Metal: Will it revive?

[Rhaps]

I am a die hard metal fan, any type is good, but I've noticed a travesty:
Metal is fading
Seriously, does anyone else see it? Theres like 3 good metal bands left, rap and pop and basic rock are choking the airwaves. So, I start this discussion with these questions;
Do you think metal is fading?
Any good current bands?
Can it return to pop. culture?

[smurphy]

I thought it was on the rise there for a while during the mid noughties what with bands like Mastodon and Trivium coming to the fore but there hasnt been a decent new band for years. I mean theres plenty of quality bands like Machine Head, Megadeth, Maiden are still going strong and we have all those melodic death metal bands like In Flames and Children of Bodom but the lack of any decent new ones is worrying.

[loaf]

Metal isn't fading, if anything it's growing again.

Don't say this band is metal and this band isn't. It's metal, sub genres are stupid and only used to describe bands.

[Che]

Metal isn't fading, if anything it's growing again.

Don't say this band is metal and this band isn't. It's metal, sub genres are stupid and only used to describe bands.

What Loaf said. Metal just isn't mainstream; you won't hear it on the radio. Which is good and bad. Mostly good though. Good because douchebags won't listen to it, try to reproduce some shitty subversion of it (even though some do anyway), etc. Bad because they won't get CD sales like they should. But anyone who is a fan of the genre will find what they are looking for somehow. Internet, word of mouth, word of keyboard, youtube, etc.

Long live metal.

[ZantetsukeN]

If anything, the landscape of metal is better than it has been in recent years. There are so many good bands around. Sure, Metal has become a novelty of sorts, with Guitar Hero and such. There are bands which still fly the flag high. Bands like Chimaira, Mastodon, Alestorm, Devildriver, Even older bands back on the scene like Megadeth, Iron Maiden etc. Seriously, get out there because there are plenty of bands that need to be discovered.

[Dodie16]

I sooo want to link to a Tenacious D song right now...and I think I will!





Anyway, I think that all genres of music hit their highs and lows. It's just the way "trends" works. One moment, one style of music will be popular and the next, it's on it's way out. I don't think any style of music will ever really "die out", but sometimes you do have to break away from the mainstream to find some of the really good stuff. Even a lot of the "classics" are good to rediscover, and there's a whole backlog of music that is still really good. That's most of what I have in my collection. ^^; I can't really recommend any new artists to check out, because I'm still stuck with the older metal, but I did hear a bit of Alestorm though. I approve.

[Rhaps]

All of your points make are interesting, but until we hit a metal boom like in the 80's/90's I'm saying it's dead. . . . or maybe sleeping.
No one can defeat the metal!
Dodie, I love that song btw

[Joe]

I sooo want to link to a Tenacious D song right now...and I think I will!

Anyway, I think that all genres of music hit their highs and lows. It's just the way "trends" works. One moment, one style of music will be popular and the next, it's on it's way out. I don't think any style of music will ever really "die out", but sometimes you do have to break away from the mainstream to find some of the really good stuff. Even a lot of the "classics" are good to rediscover, and there's a whole backlog of music that is still really good. That's most of what I have in my collection. ^^; I can't really recommend any new artists to check out, because I'm still stuck with the older metal, but I did hear a bit of Alestorm though. I approve.

I love you. Will you bear my children?

On topic. I'm more or less a fan of classic metal and prog metal than anything else. Bands like Dream Theater, Nightwish, Rhapsody of Fire, etc. I'll admit I'm a huge fan of the classics like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Pantera, and Dio, though. Gotta say, a lot of what I listen to recently probably isn't considered metal, unless Avenged Sevenfold (RIP Rev) and Bullet for my Valentine count.

[Polk]

I am a die hard metal fan, any type is good, but I've noticed a travesty:
Metal is fading
Seriously, does anyone else see it? Theres like 3 good metal bands left...

Either you're the world's biggest music snob, or you have no idea what you're talking about. Whichever one it is, it's annoying. There are hundreds of good metal bands out there, you're just not looking for them.

Metal isn't ska. It's not some fad that will die out after a summer of popularity leaving only the people who really do love the stuff (like me ) to support the few bands who will actually continue to play it. Metal will continue to be popular no matter how much airtime it gets, because of the supportive fan base it has.

I've been listening to a lot of folk metal recently. Alestorm, Korpiklaani, Amon Amarth, among others. Pandora is a beautiful thing discovering stuff. And Mastodon is the best thing to happen to metal in 20 years. I will not hear otherwise.

[T.G. Oskar]

I've been listening to a lot of folk metal recently. Alestorm, Korpiklaani, Amon Amarth, among others. Pandora is a beautiful thing discovering stuff. And Mastodon is the best thing to happen to metal in 20 years. I will not hear otherwise.

Hmm...I have been recently pointed to Arkona, also pointed (to my shame) to Mago de Oz (a shame since it's Spanish folk metal), and found Equilibrium by accident, so I've been listening to rock metal as well. Have you listened to them?

Arkona is Russian, and also female-led. The singer's voice is special, since it can go from relatively docile to a nice grunt, and they use a good amount of Russian-thematic instruments.

Mago de Oz has existed since pretty long. What captivated me was that they did a frickin' rock opera dedicated to Don Quixote. That alone basically caught me up.

Equilibrium, as I said, was found by accident. I was looking at clips from the movie called Equilibrium (IIRC, where Christian Bale was before Batman Begins?) and I stumbled upon them. Pretty swift riffs, which is fine by me.

On topic: it's hard to say whether metal will revive or not if metal isn't dead. It's not like, say...well, ska as mentioned before. Or disco music, which is basically the stuff of nostalgia. Metal is basically alive but it's not a genre that's popular. You can blame anyone for that, but the truth is that not everybody will actually enjoy it, and metal has survived because it has grown over time. It's not always the same tunes; power metal and speed metal went with swift riffs, symphonic metal sought refuge in the natural companion of orchestral music, black metal and death metal survive mostly because of mythology, and hair/glam metal is all but gone. Sure, they're mostly labels to define some currents and styles, but they aren't exactly bad ways to separate them.

Then again, something along the lines of what Che has mentioned has happened. Nu-metal and hardcore polarize the metal fans, and "brutal" metal is...well, how can I explain? There's an old thread about it here; I think that describes it better than I do.

[Polk]

Arkona
Mago de Oz
Equilibrium

I've heard a couple of songs from Arkona, and they're not bad. The lead singer has a decent set of pipes, from what I can remember. That and they have some really great cheesy videos.

Mago de Oz I've never heard. The name sounds familiar but that's probably just because Mago de Oz is Spanish for Wizard of Oz, and I've probably heard it in a spanish class once or twice. I'll give them a listen, though.

Equilibrium I get a lot when I use my Korpiklaani station on Pandora. They do some pretty cool stuff. And yes, it was Christian Bale pre-Batman.

[The Dark Crystal]

I am a die hard metal fan, any type is good, but I've noticed a travesty:
Metal is fading
Seriously, does anyone else see it? There's like 3 good metal bands left, rap and pop and basic rock are choking the airwaves. So, I start this discussion with these questions;
Do you think metal is fading?
Any good current bands?
Can it return to pop. culture?

Metal is Fading? Nope I don't see it ever happening, considering their is ruffly 6.2 Billion people on the planet.

Any good current band? Not that I have heard lately, but their doesn't have to be new bands coming out to keep the genre from fading Their are still plenty of older band coming out with great albums.

Can it Return to Pop Culture? Well as long as people still have ideas, attitudes, & perspectives for Metal then it is still considered in the pop culture.

Where I live their is at least two to three radio stations dedicated to Metal.
(Gotta love Mandatory Metallica)
Theirs not one radio station like that where you live?

[Heartless Angel]

Metal is alive and well friend. No one can destroy the metal, the metal will strike you down with a vicious blow. There's plenty of the stuff around, new bands and old. Great thing about metal that pop and hip hop can't say, 10 years from now, nobody will even remember most of the tools you hear on the radio now. 10 years from now, most of the bands I listen to will still be touring. ANd to be perfectly honest, I don't even NEED new metal bands. I don't give two shits how many bands come and go, I'll STILL be listening to Dio and Ozzy 20 years from now.

