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

[extendedsolo]

MFW I READ THIS POST

In Rainbows is their best album, besides maybe The Bends.

I still haven't listened to the new one, despite having a physical copy of it sitting next to my computer for months now I REALLY like True Love Waits based on the piano arrangement on the same-named album by Christopher O'Riley, though!

Yeah the Christopher O'Reilly stuff is really good. I think if you spotify it there is a live recording on their live album. I think I heard it originally as a bside from an illegal download like 15 years ago. The new arrangement makes it sound completely fresh. That is a combination I've never heard before for favorite albums though (The Bends and In Rainbows).


I haven't seen it in the thread, but Cattle Decapitation is another example of a band who has gotten much better with their later releases. I'm trying not to think of metal bands in this thread since I know that'll be covered.

 

[WiseSplinter]

Some obvious ones already mentioned: Mastodon RIP

But I'll add Cynic to the list, latest album really did nothing for me.

 

[RevelGTR]

Pretty much all mine have been mentioned:

Dream Theater - Everything post Mike Portnoy is blah to awful. Unlike many I absolutely love Black Clouds, but ADTOE is fine, Self Titled was fine, the Astonishing was truly awful.

Mars Volta - Deloused and Frances are perfection, it gets spotty after that.

Periphery - It's interesting that Misha is so down on P1, for me it's a 10/10 album, P2 was 9/10, Juggernaut was meh. PIII is certainly better then Jug though.

 

[concertjunkie]

I'm surprised (unless I missed it) that no one mentioned Opeth :cries in a corner:

the 80's prog rock thing isn't doing it for me, although in their last album, when they did more of an acoustic/oldschool opeth vibe (Elysian Woes) , that's when I have hope! I'll still go to their shows and check out the new album when it drops, but man, what they had going for so many years just sung to my soul. I get it, you don't want to play the same stuff you have been for so long, but the newer stuff feels like a bit of a regression.

Newest Cynic cd didn't do anything for me either.

 

[Masoo2]

Not sure how many people agree with me, but ERRA.

Impulse was amazing, Augment was equally as good, but you could tell they were starting to decline with Moments of Clarity. I enjoyed that EP, but they started to lose their technicality and uniqueness with it.

Drift sucks. I literally can't even get through a whole listening session of it, I think it's that bad. The mixing is subpar (why didn't they go with Brian Hood again ;_, guitar riffs seem uninspired and much more basic/generic than before, and JT has no vocal range whatsoever.

(Didn't include Andromeda because I haven't listened to it)

 

[Bearitone]

Job for a Cowboy.

Genesis is THE SH!T

 

[wankerness]

I'm surprised (unless I missed it) that no one mentioned Opeth :cries in a corner:

the 80's prog rock thing isn't doing it for me, although in their last album, when