Unorthodox Metal Opinions?

corplhicks wrote:

SAHB Healer wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

I quite enjoy Billy Squier, Billy Idol and Bon Jovi.

I enjoy Billy Squire, Billy Idol, and Billy Ocean- but no Jon for me.

I admit to being heavily into Bon Jovi at one point, but now it's all fluffy stuff marshmallows to me. I have to say, though...Bed of Roses is quite a ballad.

I like their 80s material the best, Keep The Faith was a bit of a dissapointment for me at first, though it grew on me eventually.

corplhicks wrote:

SAHB Healer wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

I quite enjoy Billy Squier, Billy Idol and Bon Jovi.

I enjoy Billy Squire, Billy Idol, and Billy Ocean- but no Jon for me.

I admit to being heavily into Bon Jovi at one point, but now it's all fluffy stuff marshmallows to me. I have to say, though...Bed of Roses is quite a ballad.

That's OK. Slippery When Wet was the first 'heavy' thing I listened to (I was a late bloomer!), but that was a 'gateway' album for me, which led into Stryper, Cinderella, Saxon, Maiden, Scorpions, WASP and then into thrash and death metal. But it all started with 'Livin' on a Prayer'!!

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

A night at the opera is a great blind guardian album.

Is this an orthodox or unorthodox opinion? My experience when the album was released was that everybody seemed to rave about it while I didn't think it was that great, so I don't know.

corplhicks wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

They are not on my site because I've never really cared for them. I've owned most of their CDs and they are just background noise. A lot of the songs don't even have guitars which I would say is one of the key ingredients to be metal, if not the key ingredient. I just randomly picked three songs on YouTube. Does anyone consider this heavy metal?

Agreed for the most part, they became really elaborate and ethereal with their later material, taking the "opera" thing too far.

I would say the first album could be classified as metal, but thinking about it now there's definitely a case for saying their second one isn't.

As for the Legend albums, I only have Part 2 and I didn't enjoy it at all. Apart from Behold A Pale Horse, all of the memorable choruses from the first two albums were gone. And that album must hold the record for the most number of times the word "behold" has been sung on a single CD.

I like Slang and think it was a brave attempt by Def Leppard to try to do something different. Ultimately, I don't think it worked as they seemed to just be throwing in as many ideas as possible and the album became a bit unfocused, but I have to give them credit for their intentions.

And I agree with Joe Elliott in part when he says that Def Leppard aren't metal. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they're a band who went through a metal phase rather than an out-and-out metal band. However, he does seem to want to claim that they had nothing to do with heavy metal at all, which is going too far.

Citanul wrote:

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

A night at the opera is a great blind guardian album.

Is this an orthodox or unorthodox opinion? My experience when the album was released was that everybody seemed to rave about it while I didn't think it was that great, so I don't know.

Let's call it an (un)orthodox opinion. You can take whichever one you like

ultmetal wrote:

They are not on my site because I've never really cared for them. I've owned most of their CDs and they are just background noise. A lot of the songs don't even have guitars which I would say is one of the key ingredients to be metal, if not the key ingredient. I just randomly picked three songs on YouTube. Does anyone consider this heavy metal?

No, but I don't hear much arguments being made of SM as metal. I'm pretty sure that Eric Clayton, the man behind the music of that band, would be the first to say it's not metal. I don't even think he even considers it goth either. They are certainly an influence, but IMO SM transcends any genre category.

Also, those who didn't like the second Legend album should really give III: I a chance.

If we're gonna riff on Blind Guardian, 'A Twist In The Myth' is one of the best albums they have, probably top 3. I would take both that and 'Tales From The Twilight World' over most of the other records.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

If we're gonna riff on Blind Guardian, 'A Twist In The Myth' is one of the best albums they have, probably top 3. I would take both that and 'Tales From The Twilight World' over most of the other records.

I haven't listened to all of twist yet, but what I've heard is excellent. Tales doesn't grab me quite as much as some of their later albums, although there are some songs on it I really like. My favorite is nightfall in middle earth.

