Modern Heavy Metal Sucks

This showed up on my youtube recommendations list, and I think this guy speaks the truth:



This guy knows about recording and puts it to words better than me, but we are surrounded by lifeless sounding music, musicians afraid of mistakes and engineers afraid of missteps, which leads to a lack of originality. Everything sounds the same, even if the composition would be better suited with an edgier or sometimes a softer sound.

Also a reason why a lot of older bands still put out better sounding records than newer bands.

Just another old fart whining.

I agree with the title but I'll need to watch the video later.

I think there are MANY reasons that you didn't touch on as well though.

Same goes for hard rock/rock/pop too.

Didn't watch, but:
-New Heavy Metal bands like Enforcer, Skull Fist and a myriad of others are just as good as any band from 80's, their sound productiion aswell
-Pretty much every new/modern album of "veterans" suck is pale and boring compared to their glory days' material, except Iron Maiden (subjective, yes)
-Modern metal has a lot to offer, Voyager alone is better than most "classic" acts, and the eternal battle of "production sucks" has nothing to do with quality of material (it might affect it, yes, but how many albums were ruined before for bands being unable to afford proper recording - hey Ardamelch, Viper, Nightmare...)
-What definitely sound the same are these complaints of how everything was better before

A lot of what he said went over my head as I am not a musician (and also a moron) but he makes some good points and at least backs it up with technical reasons. Most people that I have encountered that do this are simply trying to validate why they don't like current bands. Thanks for sharing, Lari.

I somewhat agree... but I'm sure there is still a ton of undiscovered bands that are great.

To be fair, it's harder than ever to make original music this late in the game. Almost everything has been done.

Troublezone wrote:

I somewhat agree... but I'm sure there is still a ton of undiscovered bands that are great.

To be fair, it's harder than ever to make original music this late in the game. Almost everything has been done.

I agree. There has been quite a lack of originality lately. When the new wave of traditional metal started i was so excited about it and bought albums by a lot of bands that fall under this category. Now i have almost lost all interest in most of these bands as i find them to be very samey. I rarely pick up an album within this category nowadays. I prefer to dig up unheard of old bands from the golden years of metal.

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Didn't watch, but:

Do watch. It's more about cookie cutter production than quality of song writing, and presented in a non-offensive manner.

Eyesore wrote:

Just another old fart whining.

except he makes a lot of sense.

I didn't plan on watching this thing when I saw it was over twenty minutes long, but ended up watching it after all. I don't know the specifics of what bands use to record with, or the how's of it all, but I do know that he's telling the truth. It's something I've been trying to explain to my wife whenever the old vs. New conversation comes up. I always argue that bands back in the day tried to have their own sound or identity, and bands today just don't seem to try and do that. Hell I used to be able to name a band by the way their drums sounded, but today it would be impossible to tell the difference with most bands.

Anyway, good video and good info.

I don't need some random YouTuber to tell me that (most) modern heavy metal sucks... I already knew that

I don't think it "all" sucks, but:

- I see a LOT of bands that seem to be more "taking the piss" or presenting some sort of caricatured version of what Heavy Metal is. They seem to be really into the look (loads of bullet belts and patch-vests) but really focus on the cliches of the music as opposed to truly honoring the actual traditions of Heavy Metal. Some of these bands feel like cartoons.

- Too many of these bands are attempting to record classic sounding music with modern techniques. For that to feel remotely real takes ears and skill to complete. They are all using the same plug-ins, the same re-amp guitar techniques and the same cut/paste work ethic that they would if they were making some sort of modern, pop-metalcore album. Metal CAN be recorded with modern techniques, BUT it has to be done with the tone and vibe of the music in mind. When everyone is using the same computers, the same drum program software, the same re-amp software, and wringing out all the same cliches, it's all going to sound the same.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

- I see a LOT of bands that seem to be more "taking the piss" or presenting some sort of caricatured version of what Heavy Metal is. They seem to be really into the look (loads of bullet belts and patch-vests) but really focus on the cliches of the music as opposed to truly honoring the actual traditions of Heavy Metal. Some of these bands feel like cartoons.

I couldn't agree more with this.

They often forget that metal was inventive and innovative.  Dio sounded nothing like Black Sabbath that sounded nothing like Manowar or Judas Priest and on down the line ...

And the bands that attempt to be "innovative" are often just incorporating "extreme metal" or pop elements haphazardly.

If I hear one more band rip off those old Iron Maiden dual harmonies ....

Very few bands seem to prioritize songwriting.  It's all sizzle and no steak.

