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Who are your current top 5 bands?


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8 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Didn't have you pegged as a big Motorhead guy. Not that I think you wouldn't like them but I wouldn't have thought they'd be  a top 5 band for you. Thought they'd be too straightforward and one dimensional for a guy like you to rate them that highly. Shows how much I know.

I've had No Remorse in heavy rotation since about 85. My list was sort of a grab bag of bands I felt are foundational over different styles relative to how I experience heavy music. I almost put Metallica as they were once the most important band in metal but I honestly don't enjoy them that much now as far as listening. I listen to Priest, Motorhead, Maiden, Accept, etc. and the odd hair metal band than Metallica----but I will put on Ride the Lightning thru AJFA and occasionally Black once in a blue moon. 

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Probably the same ones as they have been for decades:

 

Iron Maiden

Megadeth

 

Then it gets more fuzzy - Anthrax, Carcass, Slayer, Edge of Sanity, Iced Earth, Nevermore, Motörhead, Pantera all kind of shine at times.  Depends on the mood.

 

Lately it's been binging Carcass, Slayer, Motörhead out of the list above as well as Testament.    

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Oops, I must amend my previous post.  If it's top bands we're listening to lately, my list would literally be:

1) Overkill

2) Overkill

3) Overkill

4) Overkill

5) Overkill

I've listened to nothing but Overkill for the past almost 2 weeks now.  My favorite thrash metal band of all time.  Incredibly talented, and it's impossible to grow tired of their discography since they have 19 studio albums in their catalog, with a 20th album due tentatively in February of 2022.  My previous post is a list of my top 5 favorite bands of all time in general.

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Not criticizing anyone's choices or anything but I do find it quite interesting how so many young dudes stick with the tried and true old school legacy bands from days of yore as their current favorite bands. While a crusty old relic like me who's old enough to be their father (or even an older uncle) has abandoned most of those dinosaur bands from my youth years ago in favor of younger more extreme metal bands. I've gotta think maybe they just haven't had enough time to get sick of them yet. Overkill and Motorhead and Celtic Frost were my favorite bands for a couple of decades, but not for the last 15 years or so they've been replaced by more recent discoveries. Don't get me wrong I still love those bands, they're just not in the running to be my current favorites anymore.

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2 hours ago, JamesT said:

Oops, I must amend my previous post.  If it's top bands we're listening to lately, my list would literally be:

1) Overkill

2) Overkill

3) Overkill

4) Overkill

5) Overkill

I've listened to nothing but Overkill for the past almost 2 weeks now.  My favorite thrash metal band of all time.  Incredibly talented, and it's impossible to grow tired of their discography since they have 19 studio albums in their catalog, with a 20th album due tentatively in February of 2022.  My previous post is a list of my top 5 favorite bands of all time in general.

I almost didn't make the stupid obvious sarcastic comment that this list is overkill :)

And now I have to go spin some Overkill. I have probably only really listened to 3 or 4 of those 19. Any newer gems that I should try first? 

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2 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Not criticizing anyone's choices or anything but I do find it quite interesting how so many young dudes stick with the tried and true old school legacy bands from days of yore as their current favorite bands. While a crusty old relic like me who's old enough to be their father (or even an older uncle) has abandoned most of those dinosaur bands from my youth years ago in favor of younger more extreme metal bands. I've gotta think maybe they just haven't had enough time to get sick of them yet. Overkill and Motorhead and Celtic Frost were my favorite bands for a couple of decades, but not for the last 15 years or so they've been replaced by more recent discoveries. Don't get me wrong I still love those bands, they're just not in the running to be my current favorites anymore.

I'm sure I'm old enough to be a grandfather to some but I still haven't abandoned the old school stuff. I still listen to new stuff and I listen to a wider range of music than I used to in the 80's and 90's but I still revert back to the older stuff regularly.  Dropping a 5 favourite band list for me would be tiresome and annoying because it would nearly change with every fifth album.

