I really like the way gojira is heading. Maybe slightly more melodic than before? Idk but it’s badass
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K my new metal thoughts
Architects have been going soft for a whole. Their newest album is a dramatic shift tone. Next album they’ll pull a bmth (Bring Me The Horizon) and go pop. I was never a fan of bring me The Horizon to begin with, but amongst my demographic people who like heavy metal are very difficult to come across, those who are into alternative music typically listen to BMTH, pierce the veil etc. I’ll take what I can get.
BMTH’s albums evolved like this
Death metal/deathcore → deathcore/metalcore → metalcore → metalcore/electronic music → pop/nu metal → pop → metalcore/industrial music
The first album from BMTH was actually more akin to death metal than it was pop, their most recent release has gone back to metalcore/industrial metal as opposed to pop.
Another band that appears to be going soft to my dismay is beartooth. A hardcore punk powerhouse has gone from this
To this
Is it bad? No, a shift to melodic hardcore/pop punk is okay I guess, if they can amass new listeners perhaps some will go back to the old stuff and think “woah” and as a result I’ll have people to talk about it with. But mark my words they’ll go pop sooner or later under the guise of “sound maturation” despite dumbing down lyrical content and musical complexion.
Bands like heathen, pig destroyer never went soft. Lamb of God changed their sound but never went “soft”
Lamb of God back in the day under the band name “burn the priest” a black metal/hardcore punk crossover
Lamb of God in the middle of the tracks
Melodic death/groove/thrash metal with a tinge of metalcore
Lamb of God a little bit later after another sound shift
Thrash/groove metal
Lamb of God now
Groove metal/thrash metal
This is how one can evolve sound in my opinion without coming across as a sellout or compromising musical integrity.
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Another prime example of “going soft” is veil of maya (although not nearly to the extent architects or bmth). EP and first 2 albums were unique and crushing… Eclipse was pushing the limit of what they once were, and now they’re pretty standard djent/core.
Marc still has a super unique playing style when I comes to the guitar but isn’t allowed to shine as much as he once was… Also, I don’t know the name of the new vocalist but the shit is super generic now. They used to be my favorite band, and their first 2 full length releases are still top 20 all time for me. As much as I’ve tried I just can’t get into their new stuff.
Misery signals is my pick for a band that organically evolved, got better, and didn’t ruin themselves. Their releases IMO are linearly graphed from outstanding to near perfection. Such an amazing progression and talent in every single one of them from first release to their most recent.
From this
To this
To this
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It’s interesting, initially architects evolved from mathcore to metalcore. After the lead singer died they took the leap from metalcore to progressive metalcore. It was a killer album, but not “heavy” akin to previous releases.
Then they started releasing singles like “animals” and “black lungs” and I was like “what the fuck?”
Other examples of bands that went reaaallly soft
- all that remains
- asking Alexandria (though I reckon they’re actually better off softer, never liked them aside from their newest hard rock style album)
- born Of Osiris is in the process of going soft
- suicide silence released a really shitty nu metal album at one point.
- Memphis May Fire
- machine head (like… Why? Their catharsis album sucked, nor was it commercially viable).
Also, as we are talking metalcore (misery signals)
There’s another contender I’ll throw in the rings for a very plausible downgrade. While she sleep; they’ve had a recent hiccup with “so what”, I didn’t like this album aside from a few one hit wonders confined within a barrage of nu metal and “pop metal” singles. They’ve evolved their sound however, and in doing so they appear to have pulled it off without losing a large portion of their initial fanbase.
I’ll admit, their newer songs aren’t bad; but to me they’re not of the same quality comparative to the bangers they initially had from “the north stands for nothing” through to “brainwashed”.
From this
To this
To this
To this
(Didn’t like this album)
To this
They’ve changed their sound, incorporating elements from numerous genres as opposed to their initialised, strictly fundamentalist “hardcore/metalcore” sound. At the same time they’ve done so without releasing a hot pile of garbage like the new “meteor” album from architects
Are you a fan of “Thats the spirit” Album?
I agree about the softer approach they have taken but I was actually a fan of that album, even know I few people I know despised it
Full thread for detailed explanations. Frankly, I’m dissappointed how little mention Julian the Apostate got…
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Karnivool and Pendulum are Perth’s finest exports
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23 years later, back to the sound of their roots… Damn this brings me memories. Their singer wrote a song for our black metal band 10 years ago ahah
Another one!!!
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bruh, the Australian prog-metal scene is bananas … Plini, Caligula’s Horse, Karnivool, Ne Obliviscaris … Haven’t listened to Pendulum though
Polish black metal with lyrics in Old Church Slavonic
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Technical heavy metal with funny (?) lyrics from my fellow countrymen. A criminally underrated band.
The first music I fell in love with was 80’s hair metal bands. Progressed into punk rock and straight edge hardcore when I became an angry teenager. As I have gotten older I listen to almost anything but majority of what gets played, especially in the gym, is post-hardcore/metal-core/screamo
^ Favorite punk bands that I’ve been listening to since high school
I can’t wait for shows to start up again. These guys and Strung Out were the last show I went to before the covid shit started.