I had the idea for this thread because I am currently listening to Morbid's Year of the Goat compilation, and I gotta say I love the living shit out of this band. It's not so much Dead-fandom, he's cool but not the selling factor, it's that every single riff in their discography gets me pumped up beyond belief and is one of the few bands that despite heavy depression always get me headbanging *and* in a good mood (both of which I am as I type this).

Anyway, it got me thinking: Everybody and their dog knows about this band, and most have heard them at one point or another, but I hardly meet anyone going "Morbid? Yeah, I fucking love them! Listen to them all the time!" It's just one of those bands everybody knows to exist but not much more. (Morbid fans on this forum feel free to misuse this thread for some massive Morbid-love.)

So, this is the thread to post about other such bands. I can't think of any others right now as I am, as stated, currently headbanging, airdrumming and generally having a great time, but I'm sure I will think of more later. But there have to be heaps of bands that everybody knows for some reason or another, be it a famous member in the line-up or a famous story about them, or anything else by association, but nobody really listens to them often or really loves them.

Bring on your examples and get some loving out for these bands!

hmmm, interesting as i would be someone who knows of Morbid, but i'm not sure whether or not i've actually listened to them or not.

I guess this is subjective, but from people i've talked to, most have heard of the band Morgul, but very few into the band. I like how every album is quite different in style ranging from rawer BM, doomy folky black metal, avante garde to the current Industrial influenced Black Metal

I heard them, liked them a bit in the early 00s, but they didn't stick with me.

Problem is when a band is around and a cult legend, but only releases a sprinkling of demos and EPs, only to be later released as a compilation, half of which is shitty live recordings, or multiple versions of the same songs.

Morbid, Abhorrence, and Hellhammer all have this problem. I'm always stuck on which of their "collections" to buy, because I prefer to hear things at least as close to an "album" quality as I can get.
No live shit, no multiple recordings of the same song in varying shitty quality!!!

I guess not liking the music could be a reason why people know them, and not into them...

@Atropus

Well, Morbid only have six or seven songs, so if you get a compilation you're bound to get a lot of different versions of the same songs. If you want to stick to the bare essentials just try to get the 2000 mcd reissue of December Moon.

Hellhammer's Demon Entrails however is a classy affair. That one is definitely worth getting and is great in its entirety.

Daath. I mean what's being a Daath fan like anyway!? Name sticks out and everyone seems to know them, but I can't possibly fathom anyone whose actually enjoyed them.

On that subject, MAN their self-titled sucked. It's a shame too, cuz I even liked that one with dance music on it.

I do . I don't have all of their stuff but I do have three of their CD s and I actually quite enjoy them. Honestly I don't see why they get so much hate around these parts.

I heard the name but never listened to them. They seem pretty unappealing to my tastes at first glance.

I think Mortuary Drape might be a good candidate. Practically everyone knows them, and of them pretty much everyone *likes* them, but I can't really think of anyone ever being super into them to the point of talking about them a bunch, recommending them to other people, etc. I kind of get the same vague impression from Barathrum, too. A couple of death metal bands also definitely fit the bill: Benediction and Cancer.

Morbid, Daath...we're stretching the term "everybody" in this thread.

I know a few people who are really into Mortuary Drape, most of all Abominatrix if I recall correctly.

Benediction is kind of a weird case, I remember them being one of the most popular death metal bands in the 90s, but their popularity really dropped since the late 90s and hardly anyone considers them among the best anymore. Morgoth suffered a similar fate.

Other than Benidiction, I fit all of this big time.

Yeah, I'd recommend Demon Entrails over the Apocalyptic Raids compilation......

And yes, I'd say to anyone go with December Moon and ignore the "collections". They only had a couple real "great" studio tracks anyways......

I like Mortuary Drape a lot, but their material can be a little inaccessible, so that probably doesn't help.

There are a lot of Suffocation-esque bands that fit the bill here, I think. Internal Bleeding, Broken Hope, Pyrexia... Aeon? They're a relatively big DM band, but nobody really seems to *love* them or anything. Dew-Scented probably fit the criteria as well.

Possibly also Mithras? I get the feeling that everyone knows who Mithras are but very few people actually express approval of them. It's weird because they're not a bad band at all and I get the feeling they have a sizable fanbase, it's just like nobody ever speaks up about liking them.

I'll try to think of some more later.

Here's one - Debauchery. You know that horrid death metal band that is shamefully awful and kind of has the same reputation as Key Dragon, and if the name doesn't ring any bells this song might, Blood For the Blood God

Also I like Mithras but I'm not a huge fan, they're just ok.

i'm gonna have to go with obituary - just a decent old school dm bands that no one really fell in love with, like they did with morbid anglel, death etc.; but they were still good enough that everyone knows them

Novembers Doom perhaps? Pretty much everyone knows about them and they seem to be regarded as a decent to good band, but I never heard anyone expressing actual enthusiasm towards them.

About Mithras, yes, they should get a lot more attention. Great band. Possibly the only brutal death metal band I genuinely love outside of Lykathea Aflame.

Believe it or not Daath was the band that got me into the more extreme metal, i don't listen to them as much as i used to, but i still have fond memories of them.