 

13 minutes ago, Hungarino said:

I almost didn't make the stupid obvious sarcastic comment that this list is overkill :)

And now I have to go spin some Overkill. I have probably only really listened to 3 or 4 of those 19. Any newer gems that I should try first? 

 

The last two albums Wings Of War and The Grinding Wheel are regular spinners for me.

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21 minutes ago, Hungarino said:

I almost didn't make the stupid obvious sarcastic comment that this list is overkill :)

And now I have to go spin some Overkill. I have probably only really listened to 3 or 4 of those 19. Any newer gems that I should try first? 

Absolutely, my friend!  I consider the "new era" of Overkill to date back to 2010's "Ironbound" up through the present day, which currently goes up through their 2019 release "The Wings of War".  The reason why that's the timeline I use is because "Ironbound" is the album where they really went back purely to their thrash roots after a long period of time where they experimented with a more groove-oriented sound.  If you haven't checked out "Ironbound", that would be a great place to start, although my absolute favorite album of theirs of all time is the one that came right after that, which is 2012's "The Electric Age".  In addition to those 2 albums, a few others I'd suggest are "White Devil Armory" (2014), "The Grinding Wheel" (2017) and the aforementioned "The Wings of War" (2019).  If you've already listened to some of those, I certainly have a few other recommendations (my apologies if I've only repeated albums you've already heard).  Let me know what you think!  Stay heavy, my friend!

14 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

I'm sure I'm old enough to be a grandfather to some but I still haven't abandoned the old school stuff. I still listen to new stuff and I listen to a wider range of music than I used to in the 80's and 90's but I still revert back to the older stuff regularly.  Dropping a 5 favourite band list for me would be tiresome and annoying because it would nearly change with every fifth album.

 

 

The last two albums Wings Of War and The Grinding Wheel are regular spinners for me.

Great choices!  "The Grinding Wheel" has quickly grown on me.  I honestly wasn't particularly taken with it upon the first couple of listens.  But man, it's really become a favorite of mine, to the point where I'd rank it in the top 10 of their discography.  

2 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Not criticizing anyone's choices or anything but I do find it quite interesting how so many young dudes stick with the tried and true old school legacy bands from days of yore as their current favorite bands. While a crusty old relic like me who's old enough to be their father (or even an older uncle) has abandoned most of those dinosaur bands from my youth years ago in favor of younger more extreme metal bands. I've gotta think maybe they just haven't had enough time to get sick of them yet. Overkill and Motorhead and Celtic Frost were my favorite bands for a couple of decades, but not for the last 15 years or so they've been replaced by more recent discoveries. Don't get me wrong I still love those bands, they're just not in the running to be my current favorites anymore.

It's all good!  Everyone has their own taste.  I was born in 1990, so I didn't get a chance to hear Overkill in their younger years while they were in the midst of recording classics like "Feel the Fire", "Taking Over" or "The Years of Decay".  I've never been really heavy into Motorhead, although I enjoy their stuff to a decent degree.  Who have you been into in more recent years?

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1 hour ago, JamesT said:

Absolutely, my friend!  I consider the "new era" of Overkill to date back to 2010's "Ironbound" up through the present day, which currently goes up through their 2019 release "The Wings of War".  The reason why that's the timeline I use is because "Ironbound" is the album where they really went back purely to their thrash roots after a long period of time where they experimented with a more groove-oriented sound.  If you haven't checked out "Ironbound", that would be a great place to start, although my absolute favorite album of theirs of all time is the one that came right after that, which is 2012's "The Electric Age".  In addition to those 2 albums, a few others I'd suggest are "White Devil Armory" (2014), "The Grinding Wheel" (2017) and the aforementioned "The Wings of War" (2019).  If you've already listened to some of those, I certainly have a few other recommendations (my apologies if I've only repeated albums you've already heard).  Let me know what you think!  Stay heavy, my friend!

