A lot of Bay Area Thrash bands are known for being "from the scene that spawned Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer". However, I've noticed most of them still have their own "circle" so to speak.....

I think the same could be said for F&J...

Most thrash fans love the first two Flotsam and Jetsam albums, though (me included). It just seems that they'd rather not talk about their later stuff.

Well, this thread keeps good to its premise. We learn that many of us know this or that band by name or reputation for whatever reason, but are not interested at all, and soon after that, we learn that some of us happen to love this or that band.


What other hand? First, I hardly think Meliah Rage is that well-known, even among metalheads. Second, I for one will defend 'Solitary Solitude' to the death.


I'm not sure how popular Galder's project is nowadays. I know his "let's join Dimmu Borgir and make some money for a change" + "alright, I'm already playing soulless money-grabbing shit in DB, might as well turn OMC into the same thing" career path hasn't paid off anywhere near as much as he'd hoped, but I guess OMC still managed to get some "fans" with that plan, not just a bit of fame by association. At any rate, I'm sure many of us are still fiercely into the early stuff (up to and of course including INSI), and in my particular case, that's an understatement: that band released two of my favorite albums of all times.


That's their entire purpose. It's not so much a band as it is a live show franchise. I still wouldn't be caught dead at one of their shows, or with one of their "albums" in hand, but they have a strong following among... whoever likes their stuff.


The first two, especially the absolutely awesome 'No Place for Disgrace' still get regular spins from me as well, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Later OMC is that bad? I haven't listened much beyond INSI, though that's not for any particular reason. I thought I heard Slaves to the World getting some pretty good reviews.

^ Well, that depends how much you like mid-to-late period DB's take on "atmospheric/symphonic/melodic/euphemistic black metal", I guess. But if you expect any residual traces of the stellar songwriting, mighty riffs and overall post-apocalyptic grandeur of stuff like 'Pagan Prosperity' or INSI, you're shit out of luck. As soon as Galder joined Dimmu, OMC changed forever. I vividly remember buying the '666: Generic Title' album with eyes closed, because it immediately followed the aforementioned two consecutive masterpieces, going home and... topping the disappointment I had when I bought the black album with eyes closed. I gave at least a fair listen to all three "OMC" albums that followed and really, if your tastes are anything like mine, I'd advise you to stay away from them.

OMC turned shite after Galder joined DB, DB turned shite after that dude in the top hat left.....

Hmm, having just listened to In Defiance of Existence on Spotify, I'd say that's at least pretty good. Had that sort of triumphant symphonic edge from Pagan Prosperity, even though I could detect a bit of the Dimmu Borgir-cheese creeping in.

Prior to Metallica I could agree with but when dudes like Lars' started wearing their shirts and covering Am I Evil, they became pretty well known and I know a few people into them now.

The only OMC album that sound like Dimmu is Revelation 666. In Defiance has similarities, Vermin has very few similarities and Slaves Of The World sounds nothing like Dimmu at all.

Nah, OMC is pretty good. At least Galder writes real riffs there, instead the endless chugga chugga that Dimmu is.

To close the post-INSI OMC chapter: to each his own. Smoking_Gnu, if you hear a "triumphant symphonic edge" in TPP, perhaps the album with the strongest all-hope-is-lost,-let's-go-out-with-a-bang vibes I have ever known, then our understanding and appreciation of Galder's work definitely diverge a lot in the first place; so yeah, you might like the later stuff after all, I no longer can tell. shwartzheim, you're not wrong about the Dimmu sound fading away somewhat in the last two albums (you forgot IDoE, though, which still had a lot of it too), but it wasn't replaced by any of the great and unique traits OMC used to have. None of the four post-INSI albums has a shred of the intricate, visceral and incredibly authentic songwriting Galder used to offer, that's the main thing to note. SotW is a mundane modern black/extreme metal affair; gone are the high-end speed metal riffing, the challenging yet rock solid song structures and the crystal-clear, ultimately powerful sound and delivery; enter muddy full-chord fillings, tons of effects and gimmicks and a very run-of-the-mill delivery attempting to hide the lack of songwriting substance. And Kveldulfr, bear in mind that the man used to churn out some of the most awesome and memorable riffs I have ever heard; I can't possibly settle for his current generic black metal idiosyncracies juste because they're not "chugga chugga", sorry. But hey! don't let me spoil those albums for y'all. To each his own.

