Thats really not a very nice gesture sir.
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Top Five Bands
- Thread starter Son of Disaster
- Start date
- Status
1. Animal Collective
2. Battles
3. Coheed and Cambria
4. Dream Theater
5. Gogol Bordello
2. Battles
3. Coheed and Cambria
4. Dream Theater
5. Gogol Bordello
Glen, shut it, Blind Guardian are good. I don't care if it's cheesy metal with sword replicas, it's good fucken songwriting and good fucken music. I know power metal comes off as atrociously silly a lot of the time, but still. Music is not about the silly image of some bands or how "pussy" they are. Sure, power metal attracts your average D&D nerd. (Not that I really play D&D but...) But CK is correct, Blind Guardian are excellent composers. Sure they compose differently from other types of metal. I'm also pretty sure power metal is an acquired taste (and many metalheads I know find the genre exceedingly homosexual). I don't give an utter crap, since I like good music no matter what genre so.
It is not empty to like albums with actually grand ambition, let alone an actually cohesive album that fulfills those ambitions. It is empty to like music just for feel good, pithy bullshit.
I am barely fickle because I am barely weak. For me to get bored of a song would generally because the song is not a song that is 'complete' - maybe the terrible double bass drumming would finally get to me, something like that. The most that I have started liking the song less is that since I already listened to it about 500 times, I can no longer listen to it every day because I already know it too well. I will never, however, fall out of love with it. A song migrating from around my fifteenth favorite to first/second as I listen to more and more music over six years means it is in my life to stay. A 10/10 (about .5% of all songs I like) song for me can, at most, fall back down to feeling like an 8-9/10, and an 8/10 would only be if I WILDLY misjudged it. If one is fickle to the point where something they feel like a 10/10 is not worth listening to at all, they are either incredibly poor judges of what they like or weakminded.
i think it's much more likely that you just haven't matured or grown as a person in those six years
too much cheese and sugar!
If you are trying to judge my musical taste by my musical progression, then you made a baseless accusation (though I assume you were trolling; I only keep giving serious responses since this is a 'serious', non-trolling forum!). I was banned from all but Christian or classical music as a kid; about exactly turning 14 (November 2001? maybe 2002) I found pop punk through Simple Plan; from Simple Plan I found Bad Religion and abandoned pop punk for punk entirely (December); the next month I checked out metal because all the punk people hated metal and by another couple months was listening to 75% metal and 25% punk. This was all I listened to for about a year - death/black/heavy metal and punk with a couple Dream Theater songs and other lighter metal. All I listened to were songs - never albums. I just tried to find the best songs, so my musical collection was very bizarre and unworkable really (I would never have been able to appreciate, say, Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell at this point). By that time I was about 16 and found power metal. By the time I was 18 I still basically ONLY listened to power metal, death metal, and punk with the occasional 'greats' mixed in. Now I listen to a wide variety and will at least 'try' any music and try to approach bands on their complete discographies (impossible in the cases of bands where disco destroys them midway through, for instance, but then I consider the 'good' part as the complete). I listen to probably about 30-40% metal (barely any death or black), about another good 30-40% progressive and hard rock, and then a glut of the 'greats', jazz, classical, whatever. I mean, Queen has been my favorite band since the first month I heard them in December 2007. If that does not show my taste changed, then nothing does.
Of course, none of this has to do with me being fickle or anything like that - it was an evolution of my taste, and certainly, sometimes I had to reevaluate what was good. That was why it rose from my 15th~ favorite song to 1st/2nd - because I discovered why parts of it were better than I could have as the musically inexperienced kid I was. I hated Zeppelin, Metallica, and other great music. I think the main change was that working the sound board at my church forced me to really, really listen for individual parts of music, and when I returned to Zeppelin and Metallica and whatever other bands I dismissed before (Queen foremost among them), I suddenly heard the individual performances mesh in a different way and could judge the 'technical' individual performances alone as good or bad much better.
Probably the single way that I have grown immature amongst this growth of musical maturation is that playing guitar in the church band after sound board made me kind of not give a shit about bass. In my band, our bassist was inexperienced, so I hung tight with the vocals or drums. I can still appreciate great bass, e.g. Les Claypool, but I kind of ignore it any time it does not stand out really well.
