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Testament hasn't been mentioned yet? I always thought they should have been called 'The Big 5' - Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer and Testament. I saw Testament open up for Slayer back in '91 (my first concert). I liked Testament before the concert, but after seeing them, I ran out and bought all their tapes. Just a kick-ass band that I think hot over-shadowed by the big 4 IMO.Talk about loud...Testament's guitar player was sound-checking while we were waiting outside for the doors to open. The arena they played in had huge glass windows that were rattling, and you could hear every note as clear as day. Not to mention that he played the hell out of the guitar during his sound-check. Everyone outside was amazed.
Do you realize they were called sellouts when they released Ride the Lightning? I saw a YouTube video where Cliff Burton was commenting on them being called sellouts. It was pretty funny IMO.Metallica didn't sell out IMO, they grew up/evolved. I've been a fan since I first heard them around Master of Puppets. I don't feel alienated, though I do wish they'd go back to performing pissed off instead of happy these days. I like their thrash stuff better than the newer stuff, but don't want to hear them try to replicate Master or Ride over and over again. I also think it would be pretty comical/sadly comical to hear guys nearing 50 singing about the same stuff they sang about in their 20s, but that's just me. I think St Anger was one of the worst albums ever, and Load and ReLoad should have been one album instead of two. Cut out the crap from both, and I think you have one solid album of about 12 songs or so. Different from what they previously did, but solid IMO.This is such a long on-going debate between Metallica fans and Metallica bashers. No point in arguing it, as we're not going to settle it. Not that I think you were looking for an arguement.
I don't care about a stylistic change, but in my view Metallica's songwriting went down the tubes and James' singing just got dead awful. There's a reason their older tunes can be covered by those cello guys, or the orchestra thing - because they're beautiful compositions that weave and flow. It just works. Now they play these awful, nothing, crap tunes. I dunno what they are, but it ain't working. I don't begrudge them their success, I just don't care enough about the songs to want to buy the dang record. That's life though, you can only write so many classics and then you're out of gas. It can happen to anyone. Also, a tidal wave of competing awesome metal bands also dilutes their status. When I was in high school Metallica was essentially the figurehead of what metal WAS, when they came out with something new that was like a statement of what was possible in thrash. That view is completely gone now. No big whoop, though.
This topic has been covered before in some detail, however, I wanted to make a new one pertaining to my requests.I have really been getting into Opeth lately. I had always written off most of their catalogue because of the growly vocals, but their music just kept drawing me in. Fortunately the growls come and go and seem to fit their more intense passages. I've also been listening to Porcupine Tree and Katatonia. In all cases I am listening to most of their catalogue. What I like about the above three is that while they are progressive, they are also very musical. It is not a bunch of musicians doing a circle jerk, which a lot of "prog rock/metal" bands sound like to me.Was curious if you guys know any other "good" prog bands?
