Top 10 Extreme Metal bands

Spawn of Cthullu · 01-16-2010, 10:14 AM

Mine are, in no particular order :

Agalloch
Dissection
Fen
Opeth
Katatonia (early)
My Dying Bride
The Morningside
Estatic Fear
Godgory
Bloodbath

Unrelenting · 01-16-2010, 01:37 PM

Zyklon
Opeth
Cryptopsy
Khold
Suffocation
Bloodbath
Nile
Neuraxis
Ahab
Isis

LoathsomePete · 01-16-2010, 01:53 PM

Hmm let's see...

Strapping Young Lad

I was lucky to discover these guys when I did because had I not I would have most likely dropped out of school. Devy's anger intense lyrics became incredibly cathartic for me, helping me vent my frustration that I found myself constantly surrounded by. Add a little dose of humour for good measure as well as being from the same city as me made CD's easier to find as well as fans. One day I hope to meet Devin and thank him for making such incredibly powerful music to help me when things got too stressful and I needed to bang my head and scream my lungs out.

Death

If I could obtain at least 10% of Chuck Schuldiner's awesomeness then I'd be perfectly content with my life at that point. Known as the "father of death metal", he fronted the incredibly popular band Death. He sadly died of brain cancer in 2001, three years before I discovered Scream Bloody Gore at a local CD store and was intrigued by the simplicity of the name and the album art. I still hold that their last album, The Sound of Perseverance is their best, even if it does depart from the "traditional" death metal sound. I try and spin some Death albums at least once a month if not more.

Enslaved

Without a doubt my favourite black metal band that are still going strong and expanding their sound. I have a very "love/hate" relationship with most black metal bands, and have come across many people over the last six years who wear their hatred for black metal on their sleeves (when they're wearing sleeves). I have converted almost all of them into believers that black metal is more than just a bunch of xenophobic pricks. Their 2003 album, Below the Lights was my first black metal album that I heard and kept, and have been sharing it with people ever since. Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson are two of the best musicians of the genre and I hope they continue to make good music for many more years to come.

Nevemore

Perhaps not the most "extreme" metal band out there in terms of vocals, but they are certainly one of the heaviest I've had the pleasure to hear. Hailing from Seattle, Warrel Dane has done a terrific job keeping Nevermore strong as well as making a dope ass solo album in 2008. Their 2010 album, The Obsidian Conspiracy is currently on my list of anticipated albums and apparently is slated to be released on my 22nd birthday. I still hold their 2nd studio album, The Politics of Ecstasy as their most powerful and still blows my mind whenever I hear it, especially with headphones. With an incredibly close knit line up (something that is a rarity in metal), it really helps in making the albums seem all that more special, to know that these guys can stand each other for nearly 20 years to continue making music.

Opeth

Probably the most respected extreme metal band out right now and for good measure. Mikhael Akerfeldt has some of the best death vocals I've ever heard, yet his clean vocals are quite amazing too as illustrated on their 2003 album Damnation. It has been my dream to record an album on par with the sound dynamics of Opeth, but I just do not have that solid of a grasp on the technical side of the music that all the members seem to have. They're one of those rare bands that has never released a "bad" album, certainly some have been stronger than others, yet each of them is enjoyable in their own way. I've seen them live once and would be willing to travel to see them again because it was such a powerful performance back in 2006 that literally fucked my hearing up for a week.

Hypocrisy

I really have to give it to these guys for turning their career around the way they did. When they started out they were nothing more than your typical Swedish death metal band singing songs about Satanism and how Christianity is flawed and full of hypocrites. After booting out their original vocalist, Masse Broberg in 1994 and installing Peter Tagtgren in his place did they begin to see critical achievement. Their subject matter started to drift away from Satanism and into the paranormal and extraterrestrial which really set them apart from A LOT of the competition. They've been going strong ever since with Tagtgren forming his industrial metal side project PAIN as well as starting The Abyss Studio which has recorded some of the biggest names of extreme metal. Their most recent album, A Taste of Extreme Divinity was one of my favourite metal albums of the year and just goes to prove how they've been mastering their sound over the years. Definitely a band I need to see live.

