Metalheads? anybody?

[Evilyn]

As a sort of rule of thumb I tent to avoid Swedish black metal, as it tends to be a bit crap.
there's literally only Bathory and Arkanum that I've heard, who I consider to be any good.

maybe that's just a difference of taste with black metal.

but i've heard very little from Sweden that i disliked- even the generally shitty Gothenburg bands put out some good albums (At the Gates especially).

Other than (albeit a sort of second wave of) hip hop and boybands, what else actually came out of the 90's?

death metal, black metal, sludge, "post" metal, funeral doom, etc.

i guess this just shows more that metal has too many ****ing genres but in general i think that the 90's was metal at its most ambitious.

 

[Hammerheart]

I seem to be in the minority who dislikes sweedish black metal, but the likes of Marduk, Dissection, Dark Funeral ect do nothing for me.

And the 90's comment was sort of referring to the other than metal comment.
So I was already taking metal as a given.

 

[Evilyn]

well i'm not fond of Marduk or Dark Funeral either. but stuff like this and this. and Storm of the Light's Bane is one my favorite black metal albums out right.

 

[Hammerheart]

Forgot about Watain, they don't grab me either. I enjoyed them live, but to be fair, I think that was more down to the stage show and Bathory cover than it was their actual music.

Sacramentum sounded ok, but nothing grabbed my attention really. But I couldn't explain why/

Are you familliar with Arckanum? Really simple yet it just works so well.

 

[Evilyn]

that Arckanum song was actually really, really good.

also even though Mayhem only has like one original member left apparently "Necrobutcher" or whatever stupid name the bassist goes by is going to be exorcised on some tv show. i don't know if it's like a sitcom or an actual show or what but yeah.

 

[Cain Nightroad]

I'll give you shoegaze, but I thought you were referring to the bigger picture of genres as a whole when you said better than metal, rather than individual bands.

Sorry, I meant that there are so many good non-metal groups that made great music in the 90s compared to the good metal groups that made good music.

i guess this just shows more that metal has too many ****ing genres but in general i think that the 90's was metal at its most ambitious.

There were some class metal acts in the 90s, but I feel that 90s metal and its child genres were overall worse than those of the 80s. 90s metal partially gave birth to groups like Korn and Limp Bizkit that are even worse than pop-metal acts of the 80s like Warrant and Poison.

 

[palingensia]

breaking the 6666 replies sorry guys.

90s had grunge, which was kinda a good thing. i mean sure it started in the late 80s (ultramega ok was 1988) but it really only caught on in the early 90s.

anyway megaherz have a new album coming out in october, which is amazing. also reminds me that oomph! still haven't released that new album of theirs. :/

 

[Evilyn]

80's started all the metal genres. 90's experimented with them, and some experimentation were good, and some bad. i'll leave it at that.

on a different subject.

2011 albums i have now:
Acid Witch - Stoned
Alestorm - Back Through Time (it'll probably take me a year to get around to this)
Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Cianide - Gods of Death
Deceased - Surreal Overdose
Destruction - Day of Reckoning
Desultory - Counting Our Scars
Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory
Gigan - Quasi-Hallucogenic Sonic Landscapes
Havok - Time Is Up
Jesu - Ascension
Mammoth Grinder/Hatred Surge - Split
Miasmal - Miasmal
Pentagram - Last Rites
Revolting - In Grisly Rapture
Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command
Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

(plus maybe a few others)

ones i'm looking forward to (off the top of my head)
Bastard Priest
Vektor
Absu
Gorguts

ones i'm looking into
Orchid - Capricorn
Blood Ceremony - Living With the Ancients
Beyond Creation - The Aura (skeptical about modern tech death but i've heard positive things so why not)

 

[Hammerheart]

Sorry, I meant that there are so many good non-metal groups that made great music in the 90s compared to the good metal groups that made good music.

There were some class metal acts in the 90s, but I feel that 90s metal and its child genres were overall worse than those of the 80s. 90s metal partially gave birth to groups like Korn and Limp Bizkit that are even worse than pop-metal acts of the 80s like Warrant and Poison.

