Are we living in METAL's BEST ERA EVA?

No doubt there is a metal renaissance right now, but I'm not positive that the surge is going to last.

Schbopo wrote:

xyz wrote:

No.

+1

+2

Hey Sax

you forgot "Hatchet" in the that list of new bands that bring it !

At a local cd shop, they had Warbringer in the pop/rock section
and not in the extensive "metal" section. go figure

Anomaly is not the word coming to mind for MM.

SpectreFate wrote:

Quote :

Poll after poll reveal that people have become more-or-less set in their ways by the age of 30, and are very reluctant to embrace anything new, outside of their established comfort zone. That's the general rule of thumb. Then, of course, there are anomalies, like myself, people who have gone out of their way to discover new bands, inquire into new philosophies, political and scientific ideas.

I see you've renewed your subscription to "Douchebag" Magazine.

You of course are entitled to your opinions, but people tend not to fit into tiny little boxes no matter how much philosophical lube you use. If you base your opinions on polls, please look up the word "biased" in the dictionary, and NOT the Urban Dictionary, yo.

Why you bein' a dick? I simply stated a sociological fact about people. A fact that you need no polls to understand. You just need to observe enough people to know it to be true. And, people, as a general rule, are nostalgic for their 'younger days'. If those younger days happen to have occured in the 1980's, then that's what they'll favor. I'm actually the only one I know from the gang I grew up with that knows anything about 'new music'. For most of them, Nirvana and Pearl Jam discs are still out in their car's disc players.

Honestly Marc Mason, you dont think you are being a dick? The online personality you portray here couldn't be anymore arrogant and self centered. Take a walk.

i don't really see the music i listen to in eras. i liked it before when it was popular, i liked it when it wasn't popular, i like it still on it's current wave. through it all there have been great bands, good bands, average bands & bad bands. no particular era had a lock on it imho. it's just one continuous cycle of hits & misses that i still enjoy swimming through.

mc666 wrote:

i don't really see the music i listen to in eras. i liked it before when it was popular, i liked it when it wasn't popular, i like it still on it's current wave. through it all there have been great bands, good bands, average bands & bad bands. no particular era had a lock on it imho. it's just one continuous cycle of hits & misses that i still enjoy swimming through.

Excellent post.

Quote :

Were there creative bands like Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Gojira, Amon Amarth and Slipknot around in the 80's?

Those bands are nothing to brag about... and yes there were creative bands in the 80's... ever heard of King's X, Believer, Coroner, Annihilator, Faith No More, Rush or Suicidal Tendencies?

the last one ended?

I think in this era we have more diversity in metal and what we want to listen to. The 80's were groundbreaking for metal taking it's place in history so I say yes and no!

Wargod50

I am going ignore Marc's rambling bs, and just back to his original posting and some general thoughts on the subject.

As a metal fan I think you are living in the best era to see the entire history of the genre, you have the old guard like Deep Purple, Alice Cooper to name just two, are still recording and performing, you have newer bands such as Mastodon and Lamb of God moving the genre in different directions, you have glam/hair/pop metal bands enjoying a revival of sorts with festivals like Rockahoma, thrash has made a comeback of sorts, and you have a documentary that has gotten critical raves from people who hate this genre on Anvil, a band must people have not heard of.

This is a great time to be a metal fan you can still see some originators of the genre live and co existing with newer bands.

mc666 wrote:

i don't really see the music i listen to in eras. i liked it before when it was popular, i liked it when it wasn't popular, i like it still on it's current wave. through it all there have been great bands, good bands, average bands & bad bands. no particular era had a lock on it imho. it's just one continuous cycle of hits & misses that i still enjoy swimming through.

I do, but maybe I'm wired a little differently. There are so many songs where I can tell you where I was when I first heard the song, or how that song resonated with me at a certain time. I'm definitely one that identifies music with eras, but then I'm an individual who puts a lot of stock into the nostalgia factor. For instance, I love period piece movies involving eras that not only include music, but also that of fashion, politics, and social environments. I think there are many movies that I could list that encompass all of these factors, but some of the most powerful are:

1. American Graffiti: If I could transport myself back to any era, I would probably choose the late 50's, early 60's. It was a post war era (WW II and Korean), laid back, time of self-reflection, economic prosperity, a nation of togetherness, cool cars, age of innocense, and because of music/sports it was an era where race was transcended (earliest instance of this happening).

2. Almost Famous/Dazed & Confused: I love this era (1973/1976), because it was post hippie movement, which I loathed. We were a lost nation trying to find oneself, Vietnam was winding down, we were getting back to the laid back attitude post Korea/pre-Vietnam (1953-1963), hard rock/heavy metal was in it's early remnants, cool duds, more great cars, much better T.V shows, looser morals and attitudes, and lost of fun.

