Controversial Metal Opinions

[Grim Reality]

I dunno astfgyl man. Ruminating on a heavy metal forum about what makes 'heavy', what is the 'heaviest' and coming up with some ambient, moby and depeche mode suggestions kinda shows it to be a pointless pursuit. It's a meaningless descriptor really, or at least means different things to different people. Clearly, if depeche mode is now a go to 'heavy' band.

I'll stick with Formulas Fatal to the Flesh.

But then I listen to that cos it's pissed off and twisted sounding. Not cos it's 'heavy'.

[Bogmetaller]

Heaviest thing I've ever experienced was the Prodigy live. They opened with The Day Is My Enemy and it was crushing

Honestly, it felt like being suffocated. The sheer weight of the bass and the general volume was complete sensory overload, it made Meshuggah's live show feel like Avril Lavigne

Saw them at the Marquee in cork and the bass was so prominent that my feet were itchy from the ground shaking - never experienced that before. But speaking of parts of the body being affected - seeing SunnO))))) live doesn't do much for the ear drums--without ear plugs you'd be in trouble .

The heaviest music for me is splittercore- dance music that goes up to 1000bpm. I love gabber but how anyone can listen to that shite I'll never know.

[astfgyl]

I dunno astfgyl man. Ruminating on a heavy metal forum about what makes 'heavy', what is the 'heaviest' and coming up with some ambient, moby and depeche mode suggestions kinda shows it to be a pointless pursuit. It's a meaningless descriptor really, or at least means different things to different people. Clearly, if depeche mode is now a go to 'heavy' band.

I'll stick with Formulas Fatal to the Flesh.

But then I listen to that cos it's pissed off and twisted sounding. Not cos it's 'heavy'.

I think in the most roundabout possible way I agree, or that is sort of what I was getting at. I probably should have came at that a different way and stirred up a bit of controversy by asking what is metal and what isn't rather than what is heavy. Like if there was a new Depeche Mode or some new ambient album I would go to the off topic section to talk about that, even though it could possibly be construed as heavy. Same for The Prodigy for example, I wouldn't get a thread going on it in this section. I wonder myself though how come then that something like Anathema gets a bye when it's pretty far from anything that could be considered metal. No problem to get a thread about them going here. I know they were a bit metal at one point but that is old news. Opeth could be in the same bracket. A prog thread made it on to the main page, too. Burzum's prison albums would probably be okay too, but no metal to be found there. As someone pointed out as well, Nirvana are not metal but probably wouldn't be too out of place for discussion. Author and Punisher is probably on the fence a bit.

You're right it's a pointless argument though because as you say everyone will have their own ideas of what is ok and what is not. Like there is no denying Morbid Angel is metal (that album after heretic was fair fuckin bad now I think of it) and lots of other things but we all seem to draw a line in our heads somewhere between what is metal-associated enough for the main page. Is it an attitude thing, then? Being pissed off and angry enough rather than having any particular instrument. Like there are bands with no guitar, bands with no drums, bands with no bass, electronic based horror things. It's a strange one to try to elucidate but everyone seems to inherently know the answer.

[open face surgery]

Necros Christos would be a lot better if they eased up on the interludes. They really took the piss with Domedon Doxomedon, be quicker to build the fuckin temple.

I'm all for the interludes on the first two, haven't listened to DD. That comment did give me a hearty laugh though.

[Eoin McLove]

I think DD is the album where all of the interludes finally worked and added a sense of flow to the album. Fucking brilliant record on all fronts (bar the non-descript artwork), in my opinion. Must throw it on again soon.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

The heaviest music for me is splittercore- dance music that goes up to 1000bpm.

I have now heard splittercore. Maybe, by the time the beats get down to the bottom of the k-hole, they've slowed down to a more comfortable 200??

[Edgeofdarkness]

Hate pantera, couldn't give a toss about dimebag. Glad I could get that off my chest.

[Anton Arcane]

Hate pantera, couldn't give a toss about dimebag. Glad I could get that off my chest.

Before his death, this was a commonly repeated opinion. And one of the regular criticisms of the band were the horrible guitar solos. But since Dimebag has been canonized by the mongos you could get lynched for saying it.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Compared to the number of criticisms that boiled down to "They were too commercial, they stole everything from Exhorder, their fans are brodude spas", any criticism saying the solos were poor must have accounted for about 1%. On MI it was almost more controversial to say you liked them, and in even more underground circles it's positively taboo.

[Eoin McLove]

Yeah, hating Pantera is probably the least controversial opinion to hold these days. I'll defend them till the bitter end. They were a force of nature in their prime and I thought they were Gods when I was a young lad.

[Ducky]

Yeah I've never heard complaints about Dimebag's playing before. Everything else about the band, yep, but they were accomplished players.

[Carnage]

They desperately needed a second guitarist though, when he was off soloing they sounded so weak. Can't say I'm bothered about either of them being gone, but obviously the circumstances of Diamond (Dimebag me hole) Darrell's death are as fucked up as it gets.

[astfgyl]

Cowboys From Hell is still good craic. A lot of The Great Southern Trendkill is great. A few classics on Vulgar Display and Far Beyond Driven. I always enjoyed Darrell's solos. Last album is shite. I still have a soft spot for Pantera although they don't get too many listens these days. It's a pity Phil stopped the high pitched stuff after Cowboys though.

[John Kimble]

Yeah, hating Pantera is probably the least controversial opinion to hold these days. I'll defend them till the bitter end. They were a force of nature in their prime and I thought they were Gods when I was a young lad.

Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel about Pantera. They were one of the first bands I legitimately felt 'fanatical' about. Obviously I'm discounting glam Pantera (whom I never actually heard a full track by), but everything up to, but excluding Reinventing the Steel, is ace. Could do no wrong in my teenage eyes. I also have to give them a bit of credit, unlike say Sepultura, Slayer and most blatantly, Machine Head, for existing during the nu-metal era and not actually pandering to any of its silly trends. I probably went off them for a bit when I started to delve deeper into the underground, but I think I've come around to them again somewhat.

[open face surgery]

Same. They were a staple growing up and the retard carry on really appealed to me as a teenager. Check out Power Metal, it's great.