Band lineup changes

[Necro Red]

I was listening to the recent Sinister album there which is pretty decent, anyway, decided to read up on them a tad only to discover the shocking amount of people that have went through the band over the years. Do people care about lineup changes as drastic as this? I mean if Lars Ulrich was the only original member in Metallica would anyone give a shit about the band?

[Thorn]

I think when it's not one of the main staple bands from a given genre it doesn't matter so much to me. I bought that new Sinister too, didn't give it a second thought that the line up is so different these days, still sounds like Sinister.
I don't think I'd like to buy , say, a Paradise Lost album ,with one original member left.
A mate  mentioned the new Sanctuary album in the pipeline and that will be a real litmus test without Dane. I'm pretty sure though I'm going to dig it as the replacement guy is well capable. If they wanted someone to ape Dane's voice they could have just  tried to get the guy from Communic.
Suppose I'd check to see if the core sound and aesthetic of a band is the same and if so, yeah I'd stay on board I'd say.
Just not PL !

[Anton Arcane]

I find it interesting, especially when bands are left with no original members or original songwriters. If it's one guy with a revolving door of hired hands then I don't really bat an eyelid but I find it interesting when you have the likes of Metal Church, where depending on when you saw them live, you could have seen 100% different line ups. Or the likes of Possessed who have become their own tribute act.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Never actually checked out Possessed's album from last year, but it got decent reviews, and Jeff is, for all intents and purposes, a founding member. Do you think they should perform under a different name? Say, I dunno, Para-Possessed? 

[Airneanach]

It's an interesting one. It's also something that's both more prevalent and more acceptable in metal than in any other genre I can think of. There's probably an answer to that in there involving what a massive collaborative machine of intensity your average touring metal band is, where parts fall out and get replaced every now and then and the machine does another run of fresh albums.

Mayhem are a decent example of a band whose run of albums has benefitted from member refreshes every few years. They've not undergone any massively earth shattering sonic changes, but those albums are all individually favoured by different groups of fans, and they all benefit from that member shuffle that makes them a bit more of a talking point. I personally have fuck all interest in Esoteric Warfare/Daemon's brand of roided up, beefy black metal which I largely attribute to Teloch, for example. Even the guy's (massively entertaining) YouTube seems to constantly betray that he has no time for atmospheres. But that's cool.

Certain bands live reputations are all over the shop because of the line up changes. Not uncommon to have Cradle of Filth fans clueing each other in that they're quite decent live again now, no they're still shite etc. A lot of metal bands you wouldn't question it, unless you're super into them. The logo and maybe one central figure's enough to get them by. I enjoy a bit of Megadeth but not enough to go comparing their members. If I saw them at a festival next year I couldn't tell you whose there, other than Dave.

[Anton Arcane]

Never actually checked out Possessed's album from last year, but it got decent reviews, and Jeff is, for all intents and purposes, a founding member. Do you think they should perform under a different name? Say, I dunno, Para-Possessed? 

I'm going to be the bigger man and walk away from that.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I'm going to be the bigger man and walk away from that.

Nice. Intentional or not; nice. 

[Anton Arcane]

 

[Paul keohane]

Cross the Styx was the only Sinister album i actually ever had,they've 14 albums now!.

Are they one of those bands that no one really gives a fuck about,but somehow they are still a bit relevant off the back of the being around in the early 90s DM scene?

They had a girl on vocals the one and only time i saw them live,(in Dorans).From what i can remember they were solid enough.

[Eoin McLove]

Yeah, I was at that gig too. Nile and Gorerotted was it? I remember thinking it was cool that your one could growl so viciously (and she was good looking if I remember correctly too) but I never bought anything by them. They seemed a bit ordinary.

[The Butcher]

This is going to turn into a discussion about Sepultura isn't it?   

[Kunt 4 Life]

Iron maiden have done alright with line up changes, although they're kept constant for the last 20 years.

[Airneanach]

It was certainly very gentlemanly of them to allow Janick to stick around.

[Anton Arcane]

It was certainly very gentlemanly of them to allow Janick to stick around.

I read an interview with him recently where he said that Steve Harris actually talked him into sticking around because at the time he didn't see any point in being there.

[Carnage]

He was right.