Kataklysm

Canada has quite a misunderstood metal scene that does not receive much attention from the Canadian mainstream music outlets, and even less from the alternative ones since the Montreal indie rock scene exploded years ago. Regardless of that, there is a bulging metal scene in Canada that has a very dedicated fan base which help keep the bands afloat. Not only that, the bands start to become very intertwined with one and other, sharing gigs, touring with one and other, and promoting each other. Katakylsm is one of the forefront Canadian extreme metal bands to never really make it big. While Cryptopsy has found acceptance amongst a lot of American metal heads, Katakylsm seems to fall short of international acclaim which is sad because of how fucking good they are. Their 2004 album, Serenity in Fire is easily their best, yet it seems to go unheard outside of the Canadian borders. Martin Maurais goes to show us why they're sometimes referred to as "Northern Hyperblast" with his heavy usage of blast beats, which does receive criticism from some, but I still love it.

Therion

Starting off as a death metal band but turning more into a symphonic metal band later on in their career, they really made the jump from one style to another seem natural, graceful, and elegant. Their orchestral arrangements for their later albums are very strategically placed that add a whole new element to the band and Christofer Johnsson comes across as an incredibly intelligent and interesting man who I'd love to sit down and have a drink with and pick his brain about his thoughts on metal and the world. I was very upset when I found they were playing Vancouver a few years ago and I couldn't go because I was leaving for the UK a week earlier, however along with Hypocrisy, they are a band that I am determined to see live, even if I have to travel to Wacken to do it.

Nile

Nile were more of a recent breakthrough for me due to their extreme guttural vocals. I had known of them since about 2006, yet whenever I put them on I had to stop after two or three songs because I just could not get into Karl Sanders' singing style. Normally I'm pretty good with the death vocals, but his was extreme to the point where the lyrics could not offer anything concrete because it seemed like every other word was different. However after constant listening a breakthrough seemed to happen earlier in 2008 when I was spinning Ithyphallic and I found myself sort of singing a long. My friend who introduced me to them kept on telling me to keep an ear out for the melodic parts, but it wasn't until that day that I actually heard them. Since then my opinion of Nile has only increased, especially when you really sit down and think... here's a band from South Carolina of all places playing Egyptian themed technical death metal being fronted by a fat white guy who sometimes sings in ancient Egyptian. That's pretty impressive and totally destroys most people's misconceptions about the Southern United States and for that has earned my respect and admiration.

Ulver/ Arcturus

Sure this may be cheating but I cannot choose between the two as I think they're some of the most intriguing bands from the Norwegian black metal scene. Both bands started at roughly the same time releasing a black metal debut album before departing from the sound to include other styles. Ulver's sophomore album, Kveldssanger was more of a folk album with black metal ambiance in the background and Arcturus' sophomore (Las Masquerade Infernale) was more avant-garde than anything else. As the years passed for both bands their broadened sound really started to develop and their mastery of new sounds was beginning to shine. In 2000, Ulver released Perdition City which was more electronic and ambient with elements of trip-hop than anything else. In 1999, Arcturus released their compilation album Disguised Masters that was far more ambient and electronic than their previous albums and included a "gangstafied" version of "Masters of Disguise" from their previous album. Both bands have since experimented further with different genres, yet here's the kicker, they did them well. To see a Norwegian black metal band put out electronic glitchy sounding albums is quite the feat in and of itself, but for them to actually sound good is something altogether. While Arcturus has shifted back towards more avant-garde sounding metal, they still contain elements of their more experimental earlier material. Both Arcturus and Ulver go to show us that sometimes watching a band change to drastically different styles can have very positive consequences.

Scissorman · 01-16-2010, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spawn of Cthullu

Mine are, in no particular order :

Agalloch
Dissection
Fen
Opeth
Katatonia (early)
My Dying Bride
The Morningside
Estatic Fear
Godgory
Bloodbath

what is so extreme about My Dying Bride and Estatic Fear?

zeppy111 · 01-16-2010, 02:42 PM

I am not sure about ten and the genre debacle, but:

1. Death
2. Nile
2. a) Carcass
3. Opeth
4. Emperor
5. Trinacria
6. Opeth
7. Bloodbath
8. Wurzt
9... Im out...

Death, Carcass and Nile are streaks ahead of everyone else.

almauro · 01-17-2010, 08:35 AM

Nile
Behemoth
Immolation
Pig Destroyer
Converge
Immortal
Enslaved
Anaal Nathrakh
Meshuggah
Gorguts

Except for Anaal, these bands all have kick-butt drummers.