I guess that makes more sense.

I think as CT said, the 80's laid the foundations, with traditional and thrash being the only genres really to peak in that decade, but you sort of had your proto black and death metal bands, and the early 90's is when both black and death metal had it's heyday.

I just did a smart playlist in itunes, and I've made a list of few notable 90's albums that I consider worth hearing.

Spoiler: big pointless list

Anathema - Judgement
Arcane Sun - Arcane Sun
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule
Bathory - Hammerheart
Bathory - Twilight of the Gods
Blind Guardian - Imagination From the Other Side
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Branikald - Stormheit
Branikald - Хладавзор
Burzum - Filosofem
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Cathedral - Carnival Bizzare
Cathedral - Ethereal Mirror
Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium
Coroner - Mental Vortex
Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Demolition Hammer - Epedemic of Violence
Dimmu Borgir - For All Tid
Dismemeber - Like an Everflowing Stream
Dream Theater -Awake
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2
Edguy - Theatre of Salvation
Electrocution - Inside the Unreal
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Enslaved - Vikingligr Veldi
Enotmbed - Left Hand Path
Falkenbach - ...Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri...
Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings
Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
In Falmes - Whoracle
Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark
Kreator - Coma of Souls
Massacre - From Beyond
Masters Hammer - Ritual
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Morbid Angel - Covenant
Nocturnus - The Key
Obituary - Cause of Death
Opeth - Morningrise
Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Skepticism - Lead and Aether
Skepticism - Stormcrowfleet
Skyforger - kauja Pie Saules
Solstice - New Dark Age
Strapping Young Lad - City
Stratovarious - Visions
Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Testament - Souls of Black
Ulver - Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr I 5 Capitler
While Heaven Wept - Sorrow of the Anegels.

Now also take into account how many classic albums there are that I don't have.
I think of all genre's I think metal as a genre has one of the highest percentages of good albums per genre than any other.
I mean hip hop you have a handful of great albums, shoegaze, you have a few bands, but with metal, (at least from my somewhat bias point of view), there seems to be quite a lot of good albums, rather than just a handful.

80's started all the metal genres. 90's experimented with them, and some experimentation were good, and some bad. i'll leave it at that.

on a different subject.

2011 albums i have now:
Acid Witch - Stoned
Alestorm - Back Through Time (it'll probably take me a year to get around to this)
Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Cianide - Gods of Death
Deceased - Surreal Overdose
Destruction - Day of Reckoning
Desultory - Counting Our Scars
Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory
Gigan - Quasi-Hallucogenic Sonic Landscapes
Havok - Time Is Up
Jesu - Ascension
Mammoth Grinder/Hatred Surge - Split
Miasmal - Miasmal
Pentagram - Last Rites
Revolting - In Grisly Rapture
Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command
Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

(plus maybe a few others)

ones i'm looking forward to (off the top of my head)
Bastard Priest
Vektor
Absu
Gorguts

ones i'm looking into
Orchid - Capricorn
Blood Ceremony - Living With the Ancients
Beyond Creation - The Aura (skeptical about modern tech death but i've heard positive things so why not)

I still need to try the Pentagram and Toxic Holocaust albums myself.


Here's my listhttp://rateyourmusic.com/list/ANNIHISLATER/annihislaters_best_of_2011/

 

[Evilyn]

[quote="Hammerheart]Masters Hammer - Ritual[/quote]
how is this btw? i've been curious of the album for a long time.

opinions out of the 2011 albums i've listened to, out of boredom:
Acid Witch - Stoned
not sure if i like this or Witchtanic Hellucinations more. it's cleaner and i think the organ interludes and pieces are a bit more prevalent, and some melodies, and at first that turned me off, but i quite like it these days. recommended for fans of doom, stoner, and/or death metal. grind fans tend to like it too.

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
standard Amon Amarth album. not very fond of melodeath but they are one of the best and most consistent at it i suppose.

Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
fantastic. sounds like the album they would have wrote between Severed Survival and Mental Funeral.

Cianide - Gods of Death
underwhelming. not bad, just not very good. they have other modern albums that are great and the single track had a catchy as hell riff at the beginning so i'm sorta disappointed.

Deceased - Surreal Overdose
this is actually really, really good. pretty unique thrashy death metal. i need to get around to the rest of their discography, which has the sorta underwhelming Luck of the Corpse and the absolutely great Fearless Undead Machines.

Destruction - Day of Reckoning
meh. average thrash with too loud production. stick with The Antichrist for newer Destruction albums.

Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory
good. that's all i have to say really. you should know what you get with Exhumed.

Havok - Time Is Up
surprisingly good. i'm not very fond of modern thrash but i like this quite a bit. i'll be checking out their previous release soon.

Jesu - Ascension
pretty.

Mammoth Grinder/Hatred Surge - Split
don't have an opinion the Hatred Surge side. the Mammoth Grinder side is heavy as hell Entombed worship.

Miasmal - Miasmal
crusties playing Carnage/early Entombed styled death metal. yeah i'm cool with that.

Revolting - In Grisly Rapture
more Swedeath worship. not as much as the previous too though, it plays with some new sounds here too, the influence is mostly because the band is actually FROM Sweden.

Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
wall of sonic noise that's absolutely crushing and suffocating in its atmosphere. it's like Immolation/Incantation had a baby with Given To the Rising era Neurosis.

Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
left off where Watching From a Distance did. pretty, longful, and ****ing depressing. some of the tracks surpass WFAD if you ask me, at times.

 

[Hammerheart]

how is this btw? i've been curious of the album for a long time.

It's alight for what it is. I suppose its like proto black metal.
They are more known for the 'cultural significance' I guess being one of the first major eastern European black metal bands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5FGi5dfvw

opinions out of the 2011 albums i've listened to, out of boredom:

I'll just do a top ten of the moment of the year I think.

The Devin Townsend Project - Ghost
Whilst I don't consider myself a fan of his solo work, I do actually quite like this. Come the end of the year I doubt it will make a top 10 though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AogEJAQKWk

Dropkick Murphys - Going out in Style
I think I'd go as far as saying that this is probably tied with The Warriors Code for my favourite Dropkick Murphys album. I can't fault it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7g3RuoreRc&ob=av2e

Falkenbach - Tiuidra
Wasn't really expecting much, but it turned out to be really good. Nothing new soundwise, but it's just consistently good throughout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpxBYCRav70
(the vinyl cover in the second half of the cover is far better than the standard cover)

Ixion - To The Void
Bought this on a bit of a whim after hearing a track on youtube. Turned out to be really good, atmospheric doom, with lots of lovely textures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-L9ZE_nTDg

Turisas - Stand up and Fight
As a fan who had sort of gone of the band, I really wasn't expecting this to be anymore than a typical playing it safe sort of album, but to be honest, I was blown away by it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHaDCcaoeWA
(the song's not the best on the album, but the last chorus is the best moment on the album, around skip to 4 and half minutes)

Twisted Tower Dire - Make it Dark
Only really got into these recently, and I was fortunate enough to get them just before the new album came out.
Top notch trad metal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo7YrPh4UTQ

While Heaven Wept - Fear of Infinity
Probably the bands worst album, which speak volumes for the quality of a band if such an album makes a top ten list. Emotive epic doom metal, but with some very prog/power metal moments too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY6TzOKI7pE

Ygg - Ygg
Stumbled upon this band completely by accident. Very sort of Walknut/Khors/Drudkh/Nokturnal mortum in sound. Just the sort of music I'm really into at the moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R0M5hRynpA

Крода - Schwarzpfad
I had always been familiar with the band, but never really liked them enough to consider them amongst my favourites.
But then I heard this album, and that all changed. I think it's absolutely fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_YFKTiEKmk

40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
Crushing, Sad, yet strangely uplifiting. Absolutely brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekg4Vdxuy3M

And as a sort of cheeky 11th, and album I found today, though it is apparently a compilation

Ulvegr - Где крови льдяной шторм
Similar to Ygg in a way, and in fact two members of Ygg feature on this album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdSJ08aphNo

 

[The Meddler]

I haven't heard many good metal albums this year, except maybe Sever The Wicked Hand by Crowbar.

