i haven't heard the first one, but alaska was pretty crappy, it sort of made the same impression i got from listening to the second the bled album, pass the flask is so fucking cool, then the newer one is so generic, they sound like fall out boy.

stereotyp gets repped!!! more bm fun is you still haven't checked this out: http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/top10/10blackmetal.html

Motorhead is the greatest along with (early) Black Sabbath. Before Dio.

I really like black sabbath. I actually learned the entire song "Faeries Wear Boots" on guitar. Great song!

dio is awesome!!!!!!

i can't really say if dio solo is metal, sabbath with dio is certainly metal. rainbow is like heavy rock n' roll or something.

What abt Judas Priest then? Painkiller has got like one of the best openings ever, and that twin guitar attack; man.... :)

judas priest are awesome, i wasn't really into them because i always thought they weren't that heavy or that good, but man they are awesome, i mean, sad wings of destiny, wow!!! but their output is very irregular, some of their albums are holy fuck good and some are super crappy, (turbo, or at least the song turbo lover is one of the funniest songs ever recorded, though) i saw them on their reunion tour and they looked like 100 years old but sounded amazing anyway.

since this is the metal thread, i have to ask

maiden or priest?

Priest mos def for me....not really a Maiden fan.

Can't really choose really... It's like asking Sonic Youth or Radiohead...

I don't regularly listen to either, but it's probably the metal question.

Judas Priest has more memorable anthems than Iron Maiden does. They were the first "proper" metal band & due to Rob Halford's penchant for S&M regalia, they invented the look of metal as well. And they came from Birmingham, just like Sabbath did.

As musicians, Iron Maiden do trump them, however, & it was really them that first really popularized heavy metal as a genre.

The 4-part vh-1 documentary series "Heavy: The Story of Metal" makes mention of these tidbits (& many more) & also names Black Sabbath as the godfathers. My own two cents is that Black Sabbath were the first really known band to have both a heavy sound & a dark image, but The Who & Led Zeppelin were catalysts as well. Zeppelin are (naturally) named as an influence or counter-influence by many of the metal bands in the documentary, but The Who gets snubbed completely. There was not even one mention of them in any of the episodes.

The show asserts that Judas Priest were the first band to play "all metal, all the time" because the influence of blues rock can still be felt in Sabbath.

no contest whatsoever...Sonic Youth, of course.

Yeah, well, Iron Maiden, then...

Unfortunately, I am a fan of both...

I'm been getting more into hardcore / metal lately. I've been listening to a lot of Sigh, Boris, SunnO))), hot cross Sleeping Pilot, and Khanate lately. I'm really anxious to listen to ROBE, which board member does this project?

Black Sabbath is also amazing, I've been meaning to pick up an album by them but I don't know which one to get. Let me know which one I should invest in

A forum search should turn up the answer to that question.

priest. but maiden had better album covers.

and for the record, i like metallica's black album. i don't understand all the snobbery and fuss. i never bought any post-black album stuff, but i thought the album was good.

id pick maiden...

like some metal but not a lot.

listening to mastodon first time now and they're not bad at all

dragonforce pwns

vocals suck though

ASTONIC PARK! I PM'ed him asking him if he dresses as grim reapers during shows. Those shits are cool.

sorry guys, best bassist in metal is just Steve Di Giorgio. Can't deny the cold hard fact.

I'm actually really into Converge. Their latest album "no heroes" sounds more like noise than guitar and screaming.

Bumped - am currently listening to Unearthly Trance's "Electrocution" CD for the first time tonight, and so far it's been excellent. Highly recommend if you like your sludge-doom.

Anyone else here picked up any good metal recently?

metal ive been digging lately (ive always been into metal, but theres always a few bands who are rocking me more than others):

beherit (second record)
revenge-victory intolerance mastery
impiety
order from chaos
sadistik exekution
blasphemy
7000 dying rats

^^^I currently don't own any Beherit. I must track some of their stuff down - is the second album the best one to start off with?

thier first album, 'the oath of black blood' is decent straight ahead thrash/black metal, but for that reason, its regarded as shit. beherit is a band known for making black metal that was truly as avant and strange as it was brutal and dark.

the classic is thier second album, 'drawing down the moon'. it has everything we love about early black metal, satanic imagery, fast and heavy as shit, tons of blast beats, and rawly recorded. but, it also has tons of experimental sounds; spaced out synth sonds, strange use of whispers, computer altered vocals (much like noise vocalists), and a healthy dosage of noise esque feedback. its a remarkable record in every way. for me, only second to 'transylvanian hunger'.

thier third and fourth records are actually solo records by marko laiho under the same moniker. they are not black metal, but actually dark ambient records. not bad, but its clear that his forte was making wierd black metal. whenever i listen to this shit i cant help but think, "lustmord does this better".

they rule. and oh yeah, thurston approves!

I'm definitely getting that second Beherit album now - cheers batreleaser!

i haven't listened to much metal lately, only thing i guess it's motorhead.

The new Grand Magus album is okay if you're in the mood for it. A lot more 'traditional' than their first few. You'd almost think they came from England in the early 80s.

stoner rock...i have the obsessed first album on my ipod, i figured i'll give them a fair chance; heard songs here and there every once in a while but never clicked for me.

too many doom/stoner bands, scene is very saturated. id rather listen to dopesmoker or dopethrone on repeat for a few weeks then listen to anything coming outa that scene though. and yet, there are still plenty of good sludge bands.

yeah, i'm sick of bands playing swans with power chords.

elysian blaze are good doom, striborg bloke's other band, not as bizarre as striborg, just decent blackened doom.

I'm pretty sick of new doom / stoner metal bands too. I do like the two Mammatus albums Holy Mountain put out though but they're probably a bit closer to psych.

Rediscovering some old favourites + a couple of new purchases:

Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Napalm Death - Scum
Pentagram - First Daze Here Too (compilation)
Saint Vitus - Born Too Late
Repulsion - Horrified
Mayhem - De Mystriis
High on Fire - 1st two albums
Venom - 1st two albums

and

WOLD - Stratification (although it's probably half way between black metal and power electronics)

striborg is fantastic, should check elysian blaze out.

I'm gonna have to check out that Beherit.

I quite like the new N.I.L. album, has a bm cover of "Bad Houses" on it.

Most of what I've been listening to lately has been metal. Mainly black metal though.
Fimbulwinter
Mayhem
Darkthrone
Windir
Ancient
Bathory
Satyricon
Immortal
Burzum

As well as Candlemass and Iron Maiden.

i love striborg, dont like the new one as much though. that dude is PROlific.

my favourite striborgs are misanthropic isolation, and trepidation

There was a beherit double LP compilation released some time ago and it's still in print... for those who care. Haven't heard it, but I did enjoy The Oath of Black Blood.

i second trepidation