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

[vilk]

Converge

It's not their fault, though. Jane Doe is the best metalcore album that's ever been written and recorded by humans.

But then again, that's not even their first first stuff. So... should it not count? Sh/t. I thought I had a good one but I didn't.

Let me redeem myself: Cryptopsy

 

[ArtDecade]

Pestilence - because no more Martin van Drunen.
Morbid Angel - because no more fire in the playing or songwriting.
Mayhem - because no more Dead, Euronymous, or Count Grishnackh.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Red Hot Chilli Peppers along with Metallica have to top this list imo...... RHCP are a totally differnt band to the one they were up to and inc Blood Sugar S$x Magik. One Hot Minute was a great album too with Dave Navarro one of my favs of theirs but from Californication on wards their an easy listening Radio freindly band... its like the Good Time boys never exisited....

 

[TimothyLeary]

Mastodon

They hurt me so much. =(

 

[ArtHam]

Red Hot Chilli Peppers along with Metallica have to top this list imo...... RHCP are a totally differnt band to the one they were up to and inc Blood Sugar S$x Magik. One Hot Minute was a great album too with Dave Navarro one of my favs of theirs but from Californication on wards their an easy listening Radio freindly band... its like the Good Time boys never exisited....

to be fair though Blood Sugar Sex Magik was already very different from the earlier stuff like Freaky Styley.

 

[JD27]

Most bands I like tend to follow that path. Maybe to no fault of their own, it's just when you first discover a band and really like the album, I find I'm always looking for them to somehow top it. I'm still waiting for Lamb Of God to make another ATPB, but it's just not going to happen. Then there are bands like Mastodon and Baroness that I much prefer the newer albums.

 

[SD83]

Aside from some of the already mentioned:
Linkin Park. They are rather good at making radio friendly rock songs, but the first two records were something different entirely.
Gojira. Everything after "From Mars to Sirius" seems like a logical progression, just in a direction I don't like.
Machine Head. Peaked with "The Blackening", got increasingly boring since.

Though none of these got really "bad", they're good at what they do, I just don't like it. The only band that comes to my mind right now that actually changed their direction AND is bad at what they're doing is In Flames.

 

[gunch]

*Clutches his copies of Leviathan and Remission and cries on the floor*

Also pretty much every band I like

VoM (Matriarch wasn't as bad though)
Danza and by extension Josh Travis, his 7 string sound was way better than his 8s and 9s stuff by miles

Ion Dissonance
Fallujah (Dreamless and The Flesh Prevails fell short of the promise Nomadic and The Harvest Wombs had)

 

[JustMac]

^Absolutely, Nomadic is special, and eternally fascinating because nothing really grew from it. Sure, Fallujah developed immensely as a band after that in terms of success, but they became something very different.

Wouldn't a reverse of the thread title be more interesting? I'm scratching my head here trying to think of bands who's music is getting continuously better. Vektor maybe? Beyonce too (not a band, mind you), that Lemonade album is awesome! Vektor and Beyonce should tour together.


Dare I say Periphery? Everyone's raving about that new one in the thread for them, but it doesn't do anything for me at all. Jeez, just had a flashback to when Periphery 1 dropped, NOTHING sounded like that before. I think when you pioneer something it's hard to ever capture that again, living in the shadow of your own success. Then again, my opinion seems like an outlier here.

 

[Science_Penguin]

The Sex Pistols.

Nevermind the Bollocks was a masterpiece of Punk Rock, and Nevermind the Bollocks was okay too, but... I dunno, they REALLY seemed to lose it with Nevermind the Bollocks. Oh, and the final nail in the coffin for me? Nevermind the Bollocks... eugh...

No, but, really, if you've heard some of my opinions here, you know I'm pretty forgiving of bands changing their sound (cause its usually a MINOR change just to keep things fresh)... but, if I had to point to one I didn't like:

Sonata Arctica. A High School favourite of mine. The first few albums were solid Power Metal gold, Reckoning Night was like a nice blend of that and some dark story-driven Proggy stuff... and Unia onwards is just okay. Good songs here and there, but as complete albums, nothing to write home about.

On the opposite end of things:
Blood Stain Child. One good track worthy of the "Hybrid Metal Trance" name they've applied to themselves (Freedom), and the rest sounded like speedy death metal. Then, Epsilon dropped and it was everything I was hoping for in a Metal/Electronic hybrid band! And their latest single is pretty sweet as well- REALLY looking forward to their next full album.

