Your Top 50 Albums

The Batlord · 03-28-2017, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Bjorn Strid is a great vocalist. Way better than what most melodic death metal groups have to work with. For a guy who likes his Katy Perry hooks I'm surprised you hate 'em.

Their hooks have just never stuck in me that much. And their sound is so watered down, stale, and polite that you can almost hear the producer turning the nobs down, and that goes double for the singer. If I want poptastic melodeath then I'll go to Clayman.

The Identity Matrix · 03-28-2017, 11:43 AM

Alright I'll throw this up on here. This is a rough draft and more of a representation of the genres I have been listening to frequently. I'm still relatively young so I have yet to digest a lot of fantastic albums out there.

I think I may post updates to this every once in a while

The Batlord · 03-28-2017, 12:38 PM

Niiiiice. Hella props on Slaughter of the Soul, Colors, Bathory, and Bonded by Blood. And other stuff, but we have too much crossover for me to list it all.

The Identity Matrix · 03-28-2017, 01:09 PM

Thanks man. You and a bunch of other guys on the metal threads introduced me to quite a few of these. Generally speaking these albums made an immediate impression on me and continued to get better with each subsequent listen. I think I may have put colors a little low though. I also wanted to ask you about your thoughts on Slaughter of the Soul. I have recently been seeing major criticism of the record for it being too poppy or over polished. I am assuming you do not share these thoughts?

The Batlord · 03-28-2017, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Identity Matrix

Thanks man. You and a bunch of other guys on the metal threads introduced me to quite a few of these. Generally speaking these albums made an immediate impression on me and continued to get better with each subsequent listen. I think I may have put colors a little low though. I also wanted to ask you about your thoughts on Slaughter of the Soul. I have recently been seeing major criticism of the record for it being too poppy or over polished. I am assuming you do not share these thoughts?

It gets a lot of hate because of all the ****ty metalcore and melodic death metal bands that were somewhere down the road influenced by it. It was a watershed album for a dubious subgenre or two and gets treated unfairly by many as a result.

But as for actual criticisms of the album, I mean yeah it's more polished than a lot of metal, with slicker production than is the norm for many bands, and the songwriting has been pretty streamlined from their beginnings as a death metal band, but those are its strengths. The production is oppressive and mechanical, making it even more nihilistic than it would have been with a more straightforward production job; and the songwriting is pretty brilliant as it takes the aesthetics of extreme metal and arrives somewhere near thrash, except whereas thrash going for death metal generally tries to sound extra raw and obnoxious, At the Gates going from extremeness to melodicism gives them sort of an interesting assbackwards approach which achieves brutality while accentuating the more accessible aspects of metal. But god forbid extreme metal not sound like back alley chainsaw surgery.

And regardless of what people may think of the aesthetics of the album, the songs are simply top notch. So **** all that ****.

The Identity Matrix · 03-28-2017, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

It gets a lot of hate because of all the ****ty metalcore and melodic death metal bands that were somewhere down the road influenced by it. It was a watershed album for a dubious subgenre or two and gets treated unfairly by many as a result.

But as for actual criticisms of the album, I mean yeah it's more polished than a lot of metal, with slicker production than is the norm for many bands, and the songwriting has been pretty streamlined from their beginnings as a death metal band, but those are its strengths. The production is oppressive and mechanical, making it even more nihilistic than it would have been with a more straightforward production job; and the songwriting is pretty brilliant as it takes the aesthetics of extreme metal and arrives somewhere near thrash, except whereas thrash going for death metal generally tries to sound extra raw and obnoxious, At the Gates going from extremeness to melodicism gives them sort of an interesting assbackwards take on the sound.

And regardless of what people may think of the aesthetics of the album, the songs are simply top notch. So **** all that ****.

Couldn't agree more. I appreciate you giving your opinion.

The Batlord · 03-28-2017, 01:27 PM

And Tomas Lindberg is one of the greatest and most expressive extreme metal singers ever.

Neapolitan · 03-28-2017, 02:13 PM

The Identity Matrix · 03-28-2017, 02:19 PM

A lot of fantastic records on that list. I love that The Strokes are on there.

Neapolitan · 03-28-2017, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Identity Matrix

A lot of fantastic records on that list. I love that The Strokes are on there.

Thanks.

What other albums on the list do you like?