I am looking forward to Antrax's Worship Music, Stand's Seven, Five Finger Death Punch's American Capitalist, Thirteen by Megadeth, and others that aren't metal.

 

[Mariya Shidou]

You know, I've forgotten what I've listened to of this year's releases save, like, four. So, uh.
-Yes - Fly from Here: Eerily impressive for a band that hasn't released a studio album in ten years and is inching closer to the "45-year-old band" mark. Their best since Drama (excepting The Ladder), but my opinion might weaken as time goes on.

-Queensryche - Dedicated to Chaos: Indeed. One of the most widely-lambasted albums, but I feel it has character, if not good songs. I can sort of see the Rage for Order elements in it, in that this territory is rare for a metal band and uses a bit more electronics than one would expect, but beyond that? Meh. About average. Still mad at FYE for setting this at $22-23 US when I went shopping for it. It was on sale for $19 US, but I hope that was just them saying "Sorry, we're dumbasses and we're trying to take the price down, but we're too ****ing arrogant to outright say it."

-Lyriel - Paranoid Circus: I actually think this was a 2010 release, but I could be wrong. I came across it while looking at videos of things Youtube said were similar to Vanden Plas. I... guess they're a folk metal band? The album is pretty good but probably by no means an essential purchase. I can't think of much to say, really...

-Tesseract - One: I really do not understand "djent," which is, I guess, a sound, or something. However, the album is pretty decent. At times, it seems like it's just being intense for intensity's sake, but otherwise it's not unacceptable. Reminds me, really, of a harsher take on Karnivool with more varied influences.

Suffice it to say, I need to backtrack and see what other 2011 releases I have, and maybe scoop up some more new music.

 

[palingensia]

i suck at ranking albums so i'll just list notable releases.

codes in the clouds - as the spirit wanes: very good post-rock, and it has an explosions in the sky feel to it at times, which is a good thing.
khuda - iecava: more post-rock, but sort of pushing the boundaries between prog rock and post-rock. it's really good material, especially for just a guitarist and a drummer. it feels like a natural progression from palingensia too which is good.
leaves' eyes - meredead: i was surprised by how good this is tbh; i think it's their best release yet. symphonic metal btw.
radiohead - the king of limbs: very underwhelming on first listen but it's a massive grower. it's better than pablo honey but that's not saying much. :U
sleepy.ab - mother goose: so much good post-rock this year, and this is shoegazey with a japanese spin on it. really quite good i have to say.
stream of passion - darker days: aoty for me atm. really good symphonic / prog metal, and i like that they can write good material without arjen around.
ulcerate - the destroyers of all: agreeing with evan, this is a crushing album. i don't really see it as atmospheric death metal, more a fusion of death metal and post-metal, which is probably why i like it.
wo fat - noche del chupacabra: groovy as **** stoner metal.
yes - fly from here: i, like mariya, was very surprised by how good this is considering it is a 60s prog band.

i have 56 2011 albums thus far, and that's from what is imo the bad half of the year. bring on meshuggah / opeth / cynic / gojira / jeff loomis / etc etc.

 

[mitchman_93]

Speaking of 2011 albums, some albums that are due this year are shaping up to be great from the singles. Edguy especially, and hopefully the album continues in the light of robin hood and nobody's hero. Going back in time though, god damn the 80s were a great time for metal. So much **** I still haven't come to terms with yet, and I mean a lot.

 

[Mariya Shidou]

leaves' eyes - meredead: i was surprised by how good this is tbh; i think it's their best release yet. symphonic metal btw.

