Metal For Life ???

5FDP are great. Seen them live back in 2011 and they put on a fantastic show.

 

I'm 51 and started listening to hard rock and metal around 1978 with Deep Purple and Rainbow, which lead to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, UFO, and Scorpions. I got heavy into 70's prog which lead to Marillion, Pallas, Twelfth Night, etc. At the same time I still listened to Metallica, Anthrax, Twisted Sister and others from the mid-80's. In the 90's I backed off the heavy stuff and listened to a lot of early 70's pop music (go figure). Nothing real heavy until TOOL. That brought me back a bit. The past few years I've dabbled in metal here and there. I like some of the heavy Post Rock bands. I'm also attracted to bands that are doing something that I would consider extreme: Maximum The Hormone and (especially) Protest The Hero.

 

Not too sure about this.

 

5FDP WERE great. Then they got all soft and melodic like so many others (A7X)

 

One of the things that really brought me back to metal was the Bobby Liebling documentary "Last Days Here". I don't think I'd ever heard Pentagram before that film and I went out and bought every album. Great band and they became my gateway to the underground stoner/doom community.

 

Im 38 and likewise got into metal back in the 80s via Maiden etc and moved onto thrash. Aside from Metallica releases Ive purchased no new metal since 1994. But I still play my old favorites regularly. Playing Slayer in the morning on my way to work keeps me sane.

 

42 here. I still love the metal that I grew up on ie. Sabbath, Maiden, Priest. However, I moved away from following metal as I entered my 20's. I'm slowly getting back into metal via bands such as Nightwish.

 

Sweet fancy Moses, that was dreadful.

 

I'm 47 and although not solely a metalhead enjoy many groups of that genre from the 80's and 90's both then and now. I find myself mainly going back to that period of time and not really listening to the newer stuff. I have given an effort to listen to Avenged Sevenfold and others of the ilk but just can't get beyond the cookie monster vocals that seem to be universal today.

 

I call that the kitchen sink approach, throw a bunch of influences (Pantera,Slipknot,Slayer,nu metal) into a blender and add a dash of "slaughtering" a classic rock tune and presto! Instant crap..

 

True...

 

My appreciation for metal goes back a long way, but I probably buy more of it now, at 45, than I ever have. Yes, the thrash era (Slayer, Metallica, etc.) is where I cut my teeth. But these days, I find myself drawn to both the high-energy stuff (High On Fire, Kvelertak, Ghost, etc.) and the doom sector (Ahab, Pallbearer, Subrosa, etc.)

The scene only gets more varied and more interesting as time passes, in my opinion. Granted, I reject plenty of modern metal styles (e.g., black metal). But I think it's probably the most interesting genre of music going today.

 

I was almost exclusively listening to metal from around 1999-2004, before I had had enough and started to dislike it immensely. But in the last couple of years I've been slowly getting back into it, and now I'm loving it again. Maybe it's a cyclical thing?

 

The problem with an all-metal diet is that it can get monotonous without some variation. If it's always HEAVY and LOUD without any dynamics it loses it's punch and effectiveness. Sorta like listening to brickwalled cds loud. Unpleasant. I tend to like my metal these days in bite size doses, mixed with arty pretension and druggy splendor. Stuff like Slayer is just too dumb, angry and macho sometimes.

Now when I want 'eavy, I reach for some Melvins or Mr. Bungle or King Crimson or Earth or some atonal free jazz. Now that stuff is heavy! And angry!

Having said that, I will always have time for the good stuff like Sabbath and Opeth. I just leave the angry, pimpled teenage-boy-who-ain't-getting-laid stuff to the younger head-banging sociopaths.

 

Here are a few metal discs from the last few years I really love:

Skintrade 'Refuled' (best album of 2014 so far)
Impera 'Legacy of Life' & 'Pieces of Eden'
Axel Rudi Pell 'Circle of The Oath' & 'The Crest'
Black Country Communion 'Afterglow'
California Breed s/t
S.U.N. 'Something Unto Nothing'
Unruly Child 'Worlds Collide'
W.E.T. 'Rise Up'

Not to mention Whitesnake and Accept have both returned with a vengeance.

 

I have to say all the replies in here are making me grin. It's great to read these comments. Maybe i have been a bit hung up about it all and need to just chill a bit and listen to whatever. I have still bought a bit of Metal here and there. The last being the latest Priest i think. I didn't give it much of a chance because the mastering pissed me off. Must give it a proper listen. Newer bands that I have enjoyed include Argus, Christian Mistress, Atlantean Kodex....and the reborn Hell. Oh. and yeah...Lemmy does consider Motorhead a rock n' roll band. I think you can call them Metal though, because the Metal media and fans always took them them to heart. Also, they're a huge influence on the likes of Metallica, Anthrax etc.

 

42 and still there.
Still try to follow European speed/power/heavy scene (so-called "kindergarden" metal) and listen to the classics starting from NWOBHM and later stuff.
Never got into really heavy stuff.

 

I'm 42 and grew up on all the stuff everyone else has mentioned. I think the best metal to come out within the last 20 years was made by Nevermore. For me, they were heads and tails above everyone and everything that was put out in that time frame. Now that Sanctuary is back together and is going to have a new album out this month, I'm anxious for that as well.