Antonio · 01-17-2010, 09:10 AM

The Red Chord
with so many technical bands today, these guys are probably the only band i've heard who can truly encompass chaos in their music. Guy's gutteral smoker's vocals add onto the messy riffing and jazzy musicianship making what i can only attribute to a mental patient's nightmare. hell, their second album was based on the singer's experience working for a mental hospital. definately one of, if not my favorite extreme band.

Superjoint Ritual
one of the first really heavy bands i ever heard. while it may have just been a side project for Phil Anselmo, i would listen to Use Once or Destroy over any Pantera record any day. the riffs are at the same time sludgy and thrashing making a sludge/hardcore punk hybrid which throughout the aforementioned album barely lets up in its heaviness. Phil's vocals on here are in my opinion better than he was in Pantera, releasing all sorts of rage and brutality in a way i never thought could have been before.

Cryptopsy
this band takes technicality and calculating their music to such an extreme that i can only be at awe in their prescence. i'm not a stickler for technicality either, but with a band like this, the level in which they craft their songs are astonishing. and while i still am trying to comprehend many of their songs, just trying to figure it out is fun and exciting in itself.

Death
one of the first, and one of the best. Chuck Schuldiner's vision to take heavyness to the nth degree and at the same time up the musicianship and add some experimentation, making a sound and feel that alot of other bands today wished they could be. god bless this band, for without them this music would never be the same.

Behemoth
i'm not that into Black Metal. sometimes it would feel as if some of the bands are more about their image than making good music. still, that doesn't stop me from trying to find some music there that i may like. enter Behemoth. from the vocals, instrumentation and overall sound, this trio can fuck shit up like nobody's business.

Between The Buried And Me
i know, i know, there's plenty of times and songs where they're not extreme, maybe even where they're just soft, but let me tell you. when they get heavy, they get REALLY HEAVY. songs like Sun of Nothing, Alaska, and Ad a Dglgmut can rival many death, black, technical, and overall extreme bands out there.

Necrophagist
i was very surprised when i first heard these guys, in how they not only kept the heaviness and death metal attributes, but crafted their music with such melodicism and precision. you'd imagine that and emphasis on coherant instrumentation would lower the tone of their music to not being as heavy, but surprisingly enough they don't falter.

Napalm Death
while i'm not the biggest grindcore fan and truthfully not a big fan of their earlier records, one thing in this group that really drew me to these guys was one thing. Barney. ****ing. Greenway. i swear to god when i first heard him it sounded like the Apocalypse getting punched in the gut by the fist of God. the rest of the band, especially in that incarnation, really backs it up and themselves bring some kickass riffage and heaviness to the table.

Meshuggah
these guys have formed and perfected a style, and while i do admit, not every song is gold, their more recent work shows a growth and evolution in songwriting which still keeps it's trademark calculated groove while exploring new ground.

Strapping Young Lad
FUCKING. WALL. OF SOUND. not just that, but also Devin Townsend's vocals. this is the only time i feel that i can listen to music so fast and so hard hitting with vocals that are actually clean and coherant. not saying clean vocals are bad, but for this type of music i would never expect to be as into them as i would be for SYL.

i know some of these don't necessarily fit the style, but do feel that many of these bands have extreme enough tendencies to warrant being on the list.

jackhammer · 01-17-2010, 04:18 PM

It would be nice if everyone followed Loathsome Pete's lead and actually say WHY you like these bands instead of posting a list of bands that is fuck boring to read.

Antonio · 01-17-2010, 05:46 PM

ok then, just edited my original post.

333 · 01-17-2010, 05:49 PM

Can someone define extreme metal for me?