1: Queen - I think the most attractive part of the band to anyone is obviously usually going to be Freddie Mercury's incredible voice, but the arrangement of the songs is almost always good and the interplay of instruments is phenomenal. They make 'subtly' complex music, the type that appears simple, yet is actually incredibly more in depth than it sounds. The guitar's sound itself (not in any specific situation) is so sexy...Just everything - the mixture of the incredible vocals, clean yet quite heavy sounding guitar, skill in every band member, and arguably, and in my opinion do have, more memorable songs than any other bands but The Beatles or Led Zeppelin come close to. They are clean beauty personified.
2: Blind Guardian - Except for their fairly mediocre drumming, everything else this band does basically perfectly. They make perfectly heavy metal songs on their early albums, always with a very rapid, energetic pace, and then they pretty much perfect themselves on their 1995 album (seven years into their career) with an incredibly 'epic' approach, especially fueled by a bit cleaner vocals and guitar with more sounds that evoke a fantastical feel. Their follow up album, especially its namesake song Nightfall, not only are great nerdy fun but incredibly uplifting feeling, which is quite hard to find with angry sounding guitar and aggressive singing. Then they made a basically perfect 14 minute song about the fucking Iliad and Troy's destruction. It does not get much cooler than that.
3: Mars Volta - If Queen is clean, then Mars Volta is pretty much the exact opposite of that; they are like a fucking attack on your ears, but in a good way. Super rapid music with super high wanky vocals and nearly EVERY song is amazing; in fact, they are the one band that I would say has a higher success rate than Queen percentage wise from my personal ratings. With most bands, at least half an album will suck/be boring, whatever, and that is just taken as inevitable; not so with Mars Volta, except for the notable exception of their third album which is actually half amazing and half ass. Their style has evolved so much too; their first album is so proggy and 'deep', and then their 2008 album was pretty much straight up kickass hard rock...except still in an avant garde, proggy style. Also they use trumpets.
4: Sonata Arctica - This is a band that can spit out incredible ballads, power ballads, or incredibly violent songs like Wildfire and Don't Say a Word. Each album is significantly different. If you like power metal, it is pretty much a given that you like Sonata Arctica, and specifically probably especially their album with the two aforementioned songs. Their songs are basically often 'journies' with their incredible interweaving of guitar, keyboard, and vocals. They also definitely pay attention to where metal has come up to till now to improve themselves.
5: Ayreon - Brilliant concept album after brilliant concept album. Their typical 'main' singer is incredible at singing very sweepingly operatic songs, and they get many guests who can play off this, but they also borrow death/heavy/black/power metal singers extensively. Nearly every song has some sort of impossibly energetic buildup...Their work is so talented, overwhelming, beautiful, inspired, et cetera. The only possible complaint you could really have is that it is too 'corny'.
Of course, none of this has to do with me being fickle or anything like that - it was an evolution of my taste, and certainly, sometimes I had to reevaluate what was good. That was why it rose from my 15th~ favorite song to 1st/2nd - because I discovered why parts of it were better than I could have as the musically inexperienced kid I was. I hated Zeppelin, Metallica, and other great music. I think the main change was that working the sound board at my church forced me to really, really listen for individual parts of music, and when I returned to Zeppelin and Metallica and whatever other bands I dismissed before (Queen foremost among them), I suddenly heard the individual performances mesh in a different way and could judge the 'technical' individual performances alone as good or bad much better.
Probably the single way that I have grown immature amongst this growth of musical maturation is that playing guitar in the church band after sound board made me kind of not give a shit about bass. In my band, our bassist was inexperienced, so I hung tight with the vocals or drums. I can still appreciate great bass, e.g. Les Claypool, but I kind of ignore it any time it does not stand out really well.
1: Queen - I think the most attractive part of the band to anyone is obviously usually going to be Freddie Mercury's incredible voice, but the arrangement of the songs is almost always good and the interplay of instruments is phenomenal. They make 'subtly' complex music, the type that appears simple, yet is actually incredibly more in depth than it sounds. The guitar's sound itself (not in any specific situation) is so sexy...Just everything - the mixture of the incredible vocals, clean yet quite heavy sounding guitar, skill in every band member, and arguably, and in my opinion do have, more memorable songs than any other bands but The Beatles or Led Zeppelin come close to. They are clean beauty personified.