Great choices!  "The Grinding Wheel" has quickly grown on me.  I honestly wasn't particularly taken with it upon the first couple of listens.  But man, it's really become a favorite of mine, to the point where I'd rank it in the top 10 of their discography.  

It's all good!  Everyone has their own taste.  I was born in 1990, so I didn't get a chance to hear Overkill in their younger years while they were in the midst of recording classics like "Feel the Fire", "Taking Over" or "The Years of Decay".  I've never been really heavy into Motorhead, although I enjoy their stuff to a decent degree.  Who have you been into in more recent years?

For a brief summary of my more recent proclivities in metal music I would direct you to my 3 month old post on this thread dated April 25th which can be found on the last page, #62. I listen to predominantly black metal, as well as death and crusty hardcore tinged metal nowadays, maybe just a smidge of sludge and/or doom. If I listen to any thrash it's most likely been blackened. You know what they say, once you go black you never go back. 

I tend to forget just how young some of the people I post with actually are. My daughter was born in 1990. She unfortunately did not grow up to be a metalhead. I still love her regardless.

Being a native New Yorker I first ran across Overkill playing in the NYC clubs back before their self titled EP came out in 1985. They quickly supplanted Metallica as my favorite band and remained my number 1 for many years. I harbored resentment for a long time that my Jersey boys received so little respect and acclaim compared to so many of those dime-a-dozen Bay Area thrash bands of that era that were so clearly inferior to them. Now in my twilight years I've gotten past such petty concerns. Not too hard considering I really don't listen to a whole lotta 80's thrash anymore. To each his own.

Probably not too surprisingly, I haven't kept close tabs on Overkill's more recent output from the last decade. I've checked out these last four albums once or twice each on Youtube and have been fine leaving it at that. Whatever magic they once had that made me love them for so many years from the mid 80's to the mid 2000's is clearly gone now and they appear to me to be going through the motions at this point just to earn a living. And I'm ok with that as we all have rent to pay and such, but I'm ok letting them go as a current band, I don't pop a boner every time I hear on the wind they've got a new album coming out. I do still check in with some of the older albums from time to time for nostalgia purposes but there are plenty of other newer better bands to keep me busy day to day. I'm aware that many people consider Ironbound a great album and some kind of return to form but I'm not of that mind. I only liked 3 songs on that album, The title track, The Green & Black, and SRC. The rest was garbage as far as I'm concerned. Again, to each his own, live and let live, you do you. I'm just not familiar enough to comment on anything that they've released in the decade since then.

 

My favorite Overkill albums in order are as follows:

1. Taking Over

2. Horrorscope

3. Feel the Fire

4. Killbox 13

5. Bloodletting

6. I Hear Black

7. Years of Decay

8. WFO

9. From the Underground and Below

10. Necroshine

11. Under the Influence

 

Ride high! Ride tall! Overkill will never fall
Full moon! Sharp sword! Satan is your Lord
Midnight! Dark sky! Overkill will never die
Blood bath! Die fast! Overkill the Devil's wrath

Overkill

 

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22 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

For a brief summary of my more recent proclivities in metal music I would direct you to my 3 month old post on this thread dated April 25th which can be found on the last page, #62. I listen to predominantly black metal, as well as death and crusty hardcore tinged metal nowadays, maybe just a smidge of sludge and/or doom. If I listen to any thrash it's most likely been blackened. You know what they say, once you go black you never go back. 

I tend to forget just how young some of the people I post with actually are. My daughter was born in 1990. She unfortunately did not grow up to be a metalhead. I still love her regardless.

Being a native New Yorker I first ran across Overkill playing in the NYC clubs back before their self titled EP came out in 1985. They quickly supplanted Metallica as my favorite band and remained my number 1 for many years. I harbored resentment for a long time that my Jersey boys received so little respect and acclaim compared to so many of those dime-a-dozen Bay Area thrash bands of that era that were so clearly inferior to them. Now in my twilight years I've gotten past such petty concerns. Not too hard considering I really don't listen to a whole lotta 80's thrash anymore. To each his own.