Every album that Death Angel has put out since they got back together has been amazing; far superior than their pre-break up albums (including Act III). Testament's "The Gathering" is probably, IMO, the best of the thrash metal bands (including "Reign In Blood"). The EP and full length album that Newsted put out last year was really good and I really like all the Volbeat stuff so, there is newer stuff to be found.

Iron Maiden has really dipped down for me because I find every album after "Brave New World" to be worse than the last. When AMOLAD came out and people were saying there were Zeppelin influences in it, that just killed it for me. I like Zeppelin but I don't need it in my Iron Maiden. I like the new Judas Priest disc but find the singing to be a bit wanting and "March of the Damned" is one of the worst Priest songs ever.

 

I still listen to the type of music I dug growing up in my teens and twenties and will never change. It's what I like and see no reason to outgrow hard rock/metal/classic rock any more than outgrowing a taste for a good steak (except for the cholesterol/health reasons!).

Metal is one of those genres I love (I am mostly into anything with great guitar but also has good melodies) but the definition of what is metal seems to have shifted, like a moving target, so what used to be called metal is no longer considered "metal", and what most people think of as "metal" today, is not something I dig. So the OP's question is kind of a matter of semantics to me.

In the past "metal" was a term applied to bands I dig like Deep Purple, UFO, Rush, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, MSG, Thin Lizzy, Scorpions, Saxon, Blue Oyster Cult, Ozzy, Dio, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest, King's X, Led Zeppelin, Nazareth, Guns'n'Roses, Triumph, Rainbow, Def Leppard, Queensryche, Tesla, Dokken, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, etc etc. All of those bands had songs/playing that I could relate to, they made the type of music that I liked then (songwriting, guitar solos, decent vocals) and still like now.

But most of what the term "metal" has evolved to be called in the last 20 years does nothing for me at all (speed metal, death metal, nu metal, etc) - bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Pantera, Slayer, Slipknot, Helloween, Mercyful Fate, Opeth (their cookie monster vocal albums). Those all just give me a headache.

The new bands that I get turned onto today that would probably have been called "metal" back in the '70's or '80's are now referred to as "hard rock" instead rather than metal. Bands like Free Fall or Audrey Horne. To me they are "metal". To most people up here I guess they would just be "hard rock" though.

And that is not to say that I like all of the "old school" metal bands. I hate KISS. Don't like much of any Judas Priest after Stained Glass. Can't stand most of the '80's-ish L.A. hair metal type bands like Motely Cure, Poison, Warrant, Cinderella, WASP, Skid Row, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, etc. Interestingly though, I always hated Winger - and still hate their early albums - but I love their recent stuff, go figure...similar with Europe (their recent albums with John Norum back in the fold are all great, they've dialed down the bad hair metal keyboard heavy poofiness in favor of bluesy-guitar oriented heavy rock - or is it metal? I dunno).

Btw, there is a thread up here already called something like "the all purpose heavy metal/hard rock thread" where we are discussing & trying to turn others onto some "metal/hard rock" bands or albums that others might enjoy. Folks looking to discover unheard metal/hard rock bands might want to check that thread out.

 

I am 39. I did not listen to metal at all from the time I was 19 or 20 (I don't consider Sabbath, Zeppelin or Purple to be metal) until recently. I am going back with fresh ears, and finding I enjoy it a lot. Sometimes you go through phases, or just need a break.

 

48 and still listen to heavy stuff a lot. It's my favorite genre, really.

I've found I prefer to listen to the 'classic' stuff (70's and 80's) and the stuff inspired from that now more than anything else these days. Stoner, psych, and atmospheric black metal are my favorites in the metal genres these days.

I don't see my music tastes changing much. I still don't like jazz or big band or whatever old fogeys resort to or whatever. It will be interesting to see what I'm listening to in 20 years if I live that long ...

Listening some Exciter 'Heavy Metal Maniac' in honor of this thread.

 

There are several great new bands with a 70's type sound that I discovered by reading other threads on this forum. A few bands i'd recommend are Kadavar, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats (someone said this band sounds like early Sabbath with John Lennon on vocals and it does!), Scorpion Child, Mount Carmel (not metal but it has a great late 60's sound), The Sword (not a new band but it does a good job carrying the Metal torch. Lars Ulrich said few years back that this was his favorite new band).

 

This is actually a great point. You're totally right. The definition has largely changed. I worked in a big record store for many years and i can remember clearly that bands like that started getting filed in the Rock/Pop section, rather then Metal. Stuff like Dio ! It used to wreck my head
I love all that stuff that you mentioned, and when i was growing up it was considered Metal. Covered by the Metal press etc.

 

I'm not particularly a metal head, but at 50 I still do appreciate my classic heavy and hard rock I was a big fan of back in the 70's (to be frank, I'm not exactly sure what constitutes 'metal' as opposed to these genres I'm more familiar with). In fact, I appreciate and enjoy practically everything I have ever listened to and loved, so I can surely understand and sympathize with the notion that one can go through life without ever getting bored with one's favourite music. Having said that, I can also understand that one can grow tired of one's favourites even though that is something I have yet to gain first-hand experience of. Nevertheless, I don't think metal (whatever it is) is any more music for only the young as any other genre - no matter what the average age of the typical metal fan is.

 

I was convinced Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats was a female singing when I first heard them. The vocals are the most distinguishing factor comparing them to other retro heavy psych acts, IMO.