It's that time again...for MORE UNPOPULAR OPINIONS!

I don't like Queen. There, I'm out of the closet. Their discography is nothing but confused. It's like they were making it up as they went along. No, they did in fact make it up as they went along. Weird, disjointed, and unfocused albums. Outside of the first three, which held some promise, the rest of their history is just downright confusing.

Faster Pussycat tried way too hard and couldn't write a hook to save their life.

Great White was great. For a singles band.

As much as I love early Aerosmith, Steven Tyler IMPROVED by miles from Perm Vacation on.

Anthrax is a horrible band. C'mon, guys. Really??

John Bush can't compose melodies to save his life.

Hey Metal Church, you guys are rolling along just fine...but please for the love of god fire Rick. He sucks. Sorry Rick.

Maiden's latest offerings are just fine. Ease off and show some fucking grace.

Judas Priest is over. Firepower is the last great album.

Van Halen's 1984 is the worst album of the DLR era.

I love the Dio-era Sabbath albums, but they're rather poorly mixed, especially Mob Rules.

Counting Crows, while not metal, is a great band and should be appreciated by everyone here.

Unleash the Archers. For gods sake guys, they're a phenomenal band and everyone here would appreciate their latest album to a great degree.

Death Angel's III is simply a weak fart of an album.

Sorry. Jag Panzer sucks. Okay, I'll give them Mechanized Warfare, but the rest of their output is boooooring.

Merciful Fate is the only band that is so satanic that I have a hard time listening to them. And I mean the ONLY. [EDIT: I spelled Mercyful wrong. Also this isn't even an opinion haha]

Paul Gilbert is a hack, although he's become sort of a Mr Rogers of shred guitar and I enjoy what he's been doing lately. With Racer X and Mr Big though? Think about it. The dude has no idea what he wants to play. LA shred or pop EVH? He never figured it out and thus his limited band involvement.

Neil Young is a helluva guitarist. Good luck with anyone's arguments otherwise.

Everyone who claims Petra is mediocre obviously hasn't listened to On Fire and/or Beyond Belief. Metal AF.

Pride & Glory > BLS. Although I admit it's a problematic record.

Savatage died after Criss died. HOWEVER. Handful of Rain, while extremely unfocused and overwrought, is a rather fitting tribute; his spirit is truly a major part of that album.

I still don't get Saxon. Sorry guys. Guess I was born too late.

Slayer's Hell Awaits is okay cool. Reign in Blood throttles it to shards.  

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Faster Pussycat tried way too hard and couldn't write a hook to save their life.

Agreed. Never liked 'em.

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Van Halen's 1984 is the worst album of the DLR era.

Agreed. After the surprisingly enthusiastic fan response to the phoned-in Diver Down they were even lazier on the follow up. Aside from the singles, it's meh.

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I don't like Queen.

Me neither. I've tried, I've owned a few of their albums over the years, but in the end I guess they're one of those bands I "respect" more than "like."

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Merciful Fate is the only band that is so satanic that I have a hard time listening to them. And I mean the ONLY.

Weenie.

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After the surprisingly enthusiastic fan response to the phoned-in Diver Down they were even lazier on the follow up. Aside from the singles, it's meh.

Production is way too tidy, Alex's e-drums, the neutering of House of Pain (the original demo is kick-ass), a misguided ballad--it's just not on fire (haha) like what came before. I do love Panama and I'm still alright with Jump, and there are some wicked ideas of Ed's floating around the record, but not in a coherent way. I'm also more burned out on Hot for Teacher than any other VH tune.

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I don't like Queen.

Me neither. I've tried, I've owned a few of their albums over the years, but in the end I guess they're one of those bands I "respect" more than "like."

Yeah actually respect is a good word. I just looked over what I wrote and damn I was a bit harsh haha. It's not like I think they're terrible and unworthy of recognition. Excellent musicians, highly influential for good reason, but their music is just too much for me and hella random.

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Merciful Fate is the only band that is so satanic that I have a hard time listening to them. And I mean the ONLY.

Weenie.

Right? I'm not even a superstitious guy but every time I've thrown on Don't Break the Oath, I get that weird feeling with the hair on the back of my neck, like when Shaggy sees a ghost. But for some reason Venom and Morbid Angel or OK.

LOL I just realized I spelled Mercyful wrong.

Can't quote on this particular toy I'm playing with at the moment so I'll try item by item on the few rebuttals had from What's original list.
1) Faster Pussycat... "House of Pain" has a hook in the harmonica intro, the vocal melody in the verse and then (again) in the chorus. The album that particular tune is on is leaps n bounds above the debut in both writing and playing (IMHDO). Check it out
2)Death Angel Act III is one of the most diverse thrash albums ever. "Room with a view" showcases extraordinary talent in simplistic example. The use of melody throughout the album is so varied and unique that most overlook the nuance of its brilliance. If their drummer wouldn't have been injured in the tour bus accident and they played Clash of Titans like planned instead of Alice in Chains, the big four might be different? Who knows?
3)Saxon writes about stuff that actually happened or people actually do. In a style that is in the vein of basic AC/DC or rivals any power metal band on the planet in musicianship. Some dig it/get it, others don't. No big deal.
4)Slayer has a gimmick as contrived as any glam band. It was cool on the indie albums with the raw production. It wore thin fast on the major labels and became/remained quite boring.

Looking back on my statements, dude I was HARSH last night lol. But hey, it felt good to get it all off my chest.

James, thanks for the new perspectives, especially with Saxon. I never pay enough attention to lyricism in heavy metal. I should listen to some Saxon with the lyrics present. Might help things click (I'm still not giving up on them!). I also agree Wake Me When It's Over is a better album than the debut. Whipped was actually my first experience with FP, and I was expecting a bit more, but to me it draaaaags. Anyway I appreciate your points.

