’s still a valid example because it IS Cradle of Filth, but if someone judges the band on that song and thinks that all Cradle is like this, or that all Dark Funeral is like their ‘Dead Skin Mask’ cover, then that would be a pity. Someone else could direct them to ‘The Principle of Evil Made Flesh’ or even ‘Cryptoriana’ as much more  relevant examples for your average thick-neck metalhead if they want a sense of Cradle of Filth’s quality. (Ironically these two are their debut and latest albums and therefore useful examples). 
I've changed my mind about a few bands this way. Hearing them at their best, as opposed to what many would call their worst, doesn't give the best first impression. Lots of times it doesn't change my mind about the band in question, but at least hearing them at their best, or at least what most people would think about when they discuss the band, is helpful for reference.

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