Your Favourite Metal Sub-genre(s)
I'm not going to make a poll for this because I won't have enough poll options, and even if I did, I'd be here all night 
. This would be due to the incredible amount of sub-genres there are in metal music: progressive metal, power metal, death metal, pirate metal, doom metal, technical metal, symphonic metal etc. Overall, it's a very diverse genre - two bands in the metal genre can be extremely different and have almost no musical similarities. This is partially what makes metal music, and the whole 'metal scene' so interesting. So, anyway, with all of these sub-genres that exist, and with a considerable amount of metal fans here on the Telltale forums, I thought I'd create a thread where you can list your favourite metal sub-genres, and if you have only one, then let us know what it is. Also, feel free to list some of your favourite metal bands of those respective genres.
For me personally, my favourite genre is simply Classic/Traditional Metal - bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Saxon, etc. Though I do really enjoy Progressive Metal, from what I've heard of it, with the likes of Dream Theater. I also enjoy some Power Metal, even if it does get a little... lame, at times.
So, what are yours?
. This would be due to the incredible amount of sub-genres there are in metal music: progressive metal, power metal, death metal, pirate metal, doom metal, technical metal, symphonic metal etc. Overall, it's a very diverse genre - two bands in the metal genre can be extremely different and have almost no musical similarities. This is partially what makes metal music, and the whole 'metal scene' so interesting. So, anyway, with all of these sub-genres that exist, and with a considerable amount of metal fans here on the Telltale forums, I thought I'd create a thread where you can list your favourite metal sub-genres, and if you have only one, then let us know what it is. Also, feel free to list some of your favourite metal bands of those respective genres.For me personally, my favourite genre is simply Classic/Traditional Metal - bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Saxon, etc. Though I do really enjoy Progressive Metal, from what I've heard of it, with the likes of Dream Theater. I also enjoy some Power Metal, even if it does get a little... lame, at times.
So, what are yours?
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Maiden is classic by the way. I'm in love with the last album.
Lately I started to love experimental/avant-garde metal. Diablo Swing Orchestra... try it. At first it'll baffle you, but then you'll start to love it.
Same here! It's great, isn't it? 'When the Wild Wind Blows' is perhaps the most profound thing that Harris has ever written - I love it when a band is able to tell a story as well as that while accompanying it with such suitable (not to mention brilliant and beautiful) music. It definitely ranks within my top 5 favourite Maiden songs, without a doubt.
It's also my favorite! I generally don't mind the lyrics in a song (I let the flow of guitar and drums guide me) but that song has such easy YET still meaningful lyrics. The music is really fitting as well. It's also one of my fave 5... Actually one of my fave 3. Mother of Mercy also comes a close second if you ask me.
People say Final Frontier is weak compared to Megadeth's latest album Endgame but these two songs are able to prove otherwise.
Yes, "Mother of Mercy" is an excellent song also - a great rocker that I think would fit perfectly on 'A Matter of Life and Death' (which is a good thing, seeing as how I really liked AMOLAD). I also quite like "El Dorado", especially that mid-section with the soloing - it's great to listen to. Also 'The Talisman' is pretty damn cool; it's another nice story-driven epic which also has some great music. Also, I like how it builds, from that slow, sea-shanty-like opening which drops out and goes straight into the main riff before changing pace several times - it's just another great track on an excellent album. And Bruce delivers a good vocal performance on it as well, considering the guys age!
What genre do you pick Children of Bodom, The Kovenant and/or Amorphis?
Atleast I know I like symphonic most... but after that, dunno. So add me in for "symphonic [X] metal"...
I sometimes will listen to speed metal but it mostly sounds same-y too me so it's a rare listen.
Iunno.. New age death metal? Not a fan of Bodom here so I never tried to fit them in a genre or something.
True that. I don't really like speed metal; elimination of so many details that make every each track special in itself doesn't create much of an artwork. What they do is mostly playing Guitar Hero in expert mode with actual instruments.
Hah, true? So I'm guessing those 4 tracks are basically your favourite off of the album? You're probably the first person I've known to like all four of those tracks the best.