2: Blind Guardian - Except for their fairly mediocre drumming, everything else this band does basically perfectly. They make perfectly heavy metal songs on their early albums, always with a very rapid, energetic pace, and then they pretty much perfect themselves on their 1995 album (seven years into their career) with an incredibly 'epic' approach, especially fueled by a bit cleaner vocals and guitar with more sounds that evoke a fantastical feel. Their follow up album, especially its namesake song Nightfall, not only are great nerdy fun but incredibly uplifting feeling, which is quite hard to find with angry sounding guitar and aggressive singing. Then they made a basically perfect 14 minute song about the fucking Iliad and Troy's destruction. It does not get much cooler than that.
3: Mars Volta - If Queen is clean, then Mars Volta is pretty much the exact opposite of that; they are like a fucking attack on your ears, but in a good way. Super rapid music with super high wanky vocals and nearly EVERY song is amazing; in fact, they are the one band that I would say has a higher success rate than Queen percentage wise from my personal ratings. With most bands, at least half an album will suck/be boring, whatever, and that is just taken as inevitable; not so with Mars Volta, except for the notable exception of their third album which is actually half amazing and half ass. Their style has evolved so much too; their first album is so proggy and 'deep', and then their 2008 album was pretty much straight up kickass hard rock...except still in an avant garde, proggy style. Also they use trumpets.
4: Sonata Arctica - This is a band that can spit out incredible ballads, power ballads, or incredibly violent songs like Wildfire and Don't Say a Word. Each album is significantly different. If you like power metal, it is pretty much a given that you like Sonata Arctica, and specifically probably especially their album with the two aforementioned songs. Their songs are basically often 'journies' with their incredible interweaving of guitar, keyboard, and vocals. They also definitely pay attention to where metal has come up to till now to improve themselves.
5: Ayreon - Brilliant concept album after brilliant concept album. Their typical 'main' singer is incredible at singing very sweepingly operatic songs, and they get many guests who can play off this, but they also borrow death/heavy/black/power metal singers extensively. Nearly every song has some sort of impossibly energetic buildup...Their work is so talented, overwhelming, beautiful, inspired, et cetera. The only possible complaint you could really have is that it is too 'corny'.
1. Built to Spill - Doug Martsch is probably my favorite guitarist of all time. Their early work was marked by upbeat indie rock, but starting with their third album they started to mellow out and write longer and more diverse music and really explore instrumentation.
2. Hum - I was taken aback the first time I heard "Stars" on the radio. They create an incredible wall of sound with their guitars, the drumming is intense, the lyrics are obscure but absolutely amazing.
3. Cursive - Deeply personal lyrics, they really hit home. Their early work was very raw, and Kasher's voice has always been one of my favorites at conveying pure emotion (Chris Simpson being the other). Once they added a cellist they were unstoppable.
4. Minus the Bear - The first indie rock band that ever made me just want to get up and dance. The words are all about drinking and traveling and beautiful women, usually all in the same song. I really miss the finger-tapping though, the effects are getting annoying.
5. The Appleseed Cast - Their first album was pretty standard emo, but you could hear inklings of what they could be (kinda like Brand New). They really fulfilled all the prophecies and have become one of the greatest indie/shoegaze/post-rock bands out there.
Fuck, I just realized that mentioning Chris Simpson makes me think Mineral belongs on here. Fuck these lists.
2. Hum - I was taken aback the first time I heard "Stars" on the radio. They create an incredible wall of sound with their guitars, the drumming is intense, the lyrics are obscure but absolutely amazing.
3. Cursive - Deeply personal lyrics, they really hit home. Their early work was very raw, and Kasher's voice has always been one of my favorites at conveying pure emotion (Chris Simpson being the other). Once they added a cellist they were unstoppable.
4. Minus the Bear - The first indie rock band that ever made me just want to get up and dance. The words are all about drinking and traveling and beautiful women, usually all in the same song. I really miss the finger-tapping though, the effects are getting annoying.
5. The Appleseed Cast - Their first album was pretty standard emo, but you could hear inklings of what they could be (kinda like Brand New). They really fulfilled all the prophecies and have become one of the greatest indie/shoegaze/post-rock bands out there.
Fuck, I just realized that mentioning Chris Simpson makes me think Mineral belongs on here. Fuck these lists.
i'll bite.
Virgin Black
they've been my favorite since the very first time i listened to their debut album back in 2002. two songs in, and i was hooked for life. since then they've released three more album, with another due out this year (to complete a trilogy recorded with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra). There's just something about their music that moves me in a way no other band ever has, or likely ever will. it's like, it vibrates my soul. i saw them live twice in 2007 and twice last year, and it was absolutely amazing.
