Metal bands that were formed in the 70s/80s & early 90s that are better now than they were back then

The newer Maiden era is barely even on my radar, as for Opeth, I haven't actively enjoyed a record the entire way through since 'Morningrise'...I am not a fan of the directions the guitar and production generally took after that record..also the bass being demoted...

I can't think of one 70's band that I think is better now than they were back then. I still listen to and follow a lot of 70's bands, but even bands that I love like Kiss, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith, I'd be hard pressed to say their new material is BETTER than their classic era.

Witchfinder wrote:

Overkill definitely. They are firing on all cylinders. Of course, they weren't crap in the past either. It might not be popular to say, but Motorhead has been killing it since '93. Some of their later day discs rival the classic material.

100% agree with this statement and their classic material still kicks ass, but since 1993 these guys have been on fire

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

As an Authority to all things Saxon [in my own mind], Anyone that says the Power Metal years are better than 79-84 needs to give me the number to their dealer. Or is under the age of 40, obviously. Or, if they are over 40, listened to too much Savatage and Helloween after they got off the Cure/Depeche Ca-Mode trip
they thought was super in high school.

Well, I will be 39 in a couple of weeks.

Saxon in the early 2000s was awesome! And Solid Ball Of Rock (1991) is excellent, too, and has several of my favorite Saxon tunes so, yeah, I prefer some of their post 1980s stuff (not all of it, though).

I recently revisited Denim and Leather and Crusader and was surprised how few songs I really liked off of them. I remember giving Denim a 5-star review on Amazon. Listening to it after several years, there are only 2-3 songs I really like. As for Crusader, "Sailing to America" is one of my all-time favorite Saxon songs and the title track is great, but the rest of the album was so-so to me.

Don't worry about Saxy, his briefs got shrunk in the wash.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

as for Opeth, I haven't actively enjoyed a record the entire way through since 'Morningrise'...I am not a fan of the directions the guitar and production generally took after that record..also the bass being demoted...

The production on Morningrise is terrible, I generally listen to recent live versions of Advent (Royal Albert Hall) and The Night And The Silent Water (Roundhouse) when I'm in the mood for that material.

Since I didn't start listening to Opeth until 2008 my viewpoint of their material is probably very different than someone who has been listening to them since 1995. I've had correspondence with several people like myself who got interested in them for the Progressive Rock angle and then slowly started working through their catalog backward to see what path their journey took. I like all their albums, but to me they really started to come into their own on Still Life and later.

S.D. wrote:

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

as for Opeth, I haven't actively enjoyed a record the entire way through since 'Morningrise'...I am not a fan of the directions the guitar and production generally took after that record..also the bass being demoted...

The production on Morningrise is terrible, I generally listen to recent live versions of Advent (Royal Albert Hall) and The Night And The Silent Water (Roundhouse) when I'm in the mood for that material.

Which really says something as to how much I dislike the sterility of 'Blackwater Park' and so forth... the guitar sound and mix is fatiguing, and I'm someone who will listen to ANYTHING....... plus, if I took all the songs I liked from all that stuff I could make one solid record out of it, but yeah..

When you visit 'Morningrise' though spin the whole thing.... it's a cliche but the production does add something.

the albums Sodom have released in the past 15 years are a lot better than the albums they released in the 80s. The album M16 would have to be their best album.

While they have not put out any bad albums I think W.A.S.P. gets better with every album...
...........
Stryper
Pretty Maids
...
While I wouldn't say better than the old stuff but just as good as the old stuff....Y&T

Pretty Maids

80s Metal Lady wrote:

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

As an Authority to all things Saxon [in my own mind], Anyone that says the Power Metal years are better than 79-84 needs to give me the number to their dealer.  Or is under the age of 40, obviously.  Or, if they are over 40, listened to too much Savatage and Helloween after they got off the Cure/Depeche Ca-Mode trip
they thought was super in high school.

Well, I will be 39 in a couple of weeks.

Saxon in the early 2000s was awesome!  And Solid Ball Of Rock (1991) is excellent, too, and has several of my favorite Saxon tunes so, yeah, I prefer some of their post 1980s stuff (not all of it, though).

I recently revisited Denim and Leather and Crusader and was surprised how few songs I really liked off of them.  I remember giving Denim a 5-star review on Amazon.  Listening to it after several years, there are only 2-3 songs I really like.  As for Crusader, "Sailing to America" is one of my all-time favorite Saxon songs and the title track is great, but the rest of the album was so-so to me.

Well, now I'm 41 (I didn't realize I was a member of this forum that long, LOL) and, after listening to all the Saxon albums during those polls, I can declare without doubt I like their later stuff best. I have a better appreciation for Call To Arms and Sacrifice and, due to their track record, have no reason to think their new album won't be another metal masterpiece. It is a testament to how great Saxon is. I don't think there is another band that came out of the 1970s and 1980s that I can say I like their post-2000 material best. In fact, I just got a Lionheart t-shirt I found on eBay from the UK in the mail yesterday. It's still my favorite Saxon album.