3. The Wedding Singer (1985): I know there wasn't one ounce of metal in this movie, but for a movie riddled with pop rock, it seemed to fit the movie to a "T". I could mention a bunch of stuff about the 80's, but since most people on here have experienced that decade, it would be splitting hairs.

4. Singles (1992): I've written stuff on here regarding this time period, and the grunge sound, so I won't rehash it.

well, i can listen to Sheer Heart Attack & Formulas Fatal to the Flesh back to back & not even blink. it's nothing to me. great music is great music. it matters not what era it came from to me. i'm just enjoying the ride. the fact the some people like to distinguish between actual eras mean nothing to me. it's all the same.

Once again I agree with MC. Tis all one line, no need breaking it up into 'era's'

We can see more video clips now then in the 80s (ON YOU TUBE), we can listen to more music now then in the 80s (all demos ever released, all records ever released, etc...), we can buy rare stuff from 1970 till 2009 on EBAY etc...
All my friends are into heavy metal, dress like in the glory days of heavy metal every day, like in the 80s, but now we can enjoy the 70s, the 80s, 90s and 00s. In the 80s we had only the 70s and 80s heavy metal bands and records. Thats why i think its better now then before. HAIL 2009 HAIL!!!!!!!!!!

Troublezone wrote:

Quote :

Were there creative bands like Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Gojira, Amon Amarth and Slipknot around in the 80's?

Those bands are nothing to brag about... and yes there were creative bands in the 80's... ever heard of King's X, Believer, Coroner, Annihilator, Faith No More, Rush or Suicidal Tendencies?

I don't know about attaching the 80's banner to great groups like Faith No More, King's X, The Tea Party, etc. This lot of rockers appeared at the very tail-end of the 80's. And, just like you wouldn't consider Led Zeppelin, Yes and Jethro Tull 60's bands, I don't think that the above-mentioned lot of rockers can rightfully call the 80's their home either. The 80's, of course, can claim brilliant acts like Wham!, Culture Club, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Winger, Stryper, Poison and Cinderella though. So, there is that.

Don't diss Frankie, man. That's not cool.

Marc Mason wrote:

I want to ask a small-to-medium-small question at this juncture. Who else here has noticed the degree to which Metal has been enjoying a full and total upswing, a complete and widespread resurgence as of late? I'm talking like, have you had a moment of elevated consciousness and clarity where you've noticed this change, and were like, wow, all these old school bands have shown up to the dance with bells on this time around. Even a previously sorry sap like Metallica has turned things around. Does this change appear to be across the board? What about all these new groups who are seemingly re-inventing the wheel? Are we living in Metal's best era? Did I remember to shut off the stove before leaving the house?

I began noticing the change around 2003 or so. But, like any kind of change, it's marked by a matter of degree, shades of grey. Gnome sane? 2003 is just where I can say that I noticed it begin. I could see someone else pointing towards a time a bit earlier, or later. In all honesty, this is all probably more clear to me now in retrospect than it was at the time. I began seeing more consistency in the tracks delivered on each new title, as well as more consistency across the releases. Each release was seemingly better than the stuff from the past decade, and there appeared to be much more of it. The initial indicators were things like Maiden's Dance of the Dead, Dream Theater's Train of Thought, Exodus' Tempo of the Damned, etc., etc. Metal began delivering on a more consistent basis, and it was obvious.

Bands that I thought were completely washed up, over and done with, like Exodus, Testament, Onslaught, Trouble and Candlemass had resurfaced and slapped down one of their best works on the table. Other bands were tackling their most complex and ambitious projects, like Maiden, Priest, Queensryche, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, etc. Even that sorry old sod, Metallica, has finally woken up and got on the ball. All of the 'old guard' bands seemed to have reinvented themselves into animals which could compete in the new Metal market. And, the new troupe have just been delivering the most brutal and innovative schitt imaginable.

All of the Tech/Progressive Death Metal bands have got me totally buggin' son. Groups like Cynic, Obscura, Arsis, Between The Buried and Me, etc. Sludge and Doom acts like Corrosion, Down, Intronaut, Candlemass, Trouble, Witchcraft, BLS, etc. Uncategorizable acts like The Mars Volta, Tomahawk, Estradasphere, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Post-Rock like Baroness, Giant Squid, Pelican, Red Sparowes, Mouth of the Architect. Progressive Metal like Redemption, Agalloch, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater. And, I'm sure there's a bunch of great Black Metal out there as well. Just not familiar with it.

