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Top 10 Extreme Metal bands
Mine are, in no particular order :
Agalloch Dissection Fen Opeth Katatonia (early) My Dying Bride The Morningside Estatic Fear Godgory Bloodbath |
Zyklon
Opeth Cryptopsy Khold Suffocation Bloodbath Nile Neuraxis Ahab Isis |
Hmm let's see...
Strapping Young Lad I was lucky to discover these guys when I did because had I not I would have most likely dropped out of school. Devy's anger intense lyrics became incredibly cathartic for me, helping me vent my frustration that I found myself constantly surrounded by. Add a little dose of humour for good measure as well as being from the same city as me made CD's easier to find as well as fans. One day I hope to meet Devin and thank him for making such incredibly powerful music to help me when things got too stressful and I needed to bang my head and scream my lungs out. Death If I could obtain at least 10% of Chuck Schuldiner's awesomeness then I'd be perfectly content with my life at that point. Known as the "father of death metal", he fronted the incredibly popular band Death. He sadly died of brain cancer in 2001, three years before I discovered Scream Bloody Gore at a local CD store and was intrigued by the simplicity of the name and the album art. I still hold that their last album, The Sound of Perseverance is their best, even if it does depart from the "traditional" death metal sound. I try and spin some Death albums at least once a month if not more. Enslaved Without a doubt my favourite black metal band that are still going strong and expanding their sound. I have a very "love/hate" relationship with most black metal bands, and have come across many people over the last six years who wear their hatred for black metal on their sleeves (when they're wearing sleeves). I have converted almost all of them into believers that black metal is more than just a bunch of xenophobic pricks. Their 2003 album, Below the Lights was my first black metal album that I heard and kept, and have been sharing it with people ever since. Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson are two of the best musicians of the genre and I hope they continue to make good music for many more years to come. Nevemore Perhaps not the most "extreme" metal band out there in terms of vocals, but they are certainly one of the heaviest I've had the pleasure to hear. Hailing from Seattle, Warrel Dane has done a terrific job keeping Nevermore strong as well as making a dope ass solo album in 2008. Their 2010 album, The Obsidian Conspiracy is currently on my list of anticipated albums and apparently is slated to be released on my 22nd birthday. I still hold their 2nd studio album, The Politics of Ecstasy as their most powerful and still blows my mind whenever I hear it, especially with headphones. With an incredibly close knit line up (something that is a rarity in metal), it really helps in making the albums seem all that more special, to know that these guys can stand each other for nearly 20 years to continue making music. Opeth Probably the most respected extreme metal band out right now and for good measure. Mikhael Akerfeldt has some of the best death vocals I've ever heard, yet his clean vocals are quite amazing too as illustrated on their 2003 album Damnation. It has been my dream to record an album on par with the sound dynamics of Opeth, but I just do not have that solid of a grasp on the technical side of the music that all the members seem to have. They're one of those rare bands that has never released a "bad" album, certainly some have been stronger than others, yet each of them is enjoyable in their own way. I've seen them live once and would be willing to travel to see them again because it was such a powerful performance back in 2006 that literally fucked my hearing up for a week. Hypocrisy I really have to give it to these guys for turning their career around the way they did. When they started out they were nothing more than your typical Swedish death metal band singing songs about Satanism and how Christianity is flawed and full of hypocrites. After booting out their original vocalist, Masse Broberg in 1994 and installing Peter Tagtgren in his place did they begin to see critical achievement. Their subject matter started to drift away from Satanism and into the paranormal and extraterrestrial which really set them apart from A LOT of the competition. They've been going strong ever since with Tagtgren forming his industrial metal side project PAIN as well as starting The Abyss Studio which has recorded some of the biggest names of extreme metal. Their most recent album, A Taste of Extreme Divinity was one of my favourite metal albums of the year and just goes to prove how they've been mastering their sound over the years. Definitely a band I need to see live. Kataklysm Canada has quite a misunderstood metal scene that does not receive much attention from the Canadian mainstream music outlets, and even less from the alternative ones since the Montreal indie rock scene exploded years ago. Regardless of that, there is a bulging metal scene in Canada that has a very dedicated fan base which help keep the bands afloat. Not only that, the bands start to become very intertwined with one and other, sharing gigs, touring with one and other, and promoting each other. Katakylsm is one of the forefront Canadian extreme metal bands to never really make it big. While Cryptopsy has found acceptance amongst a lot of American metal heads, Katakylsm seems to fall short of international acclaim which is sad because of how fucking good they are. Their 2004 album, Serenity in Fire is easily their best, yet it seems to go unheard outside of the Canadian borders. Martin Maurais goes to show us why they're sometimes referred to as "Northern Hyperblast" with his heavy usage of blast beats, which does receive criticism from some, but I still love it. Therion Starting off as a death metal band but turning more into a symphonic metal band later on in their career, they really made the jump from one style to another seem natural, graceful, and elegant. Their orchestral arrangements for their later albums are very strategically placed that add a whole new element to the band and Christofer Johnsson comes across as an incredibly intelligent and interesting man who I'd love to sit down and have a drink with and pick his brain about his thoughts on metal and the world. I was very upset when I found they were playing Vancouver a few years ago and I couldn't go because I was leaving for the UK a week earlier, however along with Hypocrisy, they are a band that I am determined to see live, even if I have to travel to Wacken to do it. Nile Nile were more of a recent breakthrough for me due to their extreme guttural vocals. I had known of them since about 2006, yet whenever I put them on I had to stop after two or three songs because I just could not get into Karl Sanders' singing style. Normally I'm pretty good with the death vocals, but his was extreme to the point where the lyrics could not offer anything concrete because it seemed like every other word was different. However after constant listening a breakthrough seemed to happen earlier in 2008 when I was spinning Ithyphallic and I found myself sort of singing a long. My friend who introduced me to them kept on telling me to keep an ear out for the melodic parts, but it wasn't until that day that I actually heard them. Since then my opinion of Nile has only increased, especially when you really sit down and think... here's a band from South Carolina of all places playing Egyptian themed technical death metal being fronted by a fat white guy who sometimes sings in ancient Egyptian. That's pretty impressive and totally destroys most people's misconceptions about the Southern United States and for that has earned my respect and admiration. Ulver/ Arcturus Sure this may be cheating but I cannot choose between the two as I think they're some of the most intriguing bands from the Norwegian black metal scene. Both bands started at roughly the same time releasing a black metal debut album before departing from the sound to include other styles. Ulver's sophomore album, Kveldssanger was more of a folk album with black metal ambiance in the background and Arcturus' sophomore (Las Masquerade Infernale) was more avant-garde than anything else. As the years passed for both bands their broadened sound really started to develop and their mastery of new sounds was beginning to shine. In 2000, Ulver released Perdition City which was more electronic and ambient with elements of trip-hop than anything else. In 1999, Arcturus released their compilation album Disguised Masters that was far more ambient and electronic than their previous albums and included a "gangstafied" version of "Masters of Disguise" from their previous album. Both bands have since experimented further with different genres, yet here's the kicker, they did them well. To see a Norwegian black metal band put out electronic glitchy sounding albums is quite the feat in and of itself, but for them to actually sound good is something altogether. While Arcturus has shifted back towards more avant-garde sounding metal, they still contain elements of their more experimental earlier material. Both Arcturus and Ulver go to show us that sometimes watching a band change to drastically different styles can have very positive consequences. |
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I am not sure about ten and the genre debacle, but:
1. Death 2. Nile 2. a) Carcass 3. Opeth 4. Emperor 5. Trinacria 6. Opeth 7. Bloodbath 8. Wurzt 9... Im out... Death, Carcass and Nile are streaks ahead of everyone else. |
Nile
Behemoth Immolation Pig Destroyer Converge Immortal Enslaved Anaal Nathrakh Meshuggah Gorguts Except for Anaal, these bands all have kick-butt drummers. |
The Red Chord