Fucking Unleashed

They are known by every metalhead as part of the big 4 of sweadeath, but everyone prefers/talk about Dismember and Entombed a lot more. Personally i enjoy Unleashed's earlier output way more than Grave, Dismember and Entombed.

Yes, even more than Left Hand Path and Like Everflowing Stream

Oh man I needed a laugh, thanks.

It's true!!!

I enjoyed the first 3 Dimmu albums quite a bit, some very good medieval Emperor/Enslaved influenced black metal, but after that weird mime guy left, their music turned all chugga-chugga, with an image akin to Kiss.....

If I'm not mistaken it wasn't even a musical decision, it was just a coincidence he left then. He was conscripted into the army or something.

I never implied it had anything to do with him leaving, just a coincidence that they changed their direction around the same time.....

I do think it was a musical decision though, by Shagrath and Silenoz......
Lots of fans from the death metal scene hated black metal then, and they would always get slammed in reviews for sounding too pretty and using too many keyboards while keeping with the commercially inaccessible black metal production style.

Therefore they tried beefing up their sound and playing a style that would appeal to the typical meat & potatoes metal fan,and lost quite a bit of their uniqueness along the way due to their compromise.

That keyboardist got kicked out of DImmu because he was a lazy, unprofessional guy who didn't want to practice and even bailed on some shows. Had nothing to do with the band wanting to change their sound; they replaced him right away with a guy who was arguably more talented and just as present in the mix, if not moreso. Didn't help their music, though.

So I was listening to the radio today and the Gorillaz were on which made me think of Dethklok and how I don't know anybody who actually likes them other than me. Most of the people I've talked to get all butthurt about them but I think the gimmick is part of what makes me like them so much.

Also Therion, I really like them and they usually get great reviews but I don't know any one else who likes them and I've never heard any one around these parts talk about them other than one time in rec central for operatic vocals.

Unleashed has one song ("Before the Creation of Time"), which is quite cool in and of itself, but then they repeated that song enough times to make it appear that they were releasing albums. I think a lot of people can see that and get bored with them easily. So yeah, good fit for this thread, probably.

Therion has legions of fans, although not that many metalheads (if any). Mostly (pseudo-)goths.

As for Dethklok, I dunno. The project apparently sells fairly well, and the cartoon is rather popular. Probably not among metalheads, but deathcore kids tend to love it.

I know the cartoon is popular but I'm not particularly a fan, I just like their music, and I don't think that the popularity they get from it counts towards their popularity as a band at least I don't count it that way. I know it's cheesy and what not but the parody/comedy is what I really like about them.

Mustis wrote tons of material from PEM onwards, since the really lazy and untalented guy in DB is Silenoz. When he was playing bass and Shagrath guitar it was way, way better. I know they tried a bit on ISD, but Silenoz can't write a riff even to safe his life. Galder just plays what he's told, as he has proven to have the chops to write excellent riffs in OMC. Maybe the only 2 black metal riff based sections on ISD were written by him.

I don't know many dedicated fans of Dodheimsgard but many black metalheads I know respects the band deeply and many have at least 1 album in physical form, being Kronet til Konge or Monumental Possession the favs; the more avantgarde fans into Thorns and Arcturus I know enjoy greatly to International 666 (me included).

Kronet til Konge and Monumental Possession were superb!!

Satanic Art seemed like a "weird for weird's sake" album, but had some cool vocals.

I only heard one song on 666 International and it didn't strike my fancy..... too much of the awkward "stop, start, stop, start" kind of songwriting, with the whole "ok, this part's going to be metal, this part's going to be industrial...." kind of approach.

I prefer "industrial black metal" to flow....... kinda like early Limbonic Art or Mysticum.

And hipsters. I actually know a ton of Dethklok fans.

Forget if this was brought up, but has anyone ever known a Derrick Green era Sepultura fan? I'm friends with Chaos AD diehards and a bunch of Soulfly fans, but I've never had a drunken conversation with someone adamantly defending Against or A-Lex...