I see Cause of Death regularly brought up as one of the best albums of the Florida scene, so I don't think they really apply.

Yeah, "everybody" knows I talk about Drape all the time. Barathrum too, if a little less frequently (since their discography isn't anywhere near as consistent). I recommend Drape to people all the time, but none of my friends ended up seeing them at MDF last year...



Yeah, definitely with you on Benediction. Still, the crowd at MDF was very happy to welcome them this year. I know a few people who still really love Morgoth and I was very much into their live set last year.

You should really get Completely Vulgar. It has Abhorrence's sole EP and demo, plus a whole bonus live songs that I just usually ignore. Those nine songs however are some of the best Finndeath around, and pretty much the precursor to that whole scene.

I love Mithras, especially the debut album. I interviewed em for metalcrypt because I'm a huge fan.

Never even heard the name.

Does anybody really actually listen to Skinlab or Chimaira?

I listen to Chimaira sometimes, although I find them to be rather hit-and-miss.

I'm reasonably sure that Six Feet Under are known to most people who are remotely knowledgeable about extreme metal, but it's incredibly rare in my experience to find someone on a general metal board like this who honestly loves the lion's share of their catalogue (So the "well, they didn't start sucking until after Haunted..." and "It's stupid, but kinda catchy..." crowds don't really count).

Would a band like Blackguard fit? Most people in North America would recognize them as the "this fucking band again?" addition to national tours multiple times a year but I never see any praise or vocal fans.

Turisas, Eluveitie are 2 bands that comes to mind. No one here talk about them and no one recommends them at all.

There are many old bands with limited output what would fit, but it's a bit unfair since they faded many years ago in a way or another, like Baphomet, Infernal Torment, Luciferion, Cancer (recently reformed), even Morgoth and Disincarnate (I listen to all these bands even today).

Haha, yeah, as I wrote my post I was thinking to myself that you're probably the only person I know who's really into them. Their set was pretty rad actually but I still haven't dug very deep into their discography myself for whatever reason.



Benediction were cool live, yeah, but I still haven't come across anyone who listened to their recorded output or talked about it much other than as like a cursory mention.

Thanatos might be another good one. I remember a few years back when Hail of Bullets were getting really popular, people would say stuff like, "it's got members of Asphyx! And Thanatos!" and wondering to myself, "sure, but who actually listens to Thanatos?"

I think a lot of 3rd and fourth generation black metal gets the shaft, despite a lot of it being quite good:

Bloodthorn
Kvist
Forgotten Woods
Aeternus
Obtained Enslavement
Vordven
Odium
Midvinter
Gehenna
Ancient Wisdom
Sort Vokter

etc. etc. etc.

Out of bands of this era, Taake gets way too MUCH attention!!!

They seem to be in a sort of limbo, sometimes having the qualities of a big band and sometimes coming across as an unknown cover band. Like a lesser tier of "big" bands. Barely anyone thinks too highly of them, I love them though, incredible band.

Another vote for Mithras, that is one great band, everything they've done is gold especially the debut.

Benediction only get attention due to their connection with Bolt Thrower and Napalm Death....
I listened to the first 3 albums...... alright but nothing mind-blowing.

Thanatos are actually pretty good also, but why listen to Thanatos when you've got Pestilence and Asphyx??

Von hasn't got mentioned yet. Everyone knows of them even though they only released a few demos in the early 90s and hardly anyone actually likes them. They mostly get made fun of.

Never thought Daath would get a mention on this forum, I like/liked them, Futility and The Hinderers are two albums I still listen to on the odd occasion but everything after that is mediocre to utter garbage. I think when Sean Farber left, the band lost it's experimental identity and become another tired, interchangeable, formula driven wank fest, and Emil Werstler's solo material is a total wank with no semblance of memorability. I reached out to Sean Farber through facebook but he wants nothing to do with metal and is living on a special organic farm, living off what he grows.

Massacre. They're as known as other death metal bands like Master, Monstrosity, and Brutality, but they don't get as much respect as those bands. I guess Kam Lee's online antics don't really help.

man, the Debauchery dudes took WH40k and metal and they suck, I don't even...

Novembers Doom are a great band, I prefer them over the other "big" names of their style too. Seems like they don't get nearly enough credit, even though they moved away from the more gothic side of death/doom as it faded away. They have been in my listening rotation for 10-11 years now, my favorite band of a style that I'm not big on.



"Everybody knows" those bands? That's a stretch on most of them. Kvist and Forgotten Woods are certainly among the best black metal bands, and I have heard plenty of people mention their love of Kvist, though perhaps they should be showered with the unrepentant praise that DSO seem to get. I don't think Forgotten Woods could possibly get too much credit - they're easily one of the ten greatest black metal bands ever - but I think they are simply less known, rather than unacknowledged. I think that is really the case with most of these bands - they're not premiere names, and other than Gehenna and Aeternus, basically all of these bands are long gone and their names haven't come up in the last decade, which has been a big one for the spread of lesser known bands. Aeternus have been idling for a while too. Odium and Midvinter each put out one great album, but their were bands who topped both of them in those styles.