Have listened to this band only slightly. May have to look again.

stream of passion - darker days: aoty for me atm. really good symphonic / prog metal, and i like that they can write good material without arjen around.

I'd expect no-Arjen Arjen bands to be able to write significantly more concise material without him around to inflate ****. Is this about right?

yes - fly from here: i, like mariya, was very surprised by how good this is considering it is a 60s prog band.

i have 56 2011 albums thus far, and that's from what is imo the bad half of the year. bring on meshuggah / opeth / cynic / gojira / jeff loomis / etc etc.

What is odd about the album really is that I think the new singer sounds better than Jon Anderson probably does these days. Considering their current keyboardist is, iirc, Rick Wakeman's son, there was no reason to doubt that. And the other members? Squire/Howe/White. You expect them to **** up?

Yeah. Anyway I'm kind of curious about what else you've picked up this year.

 

[palingensia]

actually i consider stream of passion's first album (the one with arjen) their best, and he seems to have been quite restrictive on himself since the tracks are all in the 3-5 minute range. and fair call about yes really, but i don't tend to pay attention to lineups so i wouldn't know. :U

i'll just dump my 2011 albums in this here spoiler tag:

Spoiler: 2011

acid witch - stoned: death / doom metal with a stonery feel.
amorphis - the beginning of times: this wasn't bad, but amorphis's prog metal is hit or miss i've found.
and so i watch you from afar - gangs: this is really strange post-rock. it's like khuda in that it pushes the boundaries between post-rock and prog rock.
aver - aver: this is like stoner rock / space rock or some ****, it's a really weird fusion of genres that works quite well.
blackfield - welcome to my dna: prog rock, steven wilson, you should know what to expect.
bongripper - sex tape / snuff film: it's an two-track ep full of delicious stoner doom.
buckethead - empty space: i don't really remember this album at all.
buckethead - it's alive: nor this one.
codes in the clouds - as the spirit wanes
communic - the bottom deep: prog metal that you should like. at first i scoffed at a prog / power metal band having nevermore as a similar artist but funnily enough i can actually hear a similarity.
dopethrone - dark foil: stoner doom. nothing groundbreaking but good nonetheless.
dredg - chuckles and mr. squeezy: troll of the year.
earth - angels of darkness, demons of light i: drone drone drone. i don't really remember this one either, but earth is one of the better drone bands so.
explosions in the sky - take care, take care, take care: typically solid explosions in the sky album, with a bit more experimentation.
foo fighters - wasting light: i don't really remember this one either, but you can't really go wrong with the foos.
grails - deep politics: more post-rock, more solid post-rock.
hijos de mayo - in sound underground: stoner rock / post-rock works really well.
incubus - if not now, when?: 2nd place in the troll of the year contest.
kauan - kuu...: you should like this. it's like... folk... something.
khuda - iecava
koloss - end of the chayot: post-metal which is reasonably straightforward iirc.
krypteria - all beauty must die: not bad symph metal, but i am considering deleting krypteria because they don't really have anything that draws me to them other than a sexy vocalist.
kurouma - 3: good post-metal.
leaves' eyes - meredead
lento - icon: instrumental post-metal, and they manage to do it well enough to make it interesting.
mastodon - live at the aragon: it has quite a good setlist, but the vocals are very drowned out.
merkabah - lyonesse: i'm not sure if i like where these guys are going with the sax, but it's still quite good post-metal.
mogwai - hardcore will never die, but you will: more good post-rock.
monkey3 - beyond the black sky: more stoner rock / post-rock, and it is good also.
omega lithium - kinetik: not as good as their first album, but still worthwhile industrial metal.
one without - sweet relief: i'm actually not sure if i like this band or not yet, since it's symph with some screamo vocals.
queensrÿche - dedicated to chaos
radiohead - the king of limbs
radiohead - supercollider / the butcher: i think i prefer this to the king of limbs but only maybe.
red fang - murder the mountains: good stoner rock, and a good follow up to their s/t.
seether - holding onto strings better left to fray: not sure how i feel about this album yet.
*shels - plains of the purple buffalo: people are calling this aoty and amazing and stuff but i still haven't seen it. more good post-rock!
sirenia - the enigma of life: pretty bland really.
sleepy.ab - mother goose
a storm of light - as the valley of death becomes us, our silver memories fade: fantastic production is one thing that jumped out at me. they have too many vocals though, iirc this album has fixed that somewhat. post-metal.
stream of passion - darker days
symphony x - iconoclast: pretty good prog metal.
tank 86 - rise: stoner rock that i believe is instrumental but i may be remembering wrongly.
tesseract - one
this will destroy you - tunnel blanket: very good post-rock, and much heavier than most post-rock too.
thorr-axe - wall of spears: stoner doom which is quite well done.
tombs - path of totality: post-metal and quite good from what i remember.
turmion kätilöt - perstechnique: another solid album from them, one of the consistently good non-ndh industrial metal bands.
ulcerate - the destroyers of all
van der graaf generator - a grounding in numbers: surprisingly good again.
vattnet viskar - demo: two tracks of doomy black metal. interesting for sure.
weedeater - jason... the dragon: more good stoner doom.
within temptation - the unforgiving: i was disappointed by this but it's not bad.
wo fat - noche del chupacabra
yes - fly from here
40 watt sun - the inside room: crushing doom metal.