01-16-2010, 10:14 AM	#1 (permalink)
Spawn of Cthullu Groupie Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 14	Top 10 Extreme Metal bands Mine are, in no particular order : Agalloch Dissection Fen Opeth Katatonia (early) My Dying Bride The Morningside Estatic Fear Godgory Bloodbath

01-16-2010, 01:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Unrelenting True to username Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1,100	Zyklon Opeth Cryptopsy Khold Suffocation Bloodbath Nile Neuraxis Ahab Isis __________________ My lastfm

01-16-2010, 01:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
LoathsomePete Cardboard Box Realtor Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hobb's End Posts: 7,648	Hmm let's see... Strapping Young Lad I was lucky to discover these guys when I did because had I not I would have most likely dropped out of school. Devy's anger intense lyrics became incredibly cathartic for me, helping me vent my frustration that I found myself constantly surrounded by. Add a little dose of humour for good measure as well as being from the same city as me made CD's easier to find as well as fans. One day I hope to meet Devin and thank him for making such incredibly powerful music to help me when things got too stressful and I needed to bang my head and scream my lungs out. Death If I could obtain at least 10% of Chuck Schuldiner's awesomeness then I'd be perfectly content with my life at that point. Known as the "father of death metal", he fronted the incredibly popular band Death. He sadly died of brain cancer in 2001, three years before I discovered Scream Bloody Gore at a local CD store and was intrigued by the simplicity of the name and the album art. I still hold that their last album, The Sound of Perseverance is their best, even if it does depart from the "traditional" death metal sound. I try and spin some Death albums at least once a month if not more. Enslaved Without a doubt my favourite black metal band that are still going strong and expanding their sound. I have a very "love/hate" relationship with most black metal bands, and have come across many people over the last six years who wear their hatred for black metal on their sleeves (when they're wearing sleeves). I have converted almost all of them into believers that black metal is more than just a bunch of xenophobic pricks. Their 2003 album, Below the Lights was my first black metal album that I heard and kept, and have been sharing it with people ever since. Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson are two of the best musicians of the genre and I hope they continue to make good music for many more years to come. Nevemore Perhaps not the most "extreme" metal band out there in terms of vocals, but they are certainly one of the heaviest I've had the pleasure to hear. Hailing from Seattle, Warrel Dane has done a terrific job keeping Nevermore strong as well as making a dope ass solo album in 2008. Their 2010 album, The Obsidian Conspiracy is currently on my list of anticipated albums and apparently is slated to be released on my 22nd birthday. I still hold their 2nd studio album, The Politics of Ecstasy as their most powerful and still blows my mind whenever I hear it, especially with headphones. With an incredibly close knit line up (something that is a rarity in metal), it really helps in making the albums seem all that more special, to know that these guys can stand each other for nearly 20 years to continue making music. Opeth Probably the most respected extreme metal band out right now and for good measure. Mikhael Akerfeldt has some of the best death vocals I've ever heard, yet his clean vocals are quite amazing too as illustrated on their 2003 album Damnation. It has been my dream to record an album on par with the sound dynamics of Opeth, but I just do not have that solid of a grasp on the technical side of the music that all the members seem to have. They're one of those rare bands that has never released a "bad" album, certainly some have been stronger than others, yet each of them is enjoyable in their own way. I've seen them live once and would be willing to travel to see them again because it was such a powerful performance back in 2006 that literally fucked my hearing up for a week. Hypocrisy I really have to give it to these guys for turning their career around the way they did. When they started out they were nothing more than your typical Swedish death metal band singing songs about Satanism and how Christianity is flawed and full of hypocrites. After booting out their original vocalist, Masse Broberg in 1994 and installing Peter Tagtgren in his place did they begin to see critical achievement. Their subject matter started to drift away from Satanism and into the paranormal and extraterrestrial which really set them apart from A LOT of the competition. They've been going strong ever since with Tagtgren forming his industrial metal side project PAIN as well as starting The Abyss Studio which has recorded some of the biggest names of extreme metal. Their most recent album, A Taste of Extreme Divinity was one of my favourite metal albums of the year and just goes to prove how they've been mastering their sound over the years. Definitely a band I need to see live. Kataklysm Canada has quite a misunderstood metal scene that does not receive much attention from the Canadian mainstream music outlets, and even less from the alternative ones since the Montreal indie rock scene exploded years ago. Regardless of that, there is a bulging metal scene in Canada that has a very dedicated