I don't expect any new bands to reinvent the wheel, but it would be nice to at least have some well crafted and intelligent songwriting instead of generic imitations. Guys like Mustaine, Hetfield, Hanneman and Holt all took from their influences and made it their own. Comparatively, I don't see any modern players that truly stand out. It also sucks that real musical instruments have lost popularity among this current millennial generation who seem to prefer machine and computer based music.

I do remember a time when hardly no metal bands had melodic singing or could play decent guitar solos.  I'm very glad that phase is behind us.

Not only that but there is a decent thrash scene now when for many years it was dead as a doornail. I mean, years between thrash releases.

A lot of the albums that frontier records puts out sounds the same... Actually I think some of the demo cuts some bands add to the albums as bonus tracks sound better to me than the actually mixed out albums..Alot of bands from the 70/80s/90s did have their own sounds... the thing that stands out to me about those old albums is they are raw....however the same thing this guy talks about happened in every decade...look at a band like Y&T...They had a fantastic sound until Geffen records...then they were made into another polished hair band....by the end of the 80s you couldn't tell one hair band from another... Even metallica radically changed...Killem all was a very raw radical album when it came out....like they were jamming in your garage...  Another band that changed the sound was Van Halen....VH1 was such a raw radical unheard sound when it came out...by the time hagar got involved with the band the sound had lost its edge...and as a musician let me tell ya that the equipment has changed... A lot of brands we saw and used in the older eras you never see now...A lot of bands record straight into a program like protools using digital sound instead of the old ways... No more les pauls into a 100 watt all tube marshall or hiwatt head cranked to 10 into 2 4x12 cabinets with old school analog stomp boxes...while its not a metal song (or is it) a song with a good raw wild rock sound is the original kingsman version of louie louie...they used 1 mike hung in the middle of the room and recorded the band all playing as loud and hard as they could and bingo...a timeless record...

Great elaboration and presentation ToB, Shawn, and Tulsa. You three, as musicians, get it. Thanks.

Gilbert said: I prefer to dig up unheard of old bands from the golden years of metal.

This is where I am at too. I listen to a wide variety of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal but my favorite genre would Traditional followed by USPM. So, instead of trying to find new bands that sound like the old bands I try to find the undiscovered gems from back in the day. A lot of my Metal brothers here have turned me on to some really cool bands like Shok Paris, Warrior, Drive, and Dark Star to name a few.

As for the Frontiers releases all sounding the same, I think it's pretty much the same guy (Serafino Perugino? ) in charge of everything over there. For whatever that's worth.

This guy is great.
Fake drums - get me thee most.

For instance - I love The Rods - well, one album release -
David says - they sent the songs to Carl - who did the drums -
That's not fake drums - but it's kinda phony -
How can a band - not be in the same studio, at least, is that asking too much ?

Glower wrote:

How can a band - not be in the same studio, at least, is that asking too much ?

I think most bands these days probably record in different studios ... a lot of folks record guitars at home in their own "studio"/personal computer.

It's SO MUCH cheaper and album sales are very low these days so it makes sense for most folks to do.

Troublezone wrote:

I somewhat agree... but I'm sure there is still a ton of undiscovered bands that are great.

To be fair, it's harder than ever to make original music this late in the game. Almost everything has been done.

I agree.

There has been great metal made every year of my entire life, and it will never end. I'm blown away constantly.

Notice, the average age of this thread is about 45. Coincidence? You grumpy old men!

I'm a grumpy old dude but I like a lot of modern stuff.

Then again I don't play a note and haven't been near a recording studio since the late '80s (I did at one time do this weird screeching thing that I laughably called singing!) so I don't hear music the same way that most of you do.

Well I'm a grumpy 48 year old metalhead that does like newer bands also, but I still feel that even the new bands I like do sound alike a lot of times. Guitar tones, drum sounds, the way over polished production, all seems to be the thing to do these days. I still seek out new bands to like, and also look for hidden gems from the glorious 80's. I'd rather find newer bands to fall in love with though, cause they will be on tour while all the old hidden gems from my youth are dead, dying, or working in the real world doing whatever it is they do in the real world.

Wrecked Neck wrote:

working in the real world doing whatever it is they do in the real world.

Packing fish. If we learnt anything from the Anvil movie. Packing, and delivering, fish.

I will say that modern heavy metal is doing a ton with virtually no money coming in. People are trying. I just think the emphasis is in the wrong places.

I was pissed - in some ways - when Doro took on that sound -
I forget what album - had white wedding on it -
and I have the same vibe towards the new Dee Snyder release.
Danzig flirts with it - every damn release now - lol - or so it seems.
I don't mind the modern sound -
but you don't want some of your favorites to do it.
Grumpy old metal heads - oooohhhhh that sounds very hippie-ish !