Personally, I love the old stuff and the new stuff. Old being Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Pantera, etc. and the new stuff being Linkin Park, Slipknot, POD, etc. I like both genres, but other diehard metalheads think I’m selling out for liking the new stuff. What’s up with that?
Just in the past month I’ve bought:
Past Lives - Black Sabbath
Linkin Park - Reanimation
POD
Who reissue
And I enjoy them all.
Your thoughts…
My primary qualm with Mallcore (no “metal” around here) is how the bands and fans claim to be “metal” yet they don’t respect the founders of actual metal.
The bands are in heavy rotation on Total Request Live yet the fans think their on the fringe of the “underground” music scene or something.
I would almost liken Mallcore to Glam Metal in their relationship to Heavy Metal. The difference here is that most Glam Metal bands could actually play guitar. These Mallcore bands don’t know how to play a solo. THe bass player, by order of the Mallcore gods, most hunch all the way over his instrument and be sure to have his eyebrow piereced. Every Mallcore band is derivative of Korn. I don’t like Korn but at least they started something original.
I’m glad real heavy metal is in the underground. I can see my favorite bands at clubs that hold 400 and I can enjoy music created with genuine musical integrity. Real Metal bands these days sure as hell arent in it for the money if you know what I mean.
At bottom, all that matters is what you like. Metal is inherently anti-trendy, though, so you’re always gonna get some people bitching at you if you like what’s popular. IMHO, disliking something because it’s popular is only three letters different from liking something because it’s popular.
Mallcore can be entertaining, and there will probably be some decent albums out of it. But so much of it is uninspired crap put out by somebody doing that brand-new thing to make money.
Additionally, a lot of mallcore bands sound like they’ve never listened to anything other than Metallica and Korn. Good metal should draw on a lot of influences and different styles.
If you can’t tell, I’m solidly in the old-school and underground camp. There’s some honest-to-God talent and vision there.
I grew up on Sepultura, Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Ministry etc… and, at the begining, nu-metal had something that I liked. I always loved the break downs in older metal where the rythm was lead by the drums and not the guitars. I hope that makes sense. I prefer drum driven metal over guitar driven. I am a guitar player myself and nothing makes me shiver more than a tight break down with lots of stop and go beats from the entire band. Shred was never really my thing. I always, even before Korn, liked detuned metal much more than standard tunings because it just sounded heavier.
Then came nu-metal.
All the sudden every single song by every single band was like on long break down with detuned guitars. First Korn, then any number of wannabes. I personally cannot stand much of the crap on the radio right now because it all sounds the same. So instead of going into a long diatribe about why I think metal needs to be reinvented again I will give you some opions on some of the bands out right now.
Slipknot - By far the best “Nu-Metal” band of the last 5 years. They are not even really nu metal, but they are lumped in with the rest of the groups as such. These guys are as close to “Pop Death Metal” as the world has gotten. Joey Jordison is the best metal drummer on the scene since Igor Cavalera and he just so happens to play in a popular band. Anyone who tells you these guys aren’t heavy is just putting up a front to sound cool.
Disturbed- Can’t stand the vocalist because he acts like he is gods gift to metal. Rest of the band is pretty decent though.
Staind - Blows. Hate the vocalits with a passion. Too much “Mommy didn’t love me and I suck” in his lyrics.
Limp Bizkit - … moving on.
Korn - These guys are showing thier age. They just aren’t relevant anymore. Everything they did and do has been done to death for the last 4 years. Time to hang it up and go out with a little grace. They definitely made their mark though.
Linkin Park - I think these guys are the worst of the nu metal bunch. I don’t bitch about them too much though because I think they are geared more towards 13-16 year olds than adults so I can’t really have a sold opinion on them since I am 26.
Papa Roach - Another band that is a victim of its vocalist. They suck hard mainly because he sucks hard. I will admit though, what I have heard of the new album they do sound better than their old one.
POD - Mediocre. I give them props mainly because of the fact that they sing about different subject matters than other bands. Still mediocre though.
Adema - I wrote these guys off right when they came out because I thought that the singer was riding the coat tails of his brother in Korn. But after a while they started growing on me.
Nickleback - Not nu metal but I have to say I can’t wait till they release a new album. Not because I really like them, but because I am tired of hearing the same 3 songs over and over on the radio.
Most talented metal band on the radio today: Sevendust
Least talented metal band on the radio today: Linkin Park
Best metal band of all time: Pre Black album Metallica
Worst metal band of all time: Anal Cunt
Most successful Ministry ripoff band of all time: Static-X
Most underappreciated radio metal band: Marilyn Manson
Tuesday the 24th Living Sacrifices new CD comes out. Check that out for a surely great album. Also check out Killswitch Engage for something new.
Oh, I forgot.