fan base which help keep the bands afloat. Not only that, the bands start to become very intertwined with one and other, sharing gigs, touring with one and other, and promoting each other. Katakylsm is one of the forefront Canadian extreme metal bands to never really make it big. While Cryptopsy has found acceptance amongst a lot of American metal heads, Katakylsm seems to fall short of international acclaim which is sad because of how fucking good they are. Their 2004 album, Serenity in Fire is easily their best, yet it seems to go unheard outside of the Canadian borders. Martin Maurais goes to show us why they're sometimes referred to as "Northern Hyperblast" with his heavy usage of blast beats, which does receive criticism from some, but I still love it. Therion Starting off as a death metal band but turning more into a symphonic metal band later on in their career, they really made the jump from one style to another seem natural, graceful, and elegant. Their orchestral arrangements for their later albums are very strategically placed that add a whole new element to the band and Christofer Johnsson comes across as an incredibly intelligent and interesting man who I'd love to sit down and have a drink with and pick his brain about his thoughts on metal and the world. I was very upset when I found they were playing Vancouver a few years ago and I couldn't go because I was leaving for the UK a week earlier, however along with Hypocrisy, they are a band that I am determined to see live, even if I have to travel to Wacken to do it. Nile Nile were more of a recent breakthrough for me due to their extreme guttural vocals. I had known of them since about 2006, yet whenever I put them on I had to stop after two or three songs because I just could not get into Karl Sanders' singing style. Normally I'm pretty good with the death vocals, but his was extreme to the point where the lyrics could not offer anything concrete because it seemed like every other word was different. However after constant listening a breakthrough seemed to happen earlier in 2008 when I was spinning Ithyphallic and I found myself sort of singing a long. My friend who introduced me to them kept on telling me to keep an ear out for the melodic parts, but it wasn't until that day that I actually heard them. Since then my opinion of Nile has only increased, especially when you really sit down and think... here's a band from South Carolina of all places playing Egyptian themed technical death metal being fronted by a fat white guy who sometimes sings in ancient Egyptian. That's pretty impressive and totally destroys most people's misconceptions about the Southern United States and for that has earned my respect and admiration. Ulver/ Arcturus Sure this may be cheating but I cannot choose between the two as I think they're some of the most intriguing bands from the Norwegian black metal scene. Both bands started at roughly the same time releasing a black metal debut album before departing from the sound to include other styles. Ulver's sophomore album, Kveldssanger was more of a folk album with black metal ambiance in the background and Arcturus' sophomore (Las Masquerade Infernale) was more avant-garde than anything else. As the years passed for both bands their broadened sound really started to develop and their mastery of new sounds was beginning to shine. In 2000, Ulver released Perdition City which was more electronic and ambient with elements of trip-hop than anything else. In 1999, Arcturus released their compilation album Disguised Masters that was far more ambient and electronic than their previous albums and included a "gangstafied" version of "Masters of Disguise" from their previous album. Both bands have since experimented further with different genres, yet here's the kicker, they did them well. To see a Norwegian black metal band put out electronic glitchy sounding albums is quite the feat in and of itself, but for them to actually sound good is something altogether. While Arcturus has shifted back towards more avant-garde sounding metal, they still contain elements of their more experimental earlier material. Both Arcturus and Ulver go to show us that sometimes watching a band change to drastically different styles can have very positive consequences. __________________ Last.FM 101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too

01-16-2010, 02:42 PM	#5 (permalink)
zeppy111 16, so? Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Africa Posts: 630	I am not sure about ten and the genre debacle, but: 1. Death 2. Nile 2. a) Carcass 3. Opeth 4. Emperor 5. Trinacria 6. Opeth 7. Bloodbath 8. Wurzt 9... Im out... Death, Carcass and Nile are streaks ahead of everyone else. __________________ My Blog (album of the day): http://musicfromthesouth.blogspot.com

01-17-2010, 08:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
almauro Way Out There Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 850	Nile Behemoth Immolation Pig Destroyer Converge Immortal Enslaved Anaal Nathrakh Meshuggah Gorguts Except for Anaal, these bands all have kick-butt drummers. __________________ rock n music blog

01-17-2010, 04:18 PM	#8 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	It would be nice if everyone followed Loathsome Pete's lead and actually say WHY you like these bands instead of posting a list of bands that is fuck boring to read. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

01-17-2010, 05:49 PM	#10 (permalink)
333 Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 965	Can someone define extreme metal for me?