with so many technical bands today, these guys are probably the only band i've heard who can truly encompass chaos in their music. Guy's gutteral smoker's vocals add onto the messy riffing and jazzy musicianship making what i can only attribute to a mental patient's nightmare. hell, their second album was based on the singer's experience working for a mental hospital. definately one of, if not my favorite extreme band. Superjoint Ritual one of the first really heavy bands i ever heard. while it may have just been a side project for Phil Anselmo, i would listen to Use Once or Destroy over any Pantera record any day. the riffs are at the same time sludgy and thrashing making a sludge/hardcore punk hybrid which throughout the aforementioned album barely lets up in its heaviness. Phil's vocals on here are in my opinion better than he was in Pantera, releasing all sorts of rage and brutality in a way i never thought could have been before. Cryptopsy this band takes technicality and calculating their music to such an extreme that i can only be at awe in their prescence. i'm not a stickler for technicality either, but with a band like this, the level in which they craft their songs are astonishing. and while i still am trying to comprehend many of their songs, just trying to figure it out is fun and exciting in itself. Death one of the first, and one of the best. Chuck Schuldiner's vision to take heavyness to the nth degree and at the same time up the musicianship and add some experimentation, making a sound and feel that alot of other bands today wished they could be. god bless this band, for without them this music would never be the same. Behemoth i'm not that into Black Metal. sometimes it would feel as if some of the bands are more about their image than making good music. still, that doesn't stop me from trying to find some music there that i may like. enter Behemoth. from the vocals, instrumentation and overall sound, this trio can fuck shit up like nobody's business. Between The Buried And Me i know, i know, there's plenty of times and songs where they're not extreme, maybe even where they're just soft, but let me tell you. when they get heavy, they get REALLY HEAVY. songs like Sun of Nothing, Alaska, and Ad a Dglgmut can rival many death, black, technical, and overall extreme bands out there. Necrophagist i was very surprised when i first heard these guys, in how they not only kept the heaviness and death metal attributes, but crafted their music with such melodicism and precision. you'd imagine that and emphasis on coherant instrumentation would lower the tone of their music to not being as heavy, but surprisingly enough they don't falter. Napalm Death while i'm not the biggest grindcore fan and truthfully not a big fan of their earlier records, one thing in this group that really drew me to these guys was one thing. Barney. ****ing. Greenway. i swear to god when i first heard him it sounded like the Apocalypse getting punched in the gut by the fist of God. the rest of the band, especially in that incarnation, really backs it up and themselves bring some kickass riffage and heaviness to the table. Meshuggah these guys have formed and perfected a style, and while i do admit, not every song is gold, their more recent work shows a growth and evolution in songwriting which still keeps it's trademark calculated groove while exploring new ground. Strapping Young Lad FUCKING. WALL. OF SOUND. not just that, but also Devin Townsend's vocals. this is the only time i feel that i can listen to music so fast and so hard hitting with vocals that are actually clean and coherant. not saying clean vocals are bad, but for this type of music i would never expect to be as into them as i would be for SYL. i know some of these don't necessarily fit the style, but do feel that many of these bands have extreme enough tendencies to warrant being on the list. |
It would be nice if everyone followed Loathsome Pete's lead and actually say WHY you like these bands instead of posting a list of bands that is fuck boring to read.
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ok then, just edited my original post.
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Can someone define extreme metal for me?
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^ I think all you need to realize is it's created by musicians that are seeking to exceed the speed, complexity, heaviness and the general badass nature of what preceded it.
Let me talk about Nile for a moment. Starting with the drummer, George Kollias who utilizes a variety of techniques such a blast beats, double bass, abuses the snare, and does phenomenal classic rock fills and rolls, all at unprecedented speeds and heaviness. He may sound like noise to a lot of people, but I think George has elevated drumming to a whole new level . The guitarist Karl Sanders, is equally amazing. Instead of being melodic, he's got this totally brutal and atonal style that sounds like he's torturing his guitar has he strangles the neck, squeezing out these wailing sounds as if the guitar is screaming for help, which only results in him abusing it some more, and creating even louder wails of despair. Now when you have these two virtuosos going at it full blast, poly-rhythms are constantly created, mutating and evolving, creating some very interesting music. There’s a lot of discussion about how fast and heavy Nile plays, but they also have this incredibility ability to slow down and create great atmosphere, space and depth in their music. The dynamic range they display, IMO is unprecedented. |
I'm going to come up with a 'fuck boring' list for now and fill in a little detail, then try to come back when I have more time.
