Heavy Metal Suggestions

[myk]

Morris said:
Everything else are definitive points of the "crust" genre.

Perhaps, but his use of deride was proper, since you did indeed use "contemptuous ridicule." Let's keep this civil; there's no need to shit-talk to drive a point or counter an opinion. I hate cleaning up (it hurts the environment.)

I quoted those lines in the essence of fun, as they are pretty stereotypical things for a band like Manowar to say. Thus their self-parody. Also, if you read them in their full context, you'd find that the band is about realizing that everyone is a "god" and "warrior" in their own right, you only have to allow yourself to accept that there is no fate and you can (within reason) control the world with your will. Even if they use "cheesy" lyrics and sound to spread that message, there's nothing cheesy about the message itself. Once you come to embrace the message, like it or not, it brings an undoubtable power to the music.

Heh, if anything, they are okay because the singer isn't bad, and neither are the musicians, and what they take from popular swords & sorcery can be amusing, but their self-glorifying message more or less translates to a very commercially inclined "we're gonna sell a lot of records and we're the best" which they took from Kiss (a band with a more varied repertoire and more effective character.) I remember there was a pretty funny hearsay anecdote about them arranging a fight with Mötley Crüe, where the Mötley Crüe gang kicked their asses.

[Morris]

Perhaps there was no reason for me to go into details, but still, I don't renounce it. I don't feel a strong contempt towards the genre, but they have a big scene here, and since I'm heavily involved with local music, I deal with them a lot. I'm friends with some of them, but most of them do get on my nerves for various reasons, everytime I see them. So that should explain my contempt.

That aside, I'm sick of being the only one to defend Manowar, and that there's even a need to still defending them, but someone's got to do it. They aren't even close to my favorite band, FFS, and when I added that at the end of my post I was playing off the self-parody.

Throughout their 25 or so years of existance, they've only changed labels to get away from becoming heavily commercialized, not to chase it. They're optimistic and have pride in themselves, and even though they admittedly over do it from time to time, I don't see what's wrong with it. Saying they "took it" from KISS is unfair, because other bands before and after KISS have made a point of say "Hey, our music IS pretty fucking good." And, their music is just a solid and strong as it was on their debut. They're recognized by Guiness (sp?) for being the loudest band ever, and are recognized by almost every metal band (from all genres) as an influence, and also for "keeping it true" for two and half decades. They still aren't dicks like every other successful metal artist, and it's obvious it's all in fun, and they still manage to pull off the universal "metal message" while having it. That's a good deal, even if it wasn't self-parody, to be proud about, and I don't see anything wrong with announcing your pride to the world.
And as for the Motley Crue thing, "OMG THEY WON A FIGHT SO THEY'RE BETTER AND NOT LOSERS#@1!!!!!" Seriously, I love Crue as well, but look at them. A bunch of alcoholic losers who can't keep a wife or stay out of jail. Wow, cool. And as you said, it's hearsay. I prefer an image of deserved pride over "Look at us, we're cool." But it's all speculative, and it's the music that matters.
In which case, Manowar wins. ;)

[Rotting Corpse]

Right on Morris. Manowar has allways stuck to there guns. Even tho I dont like them that much...I still have the up most respect for them. They are about there music and there fans. The problem with most bands these days is that there music and them selfs are hollow. Just look at
50cent. He will whore him self out for any thing that will make him a quick buck. A video game a moive whats next a fucking fast food chain!?

Atleast there are bands out there that still care about the fans and there music.

[LorD BaZTArD]

Thing is though, there are plenty of bands in it for the fans and the music, your mistake was the assumption that people like 50 cent are musicians instead of carefully placed icons to represent a theme. Half-baked is much like other "gangster" fools before him, a pointless gimmick.

Going deep and deeper outside of the commercial realm and you realise that most, if not all bands still performing yearly tours ten or twenty years later are the ones doing it for the fun of it.

Iron Maiden still put on a fantastic tour, Deep Purple still have fun on stage. Megadeth and even Metallica endeavour to blow away the fans at every live show they do. (Even if the albums are weaker, they still fucking own live)

Ignore the pop tripe and you'll always find the real bands. Always, no matter what genre.

[aca]

Only listen to Tom_D, destx and macvilewhore for good heavy metal suggestions. You can't go wrong with them.

[Morris]

Metal has a pretty large spectrum, and I'm sure most people involved could sit here and list underground/unsigned metal bands that kick ass, but noone else has ever heard of. You can go wrong with any suggestor, and someone else's suggestion might unexpectedly suprise you. Different people have different tastes, and a wider variety of suggestions is rarely unwelcome.

[Rotting Corpse]

Exodus is a great band. They have all ways been on of the best thrash
metal bands out there.

Mech is another great band. If you have played Painkiller then you might recognize them. Getting there albums imported from Poland can be a bitch.

[LorD BaZTArD]

Nice, the painkiller guys are an actual band? I did not know this. I liked that soundtrack. It looks like I may have to look them up... or even better, do they have an english website?

[Rotting Corpse]

Yep, Mech is the band that did the music for painkiller. There is a video of a song they did for the game. I looked for a link but I cant post the link here since I dont know if it would count as warez. The video is on Painkiller gold edtion or black edtion.

They dont have a english site.

[Raziel]

Pantera is groove metal.

[myk]

Morris said:
That aside, I'm sick of being the only one to defend Manowar, and that there's even a need to still defending them, but someone's got to do it.

But partisanship vs. poseurship arguments in relation to Manowar are pratically inevitable; isn't that the point in half of what they do?

People will inevitably react thus to their "loudness" and others will invariably defend them. They know what they are doing, else they wouldn't even bother. If Manowar is to exist, it has to have that spammy attitude, or its not Manowar anymore. That said, they indeed have quite effectively illustrated some of the main (epic and classical) elements of metal in their songs and I'd recommend listening to some of their stuff to anyone looking for metal, some songs stick no matter what; two good examples being Mountains and Blood of my Enemies.

[Koko Ricky]

Seeing as Haruko is apparently new to metal, it would not be wise to start out with something ridiculously abrasive like Napalm Death, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Darkthrone, Mayhem, etc. (Though oddly enough, that's kind of how I started out.) As someone who listens to a lot of old school metal, I can make a few recommendations that you'd like, though as you might imagine some of the suggestions will overlap with those made by others here.

As for as early 80's heavy metal (no cock rock bullshit) goes, besides Maiden and Priest, you'll probably appreciate Saxon, Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Motorhead, Helloween, Jag Panzer, Metal Church, Grim Reaper, maybe some of the harder-to-find NWOBHM bands like Satan, Bitch's Sin, Sledgehammer, Anvil, Tank, etc. Also, you might want to check out some Black Sabbath-esque bands like Pentagram, St. Vitus, Trouble and Witchfinder General. Pentagram is excellent music to play Doom to.

If you want stuff that's a little heavier, like maybe in the thrash/speed metal category, go for early albums by Slayer (Show No Mercy, Hell Awits, Reign in Blood), Exodus, Venom (specifically Welcome to Hell and Black Metal), Overkill, Anthrax (S.O.D. is better), Kreator, Destruction, Rigor Mortis, and Wehrmacht (they're a bit harder to find), Vio-Lence (just watch out for the vocals). You may also appreciate "crossover" style metal, that is, metal with hardcore punk leanings; this includes the likes of S.O.D., D.R.I., Cryptic Slaughter, The Accused, Hirax, and early Suicidal Tendencies.

[Koko Ricky]

Rotting Corpse said:

Right on Morris. Manowar has allways stuck to there guns. Even tho I dont like them that much...I still have the up most respect for them. They are about there music and there fans. The problem with most bands these days is that there music and them selfs are hollow. Just look at
50cent. He will whore him self out for any thing that will make him a quick buck. A video game a moive whats next a fucking fast food chain!?

Atleast there are bands out there that still care about the fans and there music.

Yeah, that's why I'm such a huge supporter of the underground. The only death metal band, for instance, to ever sell even a million albums is Cannibal Corpse, and even after the fact they have not watered down their music or otherwise made it more accessible. I'm not sure why the metal universe has had such a huge impact on my life, but I've always admired the fact that the majority of the bands, knowing their style is too abrasive, too old school, too textural or simply too explicit for the mainstream, still continue to play that style, because they love what they do and they know they'll have an audience to support them, however small it may be. It's easy to accuse a popular or accessible band as "selling out," but I don't think mainstream popularity means selling out. To me selling out is specifically designing your music and lyrics with the intent to make as much money as possible, as opposed to playing original music that comes from the heart.

[myk]

GoatLord said:
The only death metal band, for instance, to ever sell even a million albums is Cannibal Corpse, and even after the fact they have not watered down their music or otherwise made it more accessible.

No wonder I saw one or two of their albums in a standard commercial music store, amid a slew of rock and pop stuff. I was like "how did Cannibal Corpse make its way here?"

[Koko Ricky]

myk said:

No wonder I saw one or two of their albums in a standard commercial music store, amid a slew of rock and pop stuff. I was like "how did Cannibal Corpse make its way here?"

Yeah, along with Morbid Angel and Obituary, they're the top selling death metal band. I think it's great, because Cannibal is a very talented band (whether you like the music or not). However, there are many other extremely talented death metal bands that should be right up there with them, but aren't.

[Morris]

For some reason, I was never really able to catch on to Cannibal Corpse. Then again, all I've heard from them I heard from friends, I never really listened to them on my own. Asphyx, older Amorphis, and Luciferion are pretty much my favorite death bands.
Anyone here listen to Dragonforce? I really thought their other albums were a little overrated, but I have to admit that their album "Inhuman Rampage", which came out yesterday, is pretty awesome. I would not hesitate to recommend it first to someone getting into power metal.
Also got another album earlier today by a band called Orion Riders, makes me think of a heavier Angra. Pretty good stuff for a virtually unheard of band.