I've heard a lot of people (mostly reviewers) say that "When the Wild Wind Blows" is really good, but they haven't listed it as their favourite from the album. I've heard some people say that they actually hate "El Dorado" and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why. "The Talisman" usually falls into the same category as 'WtWWB', and "Mother of Mercy" has been met with a lot of mixed opinions; some stating that it's mediocre, some saying it's one of the best, and some labeling it as the worst. But they're all, without a doubt, my four favourites from the album.
Also, on a side note, I experienced Nightwish for the first time last night, listening to 'Dark Passion Play'. What a great album; so powerful and so musically brilliant. I'm definitely looking forward to buying some of their previous material, back when Tarja Turunen was their vocalist. Hopefully I like her as a singer as much as most Nightwish fans do. Is anyone here a big fan of the band? If so, could I possibly get a recommendation on which album to buy next? I want to explore some more of their music soon.
Can't give suggestions about albums *cough cough* but here are a few good songs (IMO obviously). So if you see 3 of them on an album...
* Over the Hills and Far Away
* Beauty and the Beast
* Bless the Child
* Dark Chest of Wonders
* Dead to the World
* Devil & The Deep Dark Ocean
* End of all Hope
* Ever Dream
* Planet Hell
* She is my Sin
* The Pharaoh Sails to Orion
* Wanderlust
* Wish I Had an Angel
* Wishmaster
I'm a huge Nightwish nerd and have all their albums. I'm still adjusting to their new lead. Tarja has such a unique voice that it's quite a jarring shift. Not in a bad way, mind you it's just...very different.
Wishmaster is probably the album I'd recommend the most (Century Child and Oceanborn are solid too), but I'd really recommend specific songs more, so just sort of consider this an addition to Hassat Hunter's list (since that was a good selection, though for "Ever Dream" I'd actually recommend the Live in Budapest version over the studio one):
- Ocean Soul
- Moondance
- Ghost Love Score
- Nightguest
- Crownless
- The Wayfarer
- Angels Fall First
- Walking in the Air
- Sleeping Sun
- Live to Tell the Tale
- Two for Tragedy
- Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan
- Dead Gardens
- Fantasmic
- The Riddler
- Sleepwalker
- The Lappi (Lapland) 4 movement piece, particularly Part I Erämaajärvi and Part IV Etiainen
- Away
- Stargazer
- Crimson Tide Deep Blue Sea
- Nemo
- Swanheart
- She is My Sin
So, long story short, no brutal, and no punk rock. Most mainstream heavy/thrash metal bands don't even use brutal vocal in their songs.
And that's why I hate brutal vocal as well. It sounds weird and when someone first hears it, it's strange to them. Yet when they ask "what is it?" they usually get replied with "it's metal"; so they put a distance between them and every other metal subgenres for a handful of time, until they decide to break out of their prejudgments. It's not even true to call metal as the "hardcorest of all main genres of music". To me, metal is simply the purest of all genres of music; you can use any type of vocal and enstrument and you can still find a fitting subgenre for yourself.
Well, I like Isle of Avalon too. I rather find Satellite 15 and Starblind the weakest of the chain.
Well I can't understand others and their likes one bit, judging by this. I just know that these five songs are the ones that inspire me the most.
My friend dared me to write that.
He isn't that far away. Catch him and slap behind his neck until it's too late.
I don't... know. Maybe something like Nanowar. They both try to add some sort of parody to their work, I guess.
Speaking of obscure subgenres... HIM call theirselves as "Love Metal". Oh bite me, you WISH you were metal, punks.
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead and Saxon are mostly known as NWOBM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal), "classic" or "traditional" Heavy Metal are often used to describe earlier bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
Children Of Bodom plays a form of Melodic Death Metal.
Both The Kovenant and Amorphis have played different kinds of music over the years. The Kovenant started out playing Symphonic Black Metal and later switched to Industrial Metal. Amorphis played Melodic Death Metal mixed with Folk Music and Doom Metal in the beginning, later they turned more towards Heavy/Goth Metal but now they have started incorporating some Death Metal in their music again. I like both bands (especially Amorphis, Tales From A Thousand Lakes is really great).