 

[Evilyn]

i wouldn't call 40 watt sun "crushing", at least not in the same way i'd call say, Ulcerate or Incantation crushing.

soul crushing maybe. but it's an excellent album.

next things i'm going after this year:
Necros Christos - Doom of the Occult. name is a joke and it turned me off but i've heard good things about it.
Orchid - Capricorn. the doom band. Sabbath worship.
Blood Ceremony - Living With the Ancients. i never really checked these guys (+ 1 girl) out before but someone described it as Jethro Tull with Tony Iommi on guitar and female vocals, and while i'm not a Tull fan or a fan of (most) female vocals i'll be checking it out.
Altar of Plagues - Mammal. curious of this.
Beyond Creation - The Aura. i despise modern tech death for the most part, but i heard one song from this album and it did it tastefully. curious.
Cannabis Corpse - Under Grow Light Thou Shalt Rise. been curious of the band for awhile even if Municipal Waste can suck a dick. worth it for the gimmick alone i supoose.
Crowbar - Sever The Wicked Hand. sludge. kinda curious.
Gridlink - Orphan. might check out Amber Gray before this. really good grind (from what people have told me).
Hail!Hornet - Disperse the Curse. modern sludge. curious of the band.
Jungle Rot - Kill On Command. depends on if i end up liking their earlier stuff, which i'm currently looking into.
Karma To Burn - stoner rock. dunno if their previous stuff is good. i should probably check that out first but oh well.
Mitochondrion - Parasignosis. atmospheric death/black metal, supposedly. again, curious more than anything.
Owl - Owl. death metal. heard good things about. curious.
Rotten Sound - Cursed. only listened to one of their previous releases once. it was cool. checking out this i guess. Finnish grind.
Wormrot - Dirge. grind. curious.

chances of me only checking out 4 albums from this? 99%. but it's nice to have a full list.

 

[okothnuva]

kauan - kuu...: you should like this. it's like... folk... something.

This is probably album of the year for me (sorry Moonsorrow.....) unless Trail of Tears (unlikely) or Heritage (maybe) somehow blows me away.

For the record I'd say it's somewhere between neofolk and post-rock

the new Amorphis was a major disappointment IMO.

 

[Evilyn]

this is just the elitist in me talking, but i can't see why anyone would expect anything above average from Amorphis post Tales From the Thousand Lakes.

every new Amorphis album is the same, i feel. 10 tracks, with 1-3 being ridiculously catchy or have some kind of cool, folky melodies that were done tastefully, and the best being average to **** tracks of "progressive" metal with some not as well written folk melodies.

again, just the elitist in me talking.