The Metal Thread Genre • Page 363

Now is that Sumerian’s fault or Darkest Hour’s?

 

if you're going to @ me and call me out after a lovely Easter weekend, at least make it about something I remember posting.

 

Digging this Dawn of Demise record WAY more than I expected I would.

 

VoM is/was Sumerian's greatest star imo. Last two albums were not my thing but Mark Okubo is a gem of a metal guitarist.

 

darkest hour's s/t isn't THAT bad. I wasn't feeling it when it first came out but I've come to enjoy it more since then. Given how abrupt the shift in their sound was (and then the shift back on the next LP when they moved to Southern Lord), I think it's pretty safe to say Sumerian is to blame for their sound on that record.

Even if I didn't like that album I'd still take it over about 99% of that label's output any day.

 

a lot of folks forget that btbam is on sumerian too

 

BTBAM isn't good anymore tho

 

Incorrect

 

we've had this discussion so many times in this thread over the last few years.

my repeated take: btbam is a talented band. alaska and colors are all time greats to me. the silent circus is close behind. the self-titled has some great tracks on it too (shevanel cut a flip - OOOF). everything else they've put out since then has been an exemplary display on their talent and creativity, they started to lose me with the great misdirect on. they've kind of fallen into the dream theater category for me now - great musicians, but i'm not a fan of their songwriting.

 

Let’s just put it this way: Metal is a very a loose term when it comes to BTBAM and when people stop calling them that it makes it a lot easier to enjoy. I have enjoyed everything they have done throughout their career but I know that is not the general consensus in this thread.

 

Truthfully then, what label would you apply to them then? Progressive? I can't think of a label other than metal to describe BTBAM.

 

I don’t think of bands like BTBAM, Dream Theater or Devin Townsend as “Metal” in the traditional sense.

But as I said, I don’t talk about them much in here because I know people aren’t fond of them but that’s okay!

 

From my perspective, talk away about them if you want. I won't have much to contribute beyond comments similar to what I said above and snark. But if it's a metal band or metal-adjacent band, they have their place in this thread. Just as long as it doesn't get as bad as any of the Thrice threads on this site.

 

That thread can’t be saved unfortunately and anything is better than that.

 

I 100% agree their direction and songwriting now is just simply not my thing, but not in any way a reflection of the immense talent it takes to do what they do. Writing a 15 minute anything, let alone a metal song, is amazing to me. I can just only listen to noodling for so long before I'm like okay I feel like my brain is turning to scrambled eggs and I have to switch to something a bit more straightforward.

Alaska is a masterpiece.
The Silent Circus/Colors are amazing.
The best way to enjoy this band now is to catch them live.

 

BTBAM is pretty much a progressive metal/rock act like Dream Theater at this point and that’s totally fine, it was the natural progression for them. They’re an insanely talented band and I’d rather them go for their potential than regurgitate their past.

 

New shit from Darkthrone.

 

they're not on the archives, so they're not metal

/s

 

FFO speed metal with some punk undertones ala Speedwolf, Midnight, High on Fire

 

Well then there is your answer folks! The holy grail of metal has spoken!!!

 

That artwork is fantastic

 

Anyone needing any heavy metal inspired by Manilla Road, I finally listened to the Iron Griffin album that came out a month ago:

Also, some good death/crust FFO Mammoth Grinder and Gatecreeper. I think they're releasing an album this year: