For the simple reason you can't compare the albums anymore style wise. As a Death metal record, it rules, but as a metal record, it's pale compared to human or symbolic

Another opinion: I really love Pestilence's Spheres.

I dare you to listen to Lovebites. Vocalwise it may not be your cup of tea, but musicwise they play any other "modern" metalband straight out of the water. And reconsider your opinion.

I like early Soundgarden too, but Superunknown is not just one of the best albums of the 90s but one of the all time classic rock records - to my mind it's on a level with albums like Master of Reality, Exile On Main Street, Led Zeppelin IV etc.

On a technical level I agree Hughes is a better vocalist than Ozzy. Maybe Martin too (again, in terms of pure technicality), but Ozzy's approach was unique and pretty much a one off that worked perfectly with Sabbath.

You could make an argument for this, and I'm not proposing to flood the Archives with every 60s/70s hard rock band ever under the 'exceptions' rule, but Zeppelin's influence is a bit more widespread among the rock community as a whole. But the influence of BOC can be primarily seen in metal bands more than anywhere else in rock, I'd argue. Therefore they should be granted an exemption and put on the Archives.

The other alternative is to go with what another poster here has suggested and just take the proto metal/influential exceptions to the rule bands off the Archives altogether. But there has to be consistency on this. Either include the full gamut of influences (Rush/Deep Purple/BOC/Thin Lizzy) or don't include them at all.

Black Gives Way To Blue is the best AIC album.

* Kreators' 90's output is great (the only meh one is Renewal).

* Panteras' sound was awful.

* Lo-Fi black metal (Like early Darkthrone) is garbage.

* Anthrax shouldn't be considered one of the ''Big 4''.

* Every Enslaved album post-''Mardraum – Beyond the Within'' is lame.

* Sepulturas' ''Quadra'' is better than the Max Cavalera era.

* Soulfly/Cavalera Conspiracy are good.

* Iron Maiden is overrated.

Skid Row's Slave to the grind is heavier than most of the speedmetal of that era.

Neither Overkill or Megadeth have made a truly great record in nearly 30 years.
Meanwhile, Flotsam and Jetsam have released nothing but great records over the past 20 years (since 2001’s “My God”).

Here's one: the band Dio was pretty boring and in fact. Yeah, Dio could fucking sing, but I bet plenty of people wouldn't have cared if he himself was an average vocalist at best.

Agreed - EXCEPT for Ironbound, which makes sense as they've been spending the past 10 years trying to recreate it to increasingly diminishing returns. I like Dystopia but it's only good at best and it's simply just better than every post-Youthanasia Megadeth album.

Metallica is about as interesting as a beige wall to me. I respect their legacy and importance to metal music as a whole, but the music itself is just not my bag. I do like Master of Puppets well enough and a few other tunes here and there, but I just can't get into them enough to say that I'm a fan. Especially the vocals. I don't know how to describe what I mean by this, but they're too "machismo" for me. Like, "Ohhh yeah eee yeeaah, I'm metaaaahl uh! I sing for a metaaahl baaeaaand uh!" It just doesn't work for me.

I'll take Slayer all day every day.

Not really a super unpopular opinion. Most metalheads I've met don't really really consider them apart of the "big 4" of thrash metal.

Here's one: Most metal fans don't know what to listen for with certain bands/genres which lead to ridiculous hot takes.



I agree with this although it seems like a lot of his fans really like his lyrics otherwise I get bored listening to him after two songs.

Can you elaborate what it means to "listen for" something? Music either works for a listener or it doesn't, so I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

I wouldn't go that far, but it is better than people say... the first four tracks are obviously the best but the whole thing is solid and none of the tracks are bad. They have an inimitable, badass style and that old school swagger.

I also wouldn't call Rust in Peace overrated or whatever; I get why everyone loves it but I just don't really play it anymore, maybe because I hate Mustaine so much. I'll try it again sometime soon.

Meshuggah isn't djent. They inspired the, ahem... "genre", by using 8 string guitars and polyrhythmic grooves, but the core elements of "djent" don't even sound like Meshuggah. It's usually just metalcore with too much riff slicing. The only thing Meshuggah has in common with the modern djent scene is that they're both low, and maybe use some weird time signatures or polyrhythms.

The only song I know where Meshuggah uses anything that sounds like riff slicing is New Millennium Cyanide Christ. And the band's style wasn't even fully developed at that point.

Here are 5 that are sure to get me flamed (and maybe even banned)

Metallica is the best metal band of all time. And further more, Reload is one of their best albums.

Slayer's God Hates Us All album is actually P good. Starts off with 4 great songs, Threshold and Exile are both great, too.

Venom's Resurrection is their best album.

Cradle Of Filth's "Hallowed Be Thy Name" smokes the original, and is one of the best metal performances ever recorded.

Not only is Paradise Lost the weakest link of the Peaceville 3, they are pretty boring in general.

What do you mean music either works for a listener or it doesn't? That makes no sense to me lol since so many cool things can go unnoticed in music. Death or black metal swon't work for someone if theyre just looking for a catchy chorus and not paying attention to anything else. That would be an extreme example of what I mean.

I mean, I don't entirely disagree with what you're saying. Obviously one wouldn't listen to Dying Fetus for an operatic chorus to sing along to, but I just mean in very basic terms a person either likes a song, band, artist, genre, or they don't. Obviously a person can be "eh" or neutral on something, I just mean that the idea of saying someone would suddenly like a piece of music if they only knew what to listen for seems strange to me.