[Hjortkayre]

And Mastodon is the best thing to happen to metal in 20 years. I will not hear otherwise.

I concur. Saw them live recently and, MY GOD, they were amazing.

Anyway, there are plenty of new metal bands, just not so many that have captured the interest of the mainstream, or the media. Like Che said, if you want to find new bands, you'll probably have to look for them elsewhere.

[Furore]

Metal is one of those genres I can't see dying anytime soon.
Hell, looking at the music I own it's 95% Rock/Metal and I'm still buying new albums every so often even if most of the artists have been around for a decade or two.

When I'm still getting stuff like this:

I don't mind that I'm not seeing new faces pop up.

Some genres/sub genres (particularly sub genres) more or less die with their first acts.

[Jin]

Assuming for a minute that the thesis of dying metal is true, I really couldn't care less. I'm old and crotchety enough now to listen to the music I currently enjoy over and over again. I've no burning desire for something new. If it comes, great (and I would say it is), but it's not necessary.

[ZantetsukeN]

If you like discovering bands, which I love, google "Metal Hammer planet metal". It refers to a CD that comes with this weeks Metal Hammer (in the UK anyway), which features new bands from all sorts of countries that would have frowned upon metal several years ago, like Iran, Colombia, Korea etc. There are some truly awesome songs on that disc.

Further proof that not only is Metal alive and well, it's gone completely global too.

[Clint]

Theres like 3 good metal bands left,

That's simply not true. There are plenty of good metal bands left; old and new. Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath), Motorhead, Judas Priest, Gamma Ray, Iced Earth, the mother****in' Trans Siberian Orchestra, mother****a. I can list about a hundred more, but the majority are probably ones that you've never heard of.

The metal scene feels like it's dying because it's no longer played on the radio. That doesn't mean it's not still a commercial success. For example, Metallica's Death Magnetic went to #1 on the US Billboard 200. Megadeth's Endgame went to #9. Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death also went to #9. Metal is still selling. The music industry just wants everybody to listen to shitty Lady Gaga and Ke$ha type shit, so metal gets no air time.

[Rhaps]

Good point, but I didn't mean it in that context. Eh, any other opinion smashing points? lol

[Mr Walrusman]

I haven't heard many new metal bands. I tend to listen to the famous ones from the 70's and 80's (Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc.). All though those bands started out a long time ago, some of them are still active today. Iron Maiden and Megadeth are still touring and Judas Priest released a new album recently.

Out of my perspective, heavy metal isn't dead yet.

[kurohime]

Metal will never die!!!!!!!!!!

[Niloc13]

Lots of sludge metal variations going on right now, like Mastodon, Gojira, and Intronaut, which is cool if you like that sort of thing, but it gets kind of slow and boring after a while. Then you had the mathcore bands that are sadly fading like The Number 12 Looks Like You and The Fall of Troy, although Dillinger Escape Plan is still going strong. I don't know, metal has never been one of my favorite genres but I don't see it as particularly weak as of late. In fact I would almost so it's growing, or at least staying solid. High on Fire just put out an AMAZING new album, so good releases are still coming out all the time.

OP, maybe your problem is you're looking to the "airwaves". In this day and age, good music is everywhere BUT the radio.

[TigermusiQ]

Don't know if 'all' of these are still active but they're good ones I think.

Rammstein
Pantera
Bullet For My Valentine
Trivium
Evanescence
Within Temptation
Serj Tankian (System of a Down, lead singer)
Tenacious D

[Nightmare Cloud]

Don't know if 'all' of these are still active but they're good ones I think.

Rammstein
Pantera
Bullet For My Valentine
Trivium
Evanescence
Within Temptation
Serj Tankian (System of a Down, lead singer)
Tenacious D

These are all examples of great bands. Tbh, I think the fans will keep this stuff alive. I LOVE metal and I never want to see it die!

[supershiva11]

metal is always growing.... has been for ages. Im into really heavy stuff, black metal, death metal, etc.

YouTube - Gojira - Backbone - gojira is awesome.

YouTube - Opeth - The Drapery Falls - opeth is also awesome

YouTube - NAGLFAR - The Perpetual Horrors (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - scary and manly