So, uhh, Death or Black?

[ratanda]

Of those two choices, death metal.

[slut rag]

the whole disturbed over psyopus thing is a little rediculous, dontcha think?

i do get a little annoyed over what genre each band is supposed to be b/c bands now-a-days just mix shit up and im sick of arguing over what fucking genre they belong to. but i would say i like death more. i like black metal, but usually black metal has horrible production and i cant stand just hearing drums and vocals with the guitars buried somewhere in the mix. i know its not much, but there is my 2 cents.

[kfoll]

the whole disturbed over psyopus thing is a little rediculous, dontcha think?

i do get a little annoyed over what genre each band is supposed to be b/c bands now-a-days just mix shit up and im sick of arguing over what fucking genre they belong to. but i would say i like death more. i like black metal, but usually black metal has horrible production and i cant stand just hearing drums and vocals with the guitars buried somewhere in the mix. i know its not much, but there is my 2 cents.

You just said it better than I did, sir.

[Metalfreak]

Right now I'm liking a lot of Folk Metal.

me too! add thrash to that hehe

anyways, yeah I'm gonna have to agree with everyone about the technical death stuff...I can't stand it either! The new Psyopus hurt my ears (sorry Matt! ) That's really all I have to say about that.

as far as the topic goes, I'm gonna have to go with black metal. I love both genres but I find myself listening to more black metal than death metal most of the time.

[Matt]

anyways, yeah I'm gonna have to agree with everyone about the technical death stuff...I can't stand it either! The new Psyopus hurt my ears (sorry Matt! ) That's really all I have to say about that.

not sure if this was directed at me, i havent even heard the new psyopus but the song i heard from it on myspace didnt do much for me, i thought we were initially talking about psycroptic, not psyopus, either way im not much for technical death, i like a lot of brutal death metal, grindcore, and a lot of doom/sludge metal....i am not a fan of the ultra tech over the head shit, technicality doesnt mean orginality as far as im concerned... and i definitely dont like folk or black metal

[slut rag]

[quote="kfoll"][quote="slut rag"]the whole disturbed over psyopus thing is a little rediculous, dontcha think?

i do get a little annoyed over what genre each band is supposed to be b/c bands now-a-days just mix shit up and im sick of arguing over what fucking genre they belong to. but i would say i like death more. i like black metal, but usually black metal has horrible production and i cant stand just hearing drums and vocals with the guitars buried somewhere in the mix. i know its not much, but there is my 2 cents.[/quote]

You just said it better than I did, sir.[/quote]

well thank you kindly, miss..

[Metalfreak]

anyways, yeah I'm gonna have to agree with everyone about the technical death stuff...I can't stand it either! The new Psyopus hurt my ears (sorry Matt! ) That's really all I have to say about that.

not sure if this was directed at me, i havent even heard the new psyopus but the song i heard from it on myspace didnt do much for me, i thought we were initially talking about psycroptic, not psyopus, either way im not much for technical death, i like a lot of brutal death metal, grindcore, and a lot of doom/sludge metal....i am not a fan of the ultra tech over the head shit, technicality doesnt mean orginality as far as im concerned... and i definitely dont like folk or black metal

no it wasn't directed at you...just the psyopus part. yeah I saw that psycroptic was mentioned but I haven't heard anything by them so I mentioned a band that I have heard music by! For some reason, I did think you were into alot of tech death along with everything else you listed.

as far as folk or black metal goes...yeah I know you don't like it! It's all good though!

[MikeLindgren]

I can get down to a lot of different styles of metal, but the overly fantastic lyrical content can be a put off at times. I can't personally relate to songs about sorcerers and dragons.

[Mike]

A year ago, I would have said death. But it seems like death metal has become really stagnant lately, with even great bands like Nile starting to run out of ideas (maybe I just need to listen to ithyphallic more).

I've been enjoying a little of the grind-influenced bands and some of the technical stuff, though. Anata put out one of my favorite records of last year. I listened to the super-tech stuff like Spawn of Possession for about a week before I got bored with it. Necrophagist is still pretty cool, though.

Recently it's been mostly black. Although the culture and attitude surrounding it can be elitist and sometimes comical, I still find it intriguing despite not subscribing to it. When an album has raw production, it seems a lot less pretentious than it probably otherwise would.

If somebody's screaming about frostbitten forests and arcane cave beasts, I want it to sound like it was recorded right fucking there, not in some shiny room with a glass wall and computer monitors everywhere. Unless it's power metal, but that's totally different entirely.

The thing is, black metal has this dichotomy of tradition and experimentation that seems stronger than other forms of metal. Many bands adhere strongly to the early 90s second wave sound, but many others alter that sound in unexpected ways to create music that is both new and old. That's why I like good black metal: it balances two strong opposing forces.

I'm not sure about the groove factor. It's really important to some albums (new Baroness comes to mind, also The Ocean), but I tend to dislike the bands that consciously focus on that. I think if the music is crafted well, groove will enter naturally. Sometimes I find groove in unexpected places, like in the Wold I was listening to several days ago, which to me indicates good songwriting because the emphasis was definitely not on headbanging. So yeah.

In regards to the groove factor, I guess I should have said I like bands that focus more on songwriting than technical ability. I have no problem with technicality, but I'd like to hear a song instead of a bunch of cool riffs thrown together. This is why Black Metal succeeds despite being simplistic at times; compositional skills are far more important I think than being able to play super fast.

And no hate for Meshuggah. They are the holy grail of technical married to composition. The "I" EP is one of the greatest pieces of music written in the 20th century.

I just think Death metal needs to change before it can be interesting for me again. The old classics are and will always be great, but the new shit is dull.

And Mitch is right about black metal having a strong balance of tradition and experimentation. That's what keeps it relevant and prevents it from going the way of punk or a similar musical movement that died because its members refused to experiment.

Oh and to make this thread constructive, why don't we list what we think are the best bands in Black and Death metal?

[BlackRoija]

Emperor
Deathspell Omega
The Meads of Asphodel
Shining
Enslaved

Morbid Angel
Akercocke
old Amorphis
Garden of Shadows
Mithras

Just a few for each.

[ProstheticHead12]

Opeth and Enslaved are the best period.

[Matt]

Opeth and Enslaved are the best period.

nope... iron maiden and black sabbath are the best period.

[ProstheticHead12]

Opeth and Enslaved are the best period.

nope... iron maiden and black sabbath are the best period.

different eras, they can all be the best

[Metalfreak]

right off the top of my head...

black:
Emperor
Dimmu Borgir (yeah go ahead and hate me! I love this band! )
Anaal Nathrakh
Limbonic Art
Nokturnal Mortum

death:
Morbid Angel
Cannibal Corpse
Death
Obituary
Impaled

[Brian]

Black:
Emperor
Nachtmystium
Deathspell Omega
Weakling
Wolves in the Throne Room
Sigh

Death:
Evocation
Suffocation
Dismember
Akercocke
Necrophagist
Job for a Cowboy