Bathory Aside from being among the greatest songwriters in the history of metal, they basically created the classic black metal sound and Blood Fire Death is easily one of the greatest black metal albums ever, if not the greatest. It builds on all the power and intricacy of Ride the Lightning era Metallica and takes it to a new level of chaotic fury. Venom They were the first extreme metal band, so that counts for something, but they were also good at writing catchy riffs and I think they set a good precedent for the genre by playing really sloppy and imprecise - it gives extreme metal a certain charm it wouldn't otherwise have. Morbid Angel As far as ugly, dissonant songwriting goes, MA are the masters of it. Their songs are almost always interesting in terms of structure and riffwork, and work on a level of creepiness that few bands can manage. Azagthoth is an incredible guitarist with a style all his own, possibly the closest any guitarist has ever come to making his instrument sound like the very wails of the damned. With all the bizarre twists and turns he puts in his solos, they seem to just pull one's brain apart slowly. Unbelievably talented band overall. Other bands I'd rank up there as well: * Darkthrone * Dimmu Borgir * Opeth * Emperor Quote:
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Extreme Metal = Grindcore, Death & Metal, mostly.
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^^^ wrong. Therion's early death metal work is widely acclaimed. It's even on the ANUS list of best death metal releases ever. They were absolutely wonderful at channeling Celtic Frost. ....anyways Repulsion, the one album they released remains one of the best albums I ever heard. While the songs are rather formulaic, the riffs are just amazing. The fusion of Discharge and Celtic Frost is classic and manages to be unique, as I've never heard a band that sounds like them. Deicide, the first three albums are simply terrific and seemingly set the template for the Florida sound. As a rule, I don't trust any "best-of" list that doesn't include one of their first 3 albums. Burzum, I know, I know. He's a NAZI. He's a murderer. He's an arsonist. The impact he had on _ALL_ genres of metal is simply stunning - he was instrumental in moving extreme metal beyond a contest of who's heavier, faster, etc... Incantation, again, they manage to go beyond the blast beat. A terrific mix of doom and death momentum with killer black metal riffs. Their debut, "Onward to Golgotha" and the later "Diabolical Conquest" are classics. Demilich, nevermind the evil-frog vocals. More intelligent than anything done by Ulver and Agolloch, while completely lacking in pretension and pointless aesthetics. You can download the entire album free from the band's website, too. Blasphemy, I had trouble choosing between them and Sarco***o. As I listen to Blasphemy more, I went with them... a wonderful band who had a strong influence on many of todays greatest acts, namely Black Witchery, Order from Chaos, Revenge, Angelcorpse, etc. Watchmaker, **** the Redchord, metalcore, Agalloch, and every other band that thinks innovation means cheap changes in aesthetics and noting how your band used antlers for percussion. This Discordance Axis influenced band is innovation. Cryptic Slaughter, my favorite cross over band... wonderful musicianship, great energy, and everytime I listen to them I can't help but think Napalm Death used their template for song structures on Scum and FETO. CELTIC FROST!!! Oh lawdy... they are beyond description: Blood, eh, not very well known... I don't think they ever played a show outside of Germany in their 20+ years. Simple, riff-worship grindcore. Of the first wave grindcore bands, they are unique in they - unlike Napalm Death and Carcass - never changed, they just improved. I couldn't find anything off the "Depraved Goddess" album, but this song should get the idea across. |
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^ Exactly. Just look at the Ramones. :laughing:
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Some very good lists here.