Most overrated Metal Band on the radio today: Tool
Close runner up: Disturbed
NuMetal is, for the most part, much easier to play then old metal. NuMetal is less complex and slower. It generally has no or really simple solos unlike old metal that often has fast, complicated, incredibly hard to play solos. In other words, in general, it takes much less skill to play NuMetal. It could even be argued that NuMetal has less melodic content than old metal and therefore it easier to create (less talent needed). More than likely though, many NuMetal musicians are old metal musicians cashing in on a trend.
I think it comes down to the fact that the vast majority of everything is crap. While a lot of Nu-Metal is unoriginal and derivative (thanks to it’s new found TRL status) it has been around for a while and buried in all the dregs are a few absolute gems.
Personally my favourite new metal bands are :
[ul]
[li]Deftones - and they have a new album out soon![/li][li]Boyhitscar - None of the “I hate that bitch” lyrics which really give Nu Metal a bad name. An amazing vocalist too.[/li][li]System of a Down - They’re the new RAtM, not musically but in terms of putting political messages in their music[/li][li]Incubus - Their earlier stuff is great (S.C.I.E.N.C.E and Make Yourself specifically) but their last album didn’t do wonders for me though.[/li][/ul]
Hey, I like Tool. But I haven’t bought anything of theirs except for Undertow. I’ve long ago solved this problem of listening to crap: stop listening to the radio! 
Haven’t turned it on (except for NPR, and barely even then) since, oh… I think 1987?
Incubus, I have Make Yourself which I enjoyed, but I don’t know that I’d call it metal.
Old school Slayer does it for me. Reign in Blood and South of Heaven are, for me, the ultimate metal albums. And King Diamond’s Abigail and Them. Never heard anything since then that I’ve really enjoyed, though I was a big Metallica fan until the black album.
Lockfist’s third paragraph pretty much sums it up for me. Especially “Every Mallcore band is derivative of Korn.” I never like Korn and I don’t like their ‘children’. To be fair a lot of it is about money, chicks, and popularity. Who do something new and different when you stand a greater chance of success by slightly adapting what is ‘proven’. I was around for the hair bands for the 80’s and it was the same situation back then. Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Warrant, Autograph = Slipknot, Static-X, Skrape, Deftones. To find anything worth listening to you have turn off the TV and tune into some Metal related newsgroups or boards. Be skeptical of anything a 13 year old touts as the best metal CD of all time.
I just got a CD shipment from CM so what the hell. Here is the shipment I got a few days ago.
Dark Tranquility - Damage Done
Katatonia - Tonight’s Decision
Sentenced - Cold White Light
Borknagar - The Archaic Course
The Gathering - Mandylion
Kotipelto - Waiting for the Dawn
Avernus - Where the Sleeping Shadows Lie
My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River + Dynamo Live '95
Avantasia - The Metal Opera
Bathory - Twilight Of The Gods
NP: The Gathering - Mandylion
Maiden, Maiden, Maiden.
Having grown up during the British wave of heavy metal, let me say this: there were alot of good bands around, and there was alot more bad bands. I mean really bad, copy-cat bands, also glam metal. I would say the same thing is true today. Usually the bad stuff floats to the top, meaning radio.
“Nu-metal” hmmmmf…
All these Korn / Limp Whatever / Distrurbed fanboys out there don’t even give credit where it’s due. Every single one of these “nu-metal” bands are desperately trying to mimic Faith No More circa 1992. Even the lead singer of Slipknot sites Mike Patton (former FNM frontman) as his sole motivation for becoming a singer. Of course the biggest difference is that FNM could actually PLAY their instruments. They basically invented the genre ten years ago and grew board with it before Fred Durst was old enough to shave. Okay… that enough ranting for now 
For the curious, what are some good metal boards/newsgroups?
Go to www.lambgoat.com Best on the web for up and coming metal.
Ok, I was a big FNM fan and I think you are dead wrong here. They didn’t show any better skills than Slipknot on their albums. They were a great band, that is true. I disagree with the majority and will say that I don’t think they were revolutionary in any way. Mike Patton is just an all around cool guy and has sung in so many different styles (Brujeria anyone?) that he is a role model in metal vocals.
As far as saying that Slipknot doesn’t have talent, I will say that the guitar players in SK are avg, but Joey Jordison brings down the house for that band. Without him they would be nothing.
I enjoyed the Opeth group called Nectar. The other place I sometimes go for metal info is the printed zine Lamentations of the Flame Princess. LotFP is really cheap and has huge volumes of reviews. I see they now have a group here (don’t know how good it is but I suspect it is ok). If you can’t find what you need at one of these places you can probably finds links to a places that can help you. Lots of other metal related websites out there as well, the record labels are a good place to start.
NP: Kotipelto - Waiting for the Dawn
Think of SDMB but with people who like metal. Very little flaming going on, and those are the trolls.
As for the OP I like all sorts of stuff, though it has to melodic so the crap on the radio doesn’t do it for me one bit. When was the last time you heard Savatage, Maiden, Gamma Ray, Nightwish, Virgin Steele etc on the radio? Never. Metal has always been underground for the most part with few exceptions and it always will be.