 

[protest]

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

There's Of One Blood too which came out before Art of Balancem and I think is better than The War Within. The War Within was kind of a let down to because it starts off like a beast with Light That Blinds, and then doesn't really get back to that level. They've had good songs since then, but not full albums.

Then there are bands like Mastodon and Baroness that I much prefer the newer albums.

Yea I'm the same. I couldn't get into Mastodon before I heard Crack the Skye, and I still don't really dig their heavy stuff. Blood Mountain is probably my favorite of theirs.

 

[mike0]

i largely agree with most that you guys have already thrown out. coincidentally listening to opeth when i saw this topic... although, in my eyes they were really solid all the way through GR (watershed was still pretty good too), so i wouldn't say that only their earlier albums were excellent. they get a pass.

the first bands to pop into my head when i saw this were metallica, in flames, mastodon, maiden, and rush. i didn't think of chili peppers at first, but reading it in here reminded me that i really only like uplift mofo through blood sugar.

some others i'd throw out there are genesis, van halen, system of a down, muse, yes, coheed, and wu-tang. not all have recently put out music, but i think they all should qualify for not exactly topping their first few albums in their later releases (opinion, of course).

 

[JD27]

There's Of One Blood too which came out before Art of Balancem and I think is better than The War Within. The War Within was kind of a let down to because it starts off like a beast with Light That Blinds, and then doesn't really get back to that level. They've had good songs since then, but not full albums.

I like from Blood Mountain and forward.

I don't dislike any of Shadows Falls albums, though I agree they hit the high point with The Art of Balance. When they signed with Atlantic and released Threads of Life that was the weakest for me. I actually liked Fire From The Sky quite a bit.

 

[myrtorp]

Ensiferum and Amoral in my opinion!

 

[protest]

I like from Blood Mountain and forward.

I don't dislike any of Shadows Falls albums, though I agree they hit the high point with The Art of Balance. When they signed with Atlantic and released Threads of Life that was the weakest for me. I actually liked Fire From The Sky quite a bit.

Yea same for me on Mastodon. I don't think I've heard Fire From the Sky, I'll have to check it out. Threads of Life was the last one I actually purchased. I've listened to the one after that though and I liked a few songs, the first track (I think) on that album was pretty killer.

 

[bostjan]

How about Guns N Roses?

Appetite for Destruction, then Lies, then Use Your Illusion I, then Use Your Illusion II, then The Spaghetti Incident?, and then the album that took forever to come out that people said was actually pretty good, but I never heard. To me, seems like a pretty steep downhill slide.

Actually, I can't think of too many bands where the first album was the best, but there are plenty where the second or third, or sometimes fourth album is the best. And it's very common for a band to have 5-10 years of excellence, then continue dragging along in mediocrity for an extended career after that. And it's really rare for a band to consistently improve over time and call it quits at the height of their creativity.

 

[Random3]

Metallica are the obvious choice.

Apart from that I can't get into Trivium's new material. Ascendancy and Shogun are by far their best. The Crusade and In Waves were ok. Vengeance and Silence I just can't get into.

In Flames are a big one as well. The only post-Clayman album I like by them is Come Clarity.

Children of Bodom are an odd one for me. They were my favourite band for the longest time, even after the change of direction with AYDY. I like all of their albums apart from Relentless, but the pre-AYDY was their best era.

 

[ImNotAhab]

pretty much every band ever

Dillinger Escape Plan thankfullly stand in protest of this unfortunate convention.

 

[Blood Tempest]

Entombed (surprised no one mentioned them yet)
Darkthrone
Burzum
Marduk
After the Burial
Cannibal Corpse (I personally prefer the Barnes era stuff, but love it all)
Tool
Dead to Fall
Watain
Skeletonwitch

As far as Shadows Fall goes, they have never put out something I didn't like. I do feel that "Of One Blood" and "The Art of Balance" are their strongest though.

 

[vilk]

Dillinger Escape Plan thankfullly stand in protest of this unfortunate convention.

What? Calculating Infinity is my favorite followed by Miss Murder, and to my knowledge that is common among DEP fans!

Who else on this forum says CI and MM are the best two DEP albums?