Bright Eyes
Conor Oberst often comes across as a whiny little bitch, especially in his earlier works. but if you can "get past" his vocals (which i personally think are some of the most passionate and evocative i've ever heard) and focus on the music, you'll see what a brilliant muscian he is. and if you focus on his lyrics, you'll see what a fucking genius he is. some of his songs leave me speechless for no other reason than i can't believe he's nailed a thought or musing with such effective insight. and for those who say he can't sing, you're very wrong. he has perfect diction, great control, he just lacks the "tone" that most consider "good". he is sometimes called the Bob Dylan of our generation.
Opeth
they make beautiful music that also happens to rip your face off from time to time. back in 1995 when they released their first album, they were doing something that almost no other metal band was doing, making black/death metal music with acoustic passages and clean vocals. the contrast between the two has evolved into their signature sound over the years. when asked what band got them in to metal and harsh vocals, more often than not people site this band to me.
Meshuggah
brain melting, mind numbing and face destroying. this band constructs songs with such complexity it's sometimes hard to process. they make extensive use of polyrythms and polymeters, often focusing around contrasting an insane time signature (16/28, for example) against a 4/4 time signature. the result is just astounding. it took awhile for me to realize how phenomenal they are, but ever since it clicked in my head, they've been a mainstay at #4.
Sigur Ros
this group from Iceland are true pioneers. crafting atmospheric and beautiful songs with bombastic and epic builds that just make you want to jump out of your skin with joy and exultation. i often refer to them as the Pink Floyd of my generation in regards to their ingenuity, creativitey and influence on the music scene of the day.
i'll stop there, but i hold the rest of my top ten in similar regards.
i can get you links to albums if you're interested. :)
whoo lengthy explanation time
Streetlight Manifesto
I think the main reason these guys are my top band is because they were the first band I really got into. I found out about them about the same time I got my iPod and discovered that you can listen to music outside of the radio. I racked up about 150 plays of each song off their first two albums in the next 6 months. They are also the band I have seen the most live, and I will probably see them every time they are touring near me. The main part of their music that I enjoy is the sheer talent their horn line possesses. The album Somewhere in the Between has just the most amazing arrangements and really showcases each players strengths. I would say their musically worst player is Tomas Kanolky, but when you realize he writes all of their songs, you gain a new appreciation for him. He wrote 3 of the top 5 ska albums according to rate your music and his stuff honestly never gets old. Definitely a band I recommend to anyone, they depart so much from the traditional third wave ska style, that its really hard to place them under that category. Their latest album almost feels progressive and they will probably gain that label (and make the weird combination of genres that will be known as prog ska) exist with their next original album.
Sonata Arctica
See the heaps of praise being placed upon them by other users. I actually got into them after reading Altmer's review of Unia. I cannot think of a single bad song these guys wrote, just ones lower in comparison. The main thing I like about this band is Tony Kakko's singing. His style is just that different from anyone else. He definitely makes the band. The rest of their music is top notch too, but the his vocals are definitely the best part. I might be one of the few people to call Unia my favorite album by them, just because it is the most varied. Reckoning Night is a close second, because although most of the music is similar, everyone song on that album is top notch, while Unia has flags in some places.
okay... thats all I can write for now. I'll get stuff up for the other bands later.
Streetlight Manifesto
I think the main reason these guys are my top band is because they were the first band I really got into. I found out about them about the same time I got my iPod and discovered that you can listen to music outside of the radio. I racked up about 150 plays of each song off their first two albums in the next 6 months. They are also the band I have seen the most live, and I will probably see them every time they are touring near me. The main part of their music that I enjoy is the sheer talent their horn line possesses. The album Somewhere in the Between has just the most amazing arrangements and really showcases each players strengths. I would say their musically worst player is Tomas Kanolky, but when you realize he writes all of their songs, you gain a new appreciation for him. He wrote 3 of the top 5 ska albums according to rate your music and his stuff honestly never gets old. Definitely a band I recommend to anyone, they depart so much from the traditional third wave ska style, that its really hard to place them under that category. Their latest album almost feels progressive and they will probably gain that label (and make the weird combination of genres that will be known as prog ska) exist with their next original album.