I more or less agree with you on Queen.

Those first three albums are golden in my book but then along came Night At The Opera and I was like "OK, I still think this is pretty good but WTF is "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon" doing on here????"  And their catalog just got more spotty for me from there. 

I will always revere Queen because I think Freddie Mercury is the greatest vocalist rock has ever seen but the actual band output is kinda hit or miss after the first three albums IMO.

As much as i respect Queen, they fall in the best-of category in my collection. Never felt the need to own more than the two greatest hits compilations (the red and blue ones).

Gotta tell you guys, I'm super-relieved I'm not getting hogtied and burnt at the stake in regards to my opinion on Queen. Phew. I was nervous about that one.

Believe it or not, Mercury's voice sort of annoys me [I can't believe I'm saying this]. I was never impressed by it. I'm sure by universal standards that it was a great voice, golden and top drawer. But with me? I feel nothing. Except maybe guilt for just not getting it, I suppose.

And oh my lord, yes Toho re: Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon." Maybe it's extreme British humor (where's Boris) but yeah wtf is that even doing there.

I have zero interest in bothering with that Bohemian Rhapsody movie. Maybe just to see how they did with Brian May and John Deacon. Those are two really interesting Brits.

corplhicks wrote:

Sorry. Jag Panzer sucks. Okay, I'll give them Mechanized Warfare, but the rest of their output is boooooring.

They have weird song structures that just deny memorability. Good thing is every listen is a fresh listen, I guess.
Chain of Command - their 1987 album without Harry Conklin is pretty good USPM that sounds different enough from regular Panzer, so you might want to sample it before giving up on the band completely.

In Search of Sanity is my favorite Onslaught album.

Souls of Black is one of my favorite Testament albums.

Liking some nu-metal bands, glam/hair bands, or metalcore bands does not make one a "poser" or "untr00". I am not the buggest fan of these genres, but liking something from any of these genres does not make you any less of a "tr00 metal fan", contrary to what some metalheads insist.

The fact that NSBM is accepted by much of the metal community is upsetting.

Impact is Imminent is a good album.

Most thrash bands suck at actual songwriting

Anthrax is a horrible band. Are you kidding me ?
Compared to all the trash being released in the last 20 years ?
You were born too late ! And I’m not an Anthrax fan.
But they were damn original. Great in concert too. Horrible ? Wow.
Adam and the Ants = that’s horrible ha ha !

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I have zero interest in bothering with that Bohemian Rhapsody movie.

It was actually a pretty good movie, and that's coming from someone who (see above) isn't really a Queen fan.

Avenged Sevenfold's Hail To The King is easily the best metal release of 2013.

Fat Freddy wrote:

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I have zero interest in bothering with that Bohemian Rhapsody movie.

It was actually a pretty good movie, and that's coming from someone who (see above) isn't really a Queen fan.

I'll probably wind up seeing it at some point because my wife luuuuvs Queen. She's been wanting to give it a shot. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Gilbert wrote:

Avenged Sevenfold's Hail To The King is easily the best metal release of 2013.

WHAT!

My opinion of the Queen catalogue is pretty much the same as my opinion of the Rush catalogue; the first several albums are "must have" but after that not so much,

The one difference for me is that while Rush got more progressive and therefore more annoying to me, I still kept trying to like Queen because of Mercury's vocal talent and the fact that there was usually at least ONE song on every Queen album that rocked like their early stuff.

Wendy O. Williams was trash. Not even remotely sexy.

I completely disagree with the Paul Gilbert is a hack comment!

Paul is amazing! I’ll admit that his later solo stuff is more avant-garde and isn’t “in your face” ear candy... but that doesn’t mean he’s a hack. Unless you’re AC/DC, most musicians try new things.

Some people feel the same about Alex Skolnick’s non Testament stuff. But any serious guitar fan knows he’s still great!

tohostudios wrote:

My opinion of the Queen catalogue is pretty much the same as my opinion of the Rush catalogue; the first several albums are "must have" but after that not so much,

The one difference for me is that while Rush got more progressive and therefore more annoying to me, I still kept trying to like Queen because of Mercury's vocal talent and the fact that there was usually at least ONE song on every Queen album that rocked like their early stuff.

Man i own a lot of Rush cd's, which i only purchased because the store that was selling them was closing down and all cd's were selling for 5 dollars.

That said, i could never really get into Rush. I do agree that they have a lot of talent, but listening to their music can be quite a burden. The more progressive a band gets, the more i tend to give up faster.

My God-Given Right is better than ANYTHING Helloween put out after Keepers 2 (well, ok, Better Than Raw was excellent too).

Dream Theater are very boring. They like to display their talent, which i do not deny, by playing overly long compositions.

Come on, give us a simple album with a simple song writing. At least once.

Though he is the weaker of the three, I think Janick Gers is a fine guitar player.

The black album is a great album IMO, love it from beginning to end.

Fight For The Rock may be the weakest Savatage album but I enjoy it nonetheless.

While a big departure, I love Tourniquet-Crawl To china.

The Ritual is my favorite Testament album. I Hear Black is my favorite Overkill album. Cuatro is my favorite Flotsam and Jetsam album.

That's all my unpopular opinions I can think of right now.

I like Destruction Comes by VR.

Souls of Black is one of Testament’s best albums.

High by Flotsam & Jestsam is very underrated.

Ron Rinehart is better than Don Doty.

Troublezone wrote:

I like Destruction Comes by VR.

Souls of Black is one of Testament’s best albums.

High by Flotsam & Jestsam is very underrated.

Ron Rinehart is better than Don Doty.

Souls of black is a fine album. The Legacy is one of my all time favorite songs, an exemplary thrash ballad.