Underrated Guitarists Rock/Metal...
 

Either I suck at searching for threads, or there actually isn't a thread for this and my search skills are pro. So yeah, anyway...

Everybody has their lists of musicians that they hold in high regard, and nobody is safe from having their opinion of those musicians analyzed or called out for being straight up BS, in the naysayers own opinion, respectively.

Guitarists. There are really great ones, really amazing ones, alright ones, mediocre ones, and others that just get by. There are bands out there that are hated the world over, but some of those bands have members, or just single members that are unfairly judged as being lame due to the band they're associated with. Slipknot. Joey Jordison is a highly overrated drummer like Lars from Metallica, but Jim Root is a pretty above average, to great guitar player who happens to play in an average or mediocre band. Wes Borland is an exceptionally great guitar player that plays in a band the is unfortunately hindered due to their singer, because without Fred Durst, Limp Bizkit just might be a pretty good group with the right singer.

Then there is Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge fame. The guy can play a mean guitar, in my own opinion. I think that was confirmed at least for me when he, along with the other members of Creed, minus Scott Stapp, formed Alter Bridge and it seemed as though Mark Tremonti could finally have the room he wanted to show the world some of what he is capable of doing as a guitarist. He's honestly one of the most underrated guitarist in Rock/Metal, but that's my opinion on him.

Matt Heafy, singer and guitarist in Trivium I feel deserves a bit more credit over a lot of the hate he gets. He's not by any means the most accomplished guitarist in the Metal world, but he knows what he's doing, nonetheless. It's just too bad that both times I saw Trivium in concert, I was a bit let down by how they sounded and their overall stage presence...snooze fest, and I like the band too so that is saying something.

Michael Schøn Poulsen of Volbeat fame. That guy is another guitarist that I feel is a bit underrated. I was stoked as hell when I got to see Volbeat in concert, up in Seattle, Washington back in the summer of this year. It's the best concert I have ever been to, and I've seen TOOL in concert. Volbeat was the loudest, and clearest sounding band live I have ever seen. Their stage presence was amazing. And I got to see what Michael could do, he's not just a rhythm player, he does plenty of lead too and his technique is more refined and polished than I had thought when I was just listening to the band on speakers. Damn. Volbeat, sorely underrated. That band can play ****ing Metal!

What are some of your underrated guitarist that you think deserve more credit?

This guy.

EDIT: also Plankton, or I've been at least told he's a tad skilled.

Was listening to Suicidal Tendencies debut album earlier today and remembered how killer Grant Estes is at shredding.

I don't really get your point. Are you suggesting they are overrated or underrated?

I like Joey Jordison myself. I think he's a hard hitting and solid drummer.

As far as Lars is concerned, I don't really see him as being overrated. He's been one of the best drummers in metal for decades now.

If you're speaking on if I think either Joey or Lars are either underrated or overrated, they're both overrated, moreso Joey than Lars. If you want my opinion on Lars, I'll give it. Short of it is, for me, he's always sounded like a sloppy drummer. Yeah, he hits hard. But the the way it sounds when I listen to him play, he just sounds off.

Joey is overrated just for the fact that so many people defend their opinion on him being so great, with how fast he can drum and all the things he can do. I have seen a Slipknot concert, and I agree that Joey is pretty cool to watch play. But I've seen better drummers, and he doesn't deserve every bit of praise he gets. Him being able to drum fast is by no means grounds to regard him as being one of the best drummers of all time.

Matt Heafy's problem is that he needs to quit singing. His scream is embarrassing, his Hetfield impression is dreadful, and while he doesn't have a bad clean singing voice, it's wasted playing to a stereotype. Also, that band needs some balls. They were clearly trying to break out of their metalcore prison with The Crusade and Shogun, at least to an extent, but either they ran out of juice, or they caved to their fanbase, and their next album went back to Ascendancy. The band just has no creative spirit anymore.

Sad thing, how a band like Trivium with a lot of potential to be something great and make great albums, just sort of fizzled out creatively like you said. I own every album, I'll probably keep buying their music as they release material. But, they're just not the same anymore. I loved that they were trying to branch out from metalcore, but they took a few wrong steps along the way, one being having David of Disturbed produce Vengeance Falls. Ick...

Oh, I agree about pretty much all you said about Matt; okay singing voice, but..he lacks majorly in creative areas.

Plus Heafy gets loads of acclaim. He's been on Guitar World covers countless times.

Hey yeah, he has been, now that you mention it. So maybe he's more in the category as overrated, more than underrated.

Another guitarist that comes to mind that is a bit underrated, would be Koichi Fukuda, original guitarist for Static-X. I have always thought that guy had neat ideas for the bands songs, and when he did play a solo, even though most were short, they were tasteful, they had substance to them. I feel he is more accomplished than people give him credit for.