Sonata Arctica
See the heaps of praise being placed upon them by other users. I actually got into them after reading Altmer's review of Unia. I cannot think of a single bad song these guys wrote, just ones lower in comparison. The main thing I like about this band is Tony Kakko's singing. His style is just that different from anyone else. He definitely makes the band. The rest of their music is top notch too, but the his vocals are definitely the best part. I might be one of the few people to call Unia my favorite album by them, just because it is the most varied. Reckoning Night is a close second, because although most of the music is similar, everyone song on that album is top notch, while Unia has flags in some places.
okay... thats all I can write for now. I'll get stuff up for the other bands later.
Just wanted to agree with this, it sorta is human nature to become jaded with things but music is something else it seems to me, and truly good music will withstand the duration of time. There's always room for new great music to join the ranks of old favorites.
(Also I'm curious CK what you find to be shit on Amputechture, it happens to be my favorite album of theirs, as I feel its the one where they achieved the most unique sound. Instead I find half or more of Bedlam to be shit, to me its like they're overdoing it and there's no breathing room either like in the other albums. I think I also woulda said they got more "progressive" though their latest album was a trend breaker.)
Thank you CK for defending good music/metal. BG is one of the most remarkable and consistent bands with a vocalist that is as talented as they come.
As for the fool Glen, saying my music taste is pussy is just laughable. Please enlighten me on the 'hardcore metal' you listened to when you were '14'. I'm sure they don't have anything on Necrophagist, Psycroptic, Death, Athiest, Amon Amarth, Decrepit Birth, Arsis, Bathory and countless others that couldn't fit into my top 5.
As for the fool Glen, saying my music taste is pussy is just laughable. Please enlighten me on the 'hardcore metal' you listened to when you were '14'. I'm sure they don't have anything on Necrophagist, Psycroptic, Death, Athiest, Amon Amarth, Decrepit Birth, Arsis, Bathory and countless others that couldn't fit into my top 5.
Vicarious Atonement, Vermicide, Asilos Magdalena, and El Ciervo Vulerado. Except for Vermicide, these songs are all drawn out squealing - seriously, none of these songs has basically any substance...just a lot of guitar and I guess saxaphone? squealing. The other songs are pretty great (Meccamputechture is pretty bad, actually, but is really catchy/exciting at the same time, somehow).
Bedlam has 2-3 sorry-really bad songs, but it has 6-7 incredible songs. It is not the most unique because it is their most hard rock album - they are rocking the fuck out, not wanking around nearly as much as usual. That became a really bad dynamic live...they played Goliath at 1.5 speed with a 7 minute, slow wankfest in the middle..what the fuck?
I mean, the only song on this album that comes close to being a unique sound is Tetragrammation; Day of the Baphomets is basically a preview to where Bedlam would go (and a great song) - not that it has the exact same general sound though, since they were trying to go for that 'eerie' feel for all of Bedlam. Viscera Eyes is great, but it is a song that really any talented band could make. It is no unique and special song, and thus not an especially unique sound either. By no means is the album the terrible disaster people treat it like..I think the problem is this an album people felt like several bands could have made, whereas De-Loused was so stunningly original, Cassandra Gemini is an incredible epic (minus maybe the bit 22-24 minutes in, still leaves it well over 20 minutes of incredible shit) that almost no band seems able to put together today, and Bedlam is pretty eerie mixed with badass hard rock sounds and the 'typical' Mars Volta sound.
Bedlam has 2-3 sorry-really bad songs, but it has 6-7 incredible songs. It is not the most unique because it is their most hard rock album - they are rocking the fuck out, not wanking around nearly as much as usual. That became a really bad dynamic live...they played Goliath at 1.5 speed with a 7 minute, slow wankfest in the middle..what the fuck?
I mean, the only song on this album that comes close to being a unique sound is Tetragrammation; Day of the Baphomets is basically a preview to where Bedlam would go (and a great song) - not that it has the exact same general sound though, since they were trying to go for that 'eerie' feel for all of Bedlam. Viscera Eyes is great, but it is a song that really any talented band could make. It is no unique and special song, and thus not an especially unique sound either. By no means is the album the terrible disaster people treat it like..I think the problem is this an album people felt like several bands could have made, whereas De-Loused was so stunningly original, Cassandra Gemini is an incredible epic (minus maybe the bit 22-24 minutes in, still leaves it well over 20 minutes of incredible shit) that almost no band seems able to put together today, and Bedlam is pretty eerie mixed with badass hard rock sounds and the 'typical' Mars Volta sound.
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