I've noticed a huge upturn in creativity across the entire Heavy Metal terrain. To me, it seems that we've never experienced this type of overall consistency in quality during Metal's 40 year history. I feel that we are, presently, in Metal's greatest era. All of the Pop Culture attention went away long ago, all of the MTV cameras got turned off, and, all of those Rolling Stone reporters took off in their beat up cars, leaving Metal to go back underground for a while. That's where it recouped, restrategized and re-emerged even stronger. Unencumbered by all the demands of clueless record companies execs. demanding mainstream singles, and their even more clueless marketing people trying to make the bands look more presentable, Metal bands have now been able to find their own direction and pursue it with a pure heart. And, I think the results have been amazing...Who else seconds this opinion that the last five years or so has been Metal's overal strongest?

depends how you look at it. It's great that the term "Metal" has become a more acceptable term in the music scene unlike the 90s. Alotta good ol' skool bands are making a comeback. Not even that 80s metal bands that never manged to tour Australia in their heyday are now touring the country like Queensryche toured in Australia for the first time in 2006. WASP (Best concert ever been to) toured here last year, Armored Saint toured for this yaer for the first time (great Concert btw) and Ratt and Winger in 2007. Also thrash metal has made a triumphant comeback. But for the negative unfortunately 'metalcore" which is the skim milk of metal is popular and it's just as bad as most of the bands labelled in the nu metal subgenre and filth like Devil Driver, Trivium and Dilinger escape plan are unforunately popular

Musically? Not even close! This decade is almost over and it won't even touch what was achieved ''musically'' during the 80's!

But as far as wide-open recognition. Access to media (records/videos/tracks) has never been better. In that regard this is the best era ''EVA.''

Necrosultan wrote:

Musically? Not even close! This decade is almost over and it won't even touch what was achieved ''musically'' during the 80's!

But as far as wide-open recognition. Access to media (records/videos/tracks) has never been better. In that regard this is the best era ''EVA.''

Is it possible that you've overlooked quite a bit of stuff from this decade? If ya say that it hasn't even touched what was achieved back then, I think that ya probably weren't really looking for much in the way of new Metal releases this time around. There certainly was a lot of greatness to be had. Ya just had to go looking for it. It wasn't hand-picked and delivered to your doorstep, like during the 80's.

Marc Mason wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Quote :

Were there creative bands like Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Gojira, Amon Amarth and Slipknot around in the 80's?

Those bands are nothing to brag about... and yes there were creative bands in the 80's... ever heard of King's X, Believer, Coroner, Annihilator, Faith No More, Rush or Suicidal Tendencies?

I don't know about attaching the 80's banner to great groups like Faith No More, King's X, The Tea Party, etc. This lot of rockers appeared at the very tail-end of the 80's. And, just like you wouldn't consider Led Zeppelin, Yes and Jethro Tull 60's bands, I don't think that the above-mentioned lot of rockers can rightfully call the 80's their home either. The 80's, of course, can claim brilliant acts like Wham!, Culture Club, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Winger, Stryper, Poison and Cinderella though. So, there is that.

King's X has been together since 1980 and has been officially recording as a group since 1985. That would been the entire 80's decade. Just pointing out a tiny mis-step there. Please don't hurt me.

Quote :

I don't know about attaching the 80's banner to great groups like Faith No More, King's X, The Tea Party, etc. This lot of rockers appeared at the very tail-end of the 80's. And, just like you wouldn't consider Led Zeppelin, Yes and Jethro Tull 60's bands, I don't think that the above-mentioned lot of rockers can rightfully call the 80's their home either. The 80's, of course, can claim brilliant acts like Wham!, Culture Club, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Winger, Stryper, Poison and Cinderella though. So, there is that.

Wrong! Faith No More's first record was 1985 "We Care A Lot". King's X put out their first album in '87 but were together years before under other names. Winger came out in 1988 and you consider them 80's?! You don't really know what your talking about.

Marc Mason wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Quote :

Were there creative bands like Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Gojira, Amon Amarth and Slipknot around in the 80's?

Those bands are nothing to brag about... and yes there were creative bands in the 80's... ever heard of King's X, Believer, Coroner, Annihilator, Faith No More, Rush or Suicidal Tendencies?

I don't know about attaching the 80's banner to great groups like Faith No More, King's X, The Tea Party, etc. This lot of rockers appeared at the very tail-end of the 80's. And, just like you wouldn't consider Led Zeppelin, Yes and Jethro Tull 60's bands, I don't think that the above-mentioned lot of rockers can rightfully call the 80's their home either. The 80's, of course, can claim brilliant acts like Wham!, Culture Club, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Winger, Stryper, Poison and Cinderella though. So, there is that.

And don't forget to lump in crappy bands like Saxon, Bad Brains, or Rollins Band in with Frankie Goes to Hollywood.