I am a death metal lover, so my list has a lot of bands of that genre. Tech death too. But don't get discouraged if you don't really like the genre much as every band listed here is very unique, amazing, awesome, and worth a listen :). In no particular order: Death This band is one of my favorites. This band tops many other death metal bands in the following ways: 1) amazing guitar rif***e! There are some awesome riffs in the band, varying from intensely technical to extremely melodic. One thing about this band is Death, despite being a fairly technical metal band, does not sound like pure noise. There are some awesome guitar solos as well. Another reason I feel this band tops many other death metal bands is that Schuldiner's vocals are very unique - instead of the stereotypical death metal growl, Schuldiner uses a more of a "scream/growl" style (without sounding like garbage which is very hard to do). Most of the lyrics are also amazing (particularly from the album Individual Thought Patterns). Some highlights: Without Judgement, Sacred Serenity, The Philosopher, Crystal Mountain. Nile Nile has a very unique sound to them, mainly due to them having a lot of influence from Egyptian music. This band is also fairly "progressive" without being too over the top. Nile's music is definitely brutal - from crushing power cords (and even bar cords - who would have thought), to brutally fast playing, all the way to even ambient music in some parts (the Egyptian style greatly complements this area). The lyrics are also fairly good, in that they still have the "brutal" themes behind them that most stereotypical death metal does, but instead of sounding like everybody else Nile adds Egyptian influence to the lyrical writing. Some highlights: Lashed to the Slave Stick (very fast playing, with an amazing melodic-feel to it makes this one of my faves), Unas Slayer of the Gods (very epic song, ambience, brutality, everything in 1 - long though), Black Seeds of Vengeance (awesome song with a catchy chorus at the end). Cryptopsy Ah.. Cryptopsy. Where to start... Well there's not much to say about this band other than that they are awesome. You really have to listen to their music (multiple times) to really understand how awesome they are. This band is extremely technical, but they are also very unique. This band just spits brutality in your face, rips your heart out, and then kicks you in the crotch... over and over and over again. But, amazingly, you find that your ears are still fully intact and you just cannot get enough of them. Some highlights: everything from their earlier albums. (Don't listen to their newest album! It is horrible!) Atheist Atheist is another band that is insanely technical and progressive. They also have a very unique sound to them, most likely due to their awesomeness and influence from jazz music. Their lyrics are also very good. I guess they could be called "technical death metal", but they are really more "technical jazzy thrashy deathy amazing metal" and it all fits together perfectly. Slayer I love Slayer, they were one of my first "extreme metal" bands (along with Children of Bodom.. if you call them "extreme"..) and remain to this day one of my faves. Most of you probably know what Slayer sounds like, so I won't go into much detail other than that they are super fast, thrashy, and have guitar wankery to the max. (READ: OLD SLAYER) Seasons of the Abyss is a nice album to listen to if you don't really like their early-er albums, that album is amazing in that Slayer stays "Slayer" except they are slightly more melodic and have less guitar wankery and more good solos. Meshuggah I just recently got into this band, and I have found them good enough to include in this list. This band is very strange. The strange thing about them is they are basically "groove metal", but without the simplicity - in other words, very good. They are surprisingly technical without being a pile of random wankery and fast rif***e put together with varying tempos and time signatures. Their rhythm playing is some of the best I have heard in metal. I only listened to "Chaosphere" but I am sure their other albums (hopefully) are just as good. They do get a tad repetitious (mostly because they are basically tech groove, if thats even a genre, with little actual lead playing), but this is just a minor setback. Suffocation Suffocation is an awesome band, especially if you are in love with death metal like I am. One of the best things about this band is the insane drumming - it never gets repetitious, and the drummer is very skilled.. he leads into different tempos perfectly, and it just sounds so natural. Opeth Opeth. Many of you probably know of them, and they are a definite inclusion in this list - even if they get little playing nowadays on my music player. The reason is is that they are insanely progressive, and have very long song lengths, so you really need to be in an "Opeth" mood. The great things about this band are their awesome acoustic guitar parts, which meld perfectly with the electric guitar rif***e, and the vocals which are very varied - but not in a bad Killswitch Engage kind of way. (Oh gawd I just mentioned Killswitch in a write up about Opeth..) I think I'm going to go listen to some Opeth now. Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is awesome. Listen. They are very comparable to Death in many ways. The guitar riffs have an amazingly epic feel, while being crushingly brutal at the same time. Very very very good band. Decapitated Another tech death band, and also a very good inclusion. This band is insanely technical, but they are not so "noisy" as Cryptopsy and rather have a melodic sound to the riffs (or maybe they just sound awesome, I don't know :hphones:). |
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Too many to choose from!
There are too many good bands for me to rank them, but here are some that I'm loving at the moment (in no order):
Convulse Skelethal Bleeding Fist Centurian Cemetery Fog Melhkebre Dodsferd Fuoco Fatuo Acid Witch Nunslaughter (these guys are bringing out another album soon!) Neige et Noirceur Satanic Warmaster Teitanblood Spectral Lore Vardan Gallow God |
What exactly constitutes "extreme metal" Is it just Death/Black metal & metal/grind core, or does include thrash metal bands, Slayer? early metallica? Crust punk?
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