Bonfire (especially now that they have David Reece)
Europe

This may have to do with when I got into his stuff, but I think Alice Cooper is on a hot streak lately.

Welcome 2 My Nightmare was a phenomenal album that was worthy of the sequel tag (the only one that can be said for - Operation: Mindcrime 2, anybody?) and makes me look forward to the next thing the Coop puts out.

Then again, I don't think AC hit his stride until the solo concept albums of the mid-70s originally. The original AC group was a good singles act, but I don't tend to like their albums that much - save for School's Out.

Quote :

While they have not put out any bad albums I think W.A.S.P. gets better with every album...

(cough) K.F.D.!(cough)

(cough)The Neon God!(cough)

I've always like latter day Stone Temple Pilots better than their first 2 albums. Once they washed all that icky grunge off of them with Tiny Music..., they found their own sound. And I like those first 2 as well.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

While they have not put out any bad albums I think W.A.S.P. gets better with every album...

(cough) K.F.D.!(cough)

(cough)The Neon God!(cough)

Haven't heard K.F.D., but The Neon God Parts 1 & 2 are two of my favorite albums. I still play them often.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

as for Opeth, I haven't actively enjoyed a record the entire way through since 'Morningrise'...I am not a fan of the directions the guitar and production generally took after that record..also the bass being demoted...

The production on Morningrise is terrible, I generally listen to recent live versions of Advent (Royal Albert Hall) and The Night And The Silent Water (Roundhouse) when I'm in the mood for that material.  

Which really says something as to how much I dislike the sterility of 'Blackwater Park' and so forth...     the guitar sound and mix is fatiguing, and I'm someone who will listen to ANYTHING.......   plus, if I took all the songs I liked from all that stuff I could make one solid record out of it, but yeah..

When you visit 'Morningrise' though spin the whole thing.... it's a cliche but the production does add something.

I got into Opeth via the Porcupine Tree connection (this was around the time In Absentia came out, so Steven Wilson could do no wrong in my eyes) and the first album I picked up was Blackwater Park, which is a muddy friggin' mess. I don't know what happened with that album because going back later to Still Life revealed an album with incredible production by comparison. I don't think the sterility hit until Deliverance, which is odd because Damnation was and is a masterpiece.

In some ways, I think they hit their peak of bad metal production with My Arms...Your Hearse and Blackwater Park with Still Life as the fluke in the middle they have been trying to recreate since. Just my take. I am very pleased with how "organic" the recent albums sound, even if the material hasn't exactly set the world on fire for me.

The last two Symphony X albums are the only ones I've ever been able to get into.




Also, Ultimatum

I'd agree with Grave Digger.

I'd also add Sodom to the list. I like everything they recorded from 1999 until now better than anything they recorded before hand. Code Red, M-16 & War and Pieces are awesome!

Now way are Accept BETTER now than they were in the 80's. They are still great and putting out great music, but albums like Balls the Wall and Restless & Wild are heavy metal staples. To say that their last three albums are better just doesn't work for me.

Overkill? Maybe. I like all eras pretty equally.

Iron Maiden? No way. Not even a close IMO.

Motorhead, I think alot of more modern material is better then the classics

ultmetal wrote:

I'd also add Sodom to the list. I like everything they recorded from 1999 until now better than anything they recorded before hand. Code Red, M-16 & War and Pieces are awesome!

Iron Maiden? No way. Not even a close IMO.

Agreed! IM are definitely far from their prime, in terms of new material. SODOM, I can see that as a possibility because their new stuff is strong and their old stuff was spotty.

I like the new Carcass album better than the very early stuff but nothing beats Heartwork. Same with Sodom I probably prefer the later records to the first couple but Agent Orange is untouchable.

I personally like Grave Digger's 80s efforts more then their more recent material, it's not bad it just sounds like a totally different band to me.

HOUSE OF LORDS
NELSON
WINGER

ultmetal wrote:

I'd also add Sodom to the list. I like everything they recorded from 1999 until now better than anything they recorded before hand. Code Red, M-16 & War and Pieces are awesome!

As much as I love all eras of Sodom, I find that they had the most musical creativity between 1984 and 1992. After that, they released a few odd albums that weren't necessarily bad, but didn't live up to what they were once capable of. I agree that Code Red and M-16 are great albums, but the last two albums are a bit tired.

That "Sacred Warpath" song reveals a band that's trying to resurrect the Persecution Mania style, and that's my favorite Sodom album -- Expurse of Sodomy is its lost twin brother. I think Tapping the Vein has the best production, and you know how much of a beast that Harris Johns guy is.

Anyway, it could be argued that the Japanese Sabbat is probably much better now than they were in the past. Sabbatrinity is one of my main favorites, and it only came out in 2011.