I didn't say it would be sudden. Usually, it takes a change of perception then more listens plus some time to absorb it to enjoy and appreciate what they were missing before.

Fair enough. Many aspects of metal (particularly extreme metal) were acquired tastes for me, so I get what you're saying.

I'm not sure if this is exactly what the intention is, but it seems to me that a lot of people criticize certain subgenres for not being their favorite subgenre. It's more obvious in some reviews where they complain about elements that are fairly typical of the style, and it's clear they're judging the release by the standards of the tropes of their own favored subgenre, rather than against more directly comparable releases, or by whether the band succeeded at accomplishing their own goals. It's more common when people dip their toes into subgenres they don't listen to as much, and even more so when they listen to non-metal genres. It's why "music appreciation" is a thing, if you're not experienced with a style you don't necessarily know what to listen for, to hear what other people enjoy about it. So you have to do a lot of listening yourself, or watch/read other opinions to see what it is they get out of it.

Well said. Funny enough I just had this revelation when I tried to learn a funk/jazz song by the Crusaders and felt like a complete idiot for never noticing how interesting and difficult the rhythm is.

Ah, I'm with it now. That makes sense to me. Almost like people are measuring the music with a yardstick that they aren't familiar enough with to really use.

It's weird to not like them based on "machismo". Kerry King is pretty much the definition of that, and almost the whole band to a slightly lesser extent.

I sort of get what you mean because there's definitely albums that take multiple listens to fully understand, and yeah when I'm discovering an album I'm interested in that I don't have committed to memory yet I tend to listen to it more analytical and study it and then slowly I piece it all together and start to enjoy it without thinking, and I do this for every album I don't have a good memory tbh

Which leads me to another opinion, I don't see the point in just having stock piles of music at all times, I prefer to get in depth with albums so I don't really bother with shit that doesn't intrigue me enough to listen to more than once, that might sound close minded, but I just bother with shit that interests me before I even hear it.

Oh he definitely is, I'm specifically describing the vocals and how they sound to me and nothing else. I don't have a good word for it, I just know that I don't really like it. I prefer the more chaotic, unhinged sound of Slayer. Obviously it's just personal taste, at the end of the day.

Same I usually only listen to one or two albums by a band about 50 times instead of their whole discography.

Right? Pantera and Slayer exude more machismo than Metallica/Megadeth.

I clearly need to find a new word because I don't think what I'm saying is coming across right. Lol. I guess simply put, I don't really care for his vocals. But to your point, if testosterone started a band, it would be Pantera 100%.

I get Pantera 100 percent, but am I the only one that finds 80s slayer to be far more intelligent and clever than most people give it credit for, I'd even say that music is more intelligent than random Opeth type band tbh, I think there's too many stupid people that hype the shit out of slayer but their old music is by no means stupid or pedestrian and they don't strike me as dumb people either

Sure, it's not ridiculous...


...at all.

I'll go one further, while I do listen to many full albums, and like to give each release in a discography at least a listen if I can, when I return to albums I frequently will just hit the particular songs that distill the essence of the album to me. There are many days when I'd rather listen to the best 3-4 songs from 20 different albums each than half a dozen albums all the way through. And I do try and go back to the full-lengths again at some point, but that's also to hopefully find another gem or two on the album and make it 4-5 or 5-6 highlights from the album. Over time this is what builds up favorite album lists, where they've gone from one track I like to all or virtually all of them.

Haha. It's all good. Point taken.



And how did this intellectual prowess shine through, pray tell? The riffs were nifty, I'll give you that. So that's just being clever. The lyricism? It was a sort of complete package thing with Slayer, I'll also give you that - where the music, lyricism and imagery culminated/forged something pretty cool. But if you are going to delve deep into their lyrics to find something profound I'd say that's a ridiculous endeavor (I know because I once made a thread about 'Angel of Death')

Nah. Slayer are a tad overrated in retrospect if anything. Also, by their early music I'm sure you mean the 80's and none of their contemporaries were slouches in that era either.

Ultraboris' reviews are/were an obvious example of this. "There are no THRASH RIFFS here, what a useless piece of shit"

Jugulator > British Steel

Neither is excellent. Jugulator is only good at best and BS is pretty mediocre, i mean 5/10 or 5.5/10.

Monotheist is the *BEST* thing Tom G Warrior has ever done, dwarfing the Frost's 80s classics.

I thought about giving examples, and didn't because I think it's far more universally applicable than any I could offer or conjure, but yes, his are one manifestation of this tendency.



Is this unpopular? I'm not sure. Certainly controversial, but there is a strong contingent for both eras as far as I can tell. I am one who thinks his career is a not quite fully linear, but mostly constant elevation of quality. I appreciate his early Hellhammer work intellectually, but I just don't care to listen to it. But Monotheist is by far my favorite CF release, which Triptykon somehow improves upon, with Melana Chasmata being the best thing he's created yet.

Well, here’s some of mine. Hopefully I won’t get burned
1. Sabaton and Powerwolf are overrated bands. One of the few bands that I look to as a good cure for my insomnia
2. Edguy >>>>>>> Avantasia any day
3. I don’t like most symphonic power metal because their keyboard tend to reign supreme and turn boring. Still suffering from that Christmas album from Majestica
4. Freedom Call is a totally underrated band. I find Eternity boring. And yes, I fvcking love The Circle of Life
5. I actually enjoyed the more experimental albums some bands have... like Helloween’s Unarmed. That was damn interesting and a fun listen
6. I find Twilight Force vaguely annoying