Probably not too surprisingly, I haven't kept close tabs on Overkill's more recent output from the last decade. I've checked out these last four albums once or twice each on Youtube and have been fine leaving it at that. Whatever magic they once had that made me love them for so many years from the mid 80's to the mid 2000's is clearly gone now and they appear to me to be going through the motions at this point just to earn a living. And I'm ok with that as we all have rent to pay and such, but I'm ok letting them go as a current band, I don't pop a boner every time I hear on the wind they've got a new album coming out. I do still check in with some of the older albums from time to time for nostalgia purposes but there are plenty of other newer better bands to keep me busy day to day. I'm aware that many people consider Ironbound a great album and some kind of return to form but I'm not of that mind. I only liked 3 songs on that album, The title track, The Green & Black, and SRC. The rest was garbage as far as I'm concerned. Again, to each his own, live and let live, you do you. I'm just not familiar enough to comment on anything that they've released in the decade since then.

 

My favorite Overkill albums in order are as follows:

1. Taking Over

2. Horrorscope

3. Feel the Fire

4. Killbox 13

5. Bloodletting

6. I Hear Black

7. Years of Decay

8. WFO

9. From the Underground and Below

10. Necroshine

11. Under the Influence

 

Ride high! Ride tall! Overkill will never fall
Full moon! Sharp sword! Satan is your Lord
Midnight! Dark sky! Overkill will never die
Blood bath! Die fast! Overkill the Devil's wrath

Overkill

 

Oh okay, gotcha.  Yeah man, that's cool.  I've really found myself enjoying "Killbox 13" quite a bit more than I used to, which I'm pleasantly surprised by.  "Taking Over" has also quickly risen up the list for me as well.  I just joined the forum a few days ago, so I'm still catching up on a lot of posts.  Are you a fan of Cradle of Filth?  Immortal? 

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14 minutes ago, JamesT said:

Oh okay, gotcha.  Yeah man, that's cool.  I've really found myself enjoying "Killbox 13" quite a bit more than I used to, which I'm pleasantly surprised by.  "Taking Over" has also quickly risen up the list for me as well.  I just joined the forum a few days ago, so I'm still catching up on a lot of posts.  Are you a fan of Cradle of Filth?  Immortal? 

Again remember, my list is just for fun, I'm just sharing my opinions as a long time dyed in the wool Overkill fan. I'm not telling you which albums you should or shouldn't be enjoying nor am I telling you that you're wrong for liking the ones that you do. Just because I don't happen to care for Grinding Wheel and most of Ironbound doesn't mean that someone else can't. And you wouldn't be the first person to tell me that my beloved Killbox is crap, that seems to be the prevailing verdict on that one, the reason for which escapes me.

As for Cradle that's a no. Symphonic metal doesn't really work for me. Not an Emperor fan either for the same reason. 

As for Immortal I'll say not particularly. I do have a few of their albums but I can't say I ever play them very much. Everyone seems to love Heart of Winter and either the more mainstream Sons of Northern Darkness or maybe their second album Pure Holocaust but I don't have any strong feelings about any of them one way or the other. Guess I generally tend to go for the more Satanic and caustic but melodic bands. I have a deep fondness for Finnish black metal, raw black metal and bands following the Darkthrone template.

 

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12 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Again remember, my list is just for fun, I'm just sharing my opinions as a long time dyed in the wool Overkill fan. I'm not telling you which albums you should or shouldn't be enjoying nor am I telling you that you're wrong for liking the ones that you do. Just because I don't happen to care for Grinding Wheel and most of Ironbound doesn't mean that someone else can't. And you wouldn't be the first person to tell me that my beloved Killbox is crap, that seems to be the prevailing verdict on that one, the reason for which escapes me.

As for Cradle that's a no. Symphonic metal doesn't really work for me. Not an Emperor fan either for the same reason. 

As for Immortal I'll say not particularly. I do have a few of their albums but I can't say I ever play them very much. Everyone seems to love Heart of Winter and either the more mainstream Sons of Northern Darkness or maybe their second album Pure Holocaust but I don't have any strong feelings about any of them one way or the other. Guess I generally tend to go for the more Satanic and caustic but melodic bands. I have a deep fondness for Finnish black metal, raw black metal and bands following the Darkthrone template.

 

Yeah man, absolutely!  I never hated "Killbox 13" by any means.  I've just enjoyed it even more lately.

 

And okay, gotcha.  Cradle of Filth is one of my favorite bands ever.  Dani Filth also formed another band that has released 2 albums thus far called Devilment.  It's a similar sound to CoF, but it also has some groove metal elements in it as well.  As for Immortal, I really enjoy "Sons of Northern Darkness", but I'm not familiar with their other material.  I'm not a black metal guy for the most part, but I've heard CoF be labeled as such.  Although that seems to stir up a lot of die-hard black metal fans, a lot of whom seem to say CoF isn't true black metal.  I just enjoy it if it's good music!

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1 hour ago, Thatguy said:

Since you rate Illimitable Dolor-  and so do I - you should know that The Slow Death (much the same band but a bit better I think) has a new album out at the end of the week.  I'm excited!

No idea what an Illimitable Dolor might look like but this isn't half bad. And I'm not even a big doom guy.

The Slow Death - The Slow Death

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My top 5 is typically always changing, evolving, if you consider what is in top rotation at any time.  I have old loves that I revisit from time to time but I tend to find something in the moment that grips me and becomes impregnated in my eardrum for the short term.    It becomes a juxtaposition between what I think were the best albums/bands and what is what I really am viscerally consuming.   So I will reply with what I keep spinning in the moment:

No particular order, but this is surely enough to get Goatmaster General's goat:

1) Meshuggah

2) Ulcerate

3) Panzerfaust

4) Wode

6) MGLA

 

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19 minutes ago, JorKid said:

My top 5 is typically always changing, evolving, if you consider what is in top rotation at any time.  I have old loves that I revisit from time to time but I tend to find something in the moment that grips me and becomes impregnated in my eardrum for the short term.    It becomes a juxtaposition between what I think were the best albums/bands and what is what I really am viscerally consuming.   So I will reply with what I keep spinning in the moment:

No particular order, but this is surely enough to get Goatmaster General's goat:

1) Meshuggah

2) Ulcerate

3) Panzerfaust

4) Wode

6) MGLA

 

Haha consider my goat gotten Joshhy!

Alright no, not really. Despite the shit that comes out of my big mouth on occasion, I honestly don't care what anyone else listens to. But since you've dragged me into this now I'll just say it does seem like a strange top 5 to me. 

Right off the bat Meshuggah and Ulcerate are two bands that I have no use for at all because I can't follow along with their songs in my head. I'm a simple man with simple tases.

I know Torontonians Panzerfaust are quite popular with some goats here and there but they do little for me. I grabbed their 2020 Suns of Perdition last year after several mentions on the board by voices I trust, and I found it not bad as much as just quite boring.

Mgla same thing, I know they're pretty popular and I have even seen them live one time (MDF) and enjoyed their set, but as far as their records are concerned I could take them or leave them. I can't even remember the last time I reached for one of their records.

Wode on the other hand I think is fucking great, (or their first two albums were great anyway, I don't really care for their latest - who knows where they might decide to go from here) but they wouldn't be in contention for my top 5 or even my top 25 bands. Either of their fist two albums might make a top black metal albums of the 2000's list if I were to make one (and I think I did make one actually not too long ago) but with just those two albums I don't think of them as an overall top 10 kind of band.

But hey man don't you worry about what I think, they're your ears bro, my opinions have absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Nice to see you found us over here Joshhy.

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