The Metal Thread \m/

[Shiver]

Hello everyone. While I have been on/off again on this website I have become obsessed with music. And since I noticed that the last thread essentially died a while ago I figured 'why not'? My tastes have changed greatly, back in 2004 all I listened to was Post-Hardcore music like Glassjaw, Thrice, etc. Ever since then I have picked up the guitar and branched out to all kinds of unique and fantastic music (beyond just rock and metal even). So here I share with you some of my favorite Rock/Metal bands, most underrated and of course overrated:

My taste is rather diverse, check my Sputnik music piechart: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/profile.php?name=shiver44


Favorite

Tool - Both Lateralus and Aenima are a near flawless combination of 90s hard rock with 70s progressive rock. Danny Carey's almost tribal drumming style shows a lot of sheer technicality, but that technicality is tempered and controlled so that he doesn't play anything that doesn't fit with what the rest of the band is doing. Maynard James Keenan is the ideal hard rock vocalist in my opinion and can hold notes for a very long time. Both the guitar and bass riffs are engraved in my brain. I could go on and on.

Opeth - Never have I heard a band that could produced the heaviest music I've heard with the most beautiful, sometimes in the same song. Mikael Akerfeldt's vocal range is beyond human and his guitar playing incorporates atypical chords, scales and structures. I have a hard time decided which album I like the most; I say it is a toss-up between Still Life and Ghost Reveries although most would say Blackwater Park.

Underrated

Cynic - This is a recent find of mine. I saw that Traced In Air was metal record of the year all over the net, and yet I couldn't find it anywhere. I was intriqued because they have only made two albums that were 15 years apart. So I ordered it off of Amazon and I was amazed, then I got into Focus which was just as good. I am not sure how to descripe their music, so I suggest you look for yourself.

Anathema - This band went from being a Doom metal band in the early 90s to a sound that sounds like a Roger Waters led Pink Floyd, only darker. Get Judgement, you won't be disappointed.

Dredg - El Cielo is a masterpiece, a concept album based on sleep paralysis. Unusual instrumentation and soaring vocals are what make this album, not to mention that all the songs were produced seperately, so each song has a distinct flair. Think of them as an Alt/Art rock equivalent to Tool.


Abstract

Godspeed You! Black Emperor's F# A# * - This is the soundtrack to the end of the world. The perfect album for a long road trip by yourself. My favorite post-rock album by a mile.

Ulver's Bergatt - A unusual combination of Norwegian black metal and folk music. If you can get past the foreign language then you will enjoy it.

Ophaned Land's Mabool - Progressive metal mixed with female vocalists, middle eastern instruments like the Oud, with vocals sung in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Yemenite and Latin, and songs that progress a story... You can't make this stuff up.

Overrated

Radiohead - While I thought that The Bends, Ok Computer and In Rainbows were good (not great) albums, I think they have earned far too many accolades. Kid A/Amnesiac are an impressive divergence from popular music, but compared to other progressive rock albums are fairly boring. And give me Jeff Buckley's Grace and Dredg's El Cielo over Ok Computer any day. And the thing that kills it for me is Thom Yorke's slurred, mostly unintelligble "singing."

Metallica - I really liked them, but once I delved more into metal I liked them a lot less. I found bands that had better lyrics, better vocalists, faster guitars, talented drummers, etc. Ditch Metallica, get into Nevermore and you won't regret it.

That is my say, but really anything that has a guitar in it is up for discussion from here on out.