[quote="DallasBlack"]

ultmetal wrote:

They are not on my site because I've never really cared for them. I've owned most of their CDs and they are just background noise. A lot of the songs don't even have guitars which I would say is one of the key ingredients to be metal, if not the key ingredient. I just randomly picked three songs on YouTube. Does anyone consider this heavy metal?

No, but I don't hear much arguments being made of SM as metal. I'm pretty sure that Eric Clayton, the man behind the music of that band, would be the first to say it's not metal. I don't even think he even considers it goth either. They are certainly an influence, but IMO SM transcends any genre category.

Also, those who didn't like the second Legend album should really give III: I a chance.

That's the reason I stated it here because of the sheer number of people who say they are a metal band. I even did a poll over at the CMR some time ago asking "Are Saviour Machine a metal band?" and people overwhelmingly voted YES.

The last two Stryper albums, Reborn and Murder By Pride, are the best albums the band has ever released.

I like that Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are the new Space Ace and Cat Man.

JBall_Z wrote:

The last two Stryper albums, Reborn and Murder By Pride, are the best albums the band has ever released.

I like that Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are the new Space Ace and Cat Man.

OUCH! If you would have said that IGWT is the worst of the bunch, then yeah, but Reborn is the the best I don't know. I usually save that opinion for Against the Law. Although... This is an Unorthodox forum.

Reborn seems very forced and random to me. There is no flow to the album AT ALL. I like 10,000 Years and Wait For You, but other than that the album feels really unfocused. It is like they got together and could not quite get all their different side project influences to mesh.

jettafiend wrote:

JBall_Z wrote:

The last two Stryper albums, Reborn and Murder By Pride, are the best albums the band has ever released.

I like that Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer are the new Space Ace and Cat Man.

Reborn seems very forced and random to me. There is no flow to the album AT ALL. I like 10,000 Years and Wait For You, but other than that the album feels really unfocused. It is like they got together and could not quite get all their different side project influences to mesh.

I feel the same way about reborn, there is some stuff off that record I like, in fact if you pull any one song out of the album and pop ot into a playlist of similar music it sounds just fine. But that album just doesn't work as a whole and it needed the "stryper" twin lead guitar attack badly! Actually the title track sounds to me like it could be off one of the mid nighties megadeth albums.

Murder By Pride stands up to me as a great Stryper album that is different than the classic stuff but altogether as good and worthy of the stryper branding. The lyrics on MBP are, however, the best they've done and reveal a much more mature faith and lots of personal growth on micheal's part.

I haven't heard a Stryper album since To Hell With The Devil.

Pretty unorthodox for here!

Boris2008 wrote:

I haven't heard a Stryper album since To Hell With The Devil.

Pretty unorthodox for here!

I haven't either.

S.D. wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

I haven't heard a Stryper album since To Hell With The Devil.

Pretty unorthodox for here!

I haven't either.

Same here. And quite honestly, I don't care to.

[quote="ultmetal"]

DallasBlack wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

They are not on my site because I've never really cared for them. I've owned most of their CDs and they are just background noise. A lot of the songs don't even have guitars which I would say is one of the key ingredients to be metal, if not the key ingredient. I just randomly picked three songs on YouTube. Does anyone consider this heavy metal?

No, but I don't hear much arguments being made of SM as metal. I'm pretty sure that Eric Clayton, the man behind the music of that band, would be the first to say it's not metal. I don't even think he even considers it goth either. They are certainly an influence, but IMO SM transcends any genre category.

Also, those who didn't like the second Legend album should really give III: I a chance.

That's the reason I stated it here because of the sheer number of people who say they are a metal band. I even did a poll over at the CMR some time ago asking "Are Saviour Machine a metal band?" and people overwhelmingly voted YES.

Well, they don't know much about the band then or maybe they're basing the fact that Narnia's Carl Johan Grimmark worked on their last album. I am one of the biggest Saviour Machine fans and I have never called them metal nor have I ever heard Eric Clayton in interviews call it metal. There is a metal influence and they have toured with metal bands but that's the only connections to metal they have.

5150 is van Halen's best album and the title track is their best song.

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

5150 is van Halen's best album and the title track is their best song.

Unorthodox indeed!

Leatherface wrote:

Flotsam and Jetsam's When the Storm Comes Down and Onslaught's In Search of Sainty are fine records.

In Search of Sanity is my favorite Onslaught album.

Also, in terms of hated albums that we enjoy, I happen to like Sabbat's swan song, Mourning Has Broken.

On a very general note - I find myself liking a lot of albums and at times bands that by popular opinion are not good.

I recall when I first got into Whitesnake, I actually thought both 1987 and Slip of the Tongue were both very strong albums. My opinion has not changed much, I have now listened to all the Whitesnake albums so I can understand why some were disappointed by those two albums. With better knowledge now I can say that 1987 and Slip of the Tongue are a very different (commercial) side of Whitesnake, at times almost playing to a wholly different style to the initial albums but that doesn't necessarily make them bad - just different. 1987 has more of an AOR feel, whereas Slip of the Tongue feels is closer to the 'glam' sound of the late 80s.

Fast-tracking to modern times, I really like In Flames and Soilwork more recent outputs which generally fans of melodic death metal seem to loath. Both bands changed their sound, that much is obvious and warrants no further discussion. But is it that bad? Well that is a rhetoric question - something I asked myself before listening to Reroute to Remain and Stabbing the Drama. I found that not only did I enjoy those albums a lot but I actually ended up liking them a hair more than their earlier now considered classic albums.

Lastly, some newer bands that by popular opinion one should not like if they listen to 'tr00 metal' (or whatever). Thanks to Spotify I have been experimenting with all sorts of new styles, and newer bands. A few modern bands that stood out for me including, Volbeat and Black Veil Brides. The latter may not be considered metal but I also don't think it is as bad sounding as some think.

Just goes to show for me that following what the majority think is good / bad isn't always necessarily true or accurate. It's all subjective - the rest is just statistics.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

If we're gonna riff on Blind Guardian, 'A Twist In The Myth' is one of the best albums they have, probably top 3. I would take both that and 'Tales From The Twilight World' over most of the other records.

I agree - everyone else seems to hate Twist but I really enjoy it.

exact33 wrote:

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

If we're gonna riff on Blind Guardian, 'A Twist In The Myth' is one of the best albums they have, probably top 3. I would take both that and 'Tales From The Twilight World' over most of the other records.

I agree - everyone else seems to hate Twist but I really enjoy it.

Add me to the "hate Twist" group.
This band totally lost me after "Nightfall". I think they started trying to be the next Queen but lacked the songwriting ability of Queen and therefore I think they suck after Nightfall.

tohostudios wrote:

exact33 wrote:

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

If we're gonna riff on Blind Guardian, 'A Twist In The Myth' is one of the best albums they have, probably top 3. I would take both that and 'Tales From The Twilight World' over most of the other records.

I agree - everyone else seems to hate Twist but I really enjoy it.

Add me to the "hate Twist" group.
This band totally lost me after "Nightfall". I think they started trying to be the next Queen but lacked the songwriting ability of Queen and therefore I think they suck after Nightfall.

TBH, I have kinda stopped following Blind Guardian after Night at the Opera. I didn't like that album at all. None of the songs stuck out for me but more so, I found the album to be over produced. Hansi's vocals are extremely loud in the mix and super layered, so much so that to my ears it sounds like he is screaming and shouting at times. I found it very difficult to listen to because of that.

I have not looked into any of their follow-up albums. For me, the greatest Blind Guardian albums are Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations from the Other Side. That is where I feel BG reached their creative and stylistic peak. I don't get the appeal of Nightfall, that is another album I find somewhat boring - the interludes is all I remember about it and that is not a good sign.

This may not make me a BG fan but I sure appreciate the first 5 albums a lot. BG were definitely a band that influenced my tastes in metal and introduced me to the power metal genre. I find that with such bands, you grow fond of the albums you heard first, they're the ones you always go back to and hold to the highest value. This is a category of bands where the moment counts and is lasting rather than what the band continues to produce. I guess you can liken it to how many people love 70s KISS because for many it is a moment in time, in their lives where they connected with a certain style of music; yet they do not care to really hear what they became, or what they are doing now...