Bands who's earlier albums are better then their current stuff?

[M3CHK1LLA]

like the title says, name some bands who's early releases are better then their current album(s). then tell us why...


list what you think are the better better ones vs. the ones you dont care for.


an obvious one is metallica: killem all, ride, puppets & the 1st garage days revisited are my faves

justice is pretty good and im sure black is a lot more popular with people, but that is when for me, their sound really started to change. st. anger is by far the worst one imho.

i own all their material and like a song or two on some of the other albums, but i dont listen to them on a regular basis.



edit: if you think the opposite, then by all means state your option

 

[jeremyb]

Agree on metallica, to me they're two different bands, black album onwards is entirely a different band, and it only got worse as James tried harder to sing all country and western on stuff....

 

[Santuzzo]

I read the thread title, and Metallica immediately came to my mind, then - not surprisingly - I see you also mentioned them in your OP.

To me the first three Metallica albums is all I ever need from them, epic albums, milestones in metal

Another artist that I like their early work much better than the later and current stuff is Satriani, when I listen to Not Of This Earth or Surfing With The Alien, to me that stuff is progressive instrumental rock and has more depth and is way more interesting than his later albums. I still like his newer stuff, but his older albums (I would say up to Flying In A Blue Dream and maybe The Extremist) I personally find much more interesting to listen to.

 

[ChrisRushing]

In Flames....I like everything up through Clayman and then it gets real messy. They still have some tracks that I like on the later releases but as a whole it's just not very good to me.

 

[DLG]

pretty much every band ever

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

pretty much every band ever

right?!?



a few reasons i credit to this happening...

1. when a band first starts, they usually have refined and honed their first songs because they have prob played them for years before putting them out.

2. they are hungrier to begin with / later on they seem to over-think or over-do things to try to stay "current"

3. sometimes important members leave/pass away & the bands sound changes

 

[Lorcan Ward]

In flames, children of Bodom, sonata arctica, arch enemy

It's depressing when you think how good these bands used to be.

 

[dan0151]

John Butler Trio

 

[QuantumCybin]

Rush. I love all of their stuff, don't get me wrong. It's all good. But man, Fly By Night through Signals is flawless to me. They kinda got weird in the mid to late 80's but went back to harder stuff in the 90's, but Clockwork Angels has been their strongest release in a LONG time.

 

[Cougs]

Trivium, Shogun the best IMO

 

[Xcaliber]

KoRn. I'm optimistic about the new album based on the first single though, I'm really digging it. Sounds a bit like the old stuff IMO.

 

[larry]

STAIND comes to mind.

'dysfunction' was quite heavy/brooding for it's time.. still gets me right in the feels sometimes. 'break the cycle' went somewhere new but retained much of what 'did it' for me, then 14 shades foreshadowed a much 'lighter' direction. After that, .

If i could afford it; i'd buy the rights to dysfunction and tour it.

 

[AliceLG]

All of them

Except Meshuggah ... yeah, I said it, I like Meshuggah's post-Nothing stuff better, come at me

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Mastodon

 

[Ulvhedin]

Everyone, according to someone.

For me, Nevermore, Maiden, Satanic Warmaster, and of course Madonna.

 

[protest]

Opeth, but I give them (and other similar bands) a bit of a pass because their sound changed like 20 years into their career.

For me the killer is bands that seem like they're going to be awesome and then just aren't, or change their sound completely. Shadows Fall comes to mind, All that Remains too. Incubus for a non metal band, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was cool as .....

One band that I think is the opposite of this is Dillinger. CI was crazy and different and will always stick out because of that, but Option Paralysis is a better album.

 

[bostjan]

Dream Theater hit their stride with SfaM, IMO, and although their new stuff is good, it doesn't speak to me on the same level as everything up to Octavarium.

Pretty much every band hits a peak, though. Metallica being, perhaps, the prime example. I didn't completely get into them until ...aJfA, prime time to get into them, as they were still really good, and had a strong back catalogue.

Avenged Sevenfold might be another good example. Or Arch Enemy.

One counter example: Death. Death was pretty good to start, but with Human, they started to really get my blood boiling. Symbolic topped that, and then the Sound of Perseverance seemed like it came right out of the future. Then, sadly, Chuck passed away at the height of career.

I also agree about Incubus. "Azwethinkweiz" was probably their best track. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was pretty darn great, and then they completely reinvented their sound for Make Yourself, which broke my heart, because I was really getting into their first couple discs - I actually thought there was another band calling themselves "Incubus." Morning View had some tracks I enjoyed quite a bit, but the band themselves, as a whole, were never quite the same.

And I think most guys around here prefer the new Meshuggah to the old. I, personally, really liked Destroy Erase Improve, and then just regular liked everything since then.

 

[MFB]

Shadows Fall comes to mind

Half the time I just consider them a one and done because of how great "The Art of Balance" is, but "The War Within" has good tracks too so it's not totally fair.

They dropped off the map pretty hard after those two

 

[Mathemagician]

Slayer. Reign in blood and seasons in the abyss are the only two albums you need in order to glean everything they're about. You get a fast and slow album. Done.

 

[jerm]

Evergrey, In Flames, Arsis, Metallica, Abigail Williams.