I listen to all kinds of music but my favourite metal genres tend to be Black, Folk, Sludge, Gothic and Progressive Metal.
Other mentions is Serenity wich I have just recently discovered also Symphonic Metal, and Lordi wich is more Hard Rock but they also try and go into the Metal path sometimes.
The surely you too would be a Nightwish fan, yes? It's just I find the two bands to be quite similar (from what I've heard).
I think those guys are great musically, but I find that the vocals do ruin it a little for me. If only they released instrumental versions of their albums; I'd buy them in a heartbeat!
I like Nickelback too. They're quite a good band, really. They don't deserve the amount of hate that they receive.
Amen to that. The only time I think the vocals sort of worked was Keelhauled on the Black Sails At Midnight album and even then it was only...sort of.
I'm listening now (on Youtube). You're right, it does work quite well on this track; still not preferable, though. Am I the only one who thinks that Lemmy would be a suitable frontman for this Alestorm
By the way, Alestorm do have one (that I know of) instrumental song - 'No Quarter'. There's also a sample of 'He's a Pirate' from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack in there, which fits in really well with the song and sounds great! They need to do more stuff like this.
Motörhead vocals in Alestorm? That...God, I think the universe would implode from awesome
No Quarter is probably my favorite Alestorm songs for that reason. They're good musicians and they integrate period instruments well into their rock, they just need less harsh vocals on top of that awesome musicianship.
Nickelback is metal?
They are good and all (not as much as Theory of a Dead Man though) but metal, no way...
It really does depend on what music of theirs you're referring to. Because, of course, tracks like "If Everyone Cared", "Someday" or even "Animals" aren't exactly metal - they range from soft rock to hard rock. However, if you look at a track like "Side of a Bullet", I would describe that as metal. Perhaps even "Believe it or Not" qualifies as metal (maybe). "Throw Yourself Away" comes close too (the verses more than the chorus, of course).
I mean, yeah, Nickelback aren't really consistently a metal (heck, they're not even consistently a hard rock band), but I find that some of their material falls into the hard rock & metal category. Or at least somewhere close.
I think they're as close to metal as Green Day, seriously...
I'd say they're a little closer than Green Day. Green Day are punk and nothing else, so of course they'll never be metal. But Nickelback do have some songs that are leaning towards the metal genre, it's just that they have plenty of other songs that are as far from the metal genre as Bon Jovi's hits. This is why they can't be considered a metal band, simply because too few of their songs are actually heavy or metallic. But some of their tracks are right on the border of being metal songs, which is why I think they're a little closer to being metal than Green Day.
But I think I'll agree that they aren't a metal band.
see wtfmusic.org
Well they are, and I do like Nightwish, I am just not a major fan of them. But there are many songs that I like from both old and new Nightwish like I wish I had and Angel, Over the Hills and Far Away, Nemo and Bye Bye Beautiful.
I myself consider Nickelback a mix of metal and Hard Rock, they are also Post-Grunge wich is why I mixed it to Grunge Metal. It all depends what song from what album you are listening to. Some more Metal while some more Hard Rock.
I can take Nickelback of my Metal list, if I stepped on some ones toes. To be honest I don't know much about Metal. But I do know what I like.
But seriously, it's kind of getting convoluted what counts to metal these days and what not. If people classify Lordi or Lacuna Coil as Hard Rock, and Within Temptation as Metal (Wikipedia, last I checked), I can't help but roll my eyes in disbelief.
But where some people get from it's metal, well, beats me... but I keep hearing it from 'fans'...
Still think our nations best act is After Forever, sadly enough they disbanded. But if you like the style of Within Temptation, Nightwish etc. definitely give them an hear all
Try this one.
I could be wrong maybe Nickelback is not really Metal at all, I am not really that good at classifying music genres.
But I do belive that Lordi is more Metal than Hard Rock, but I am not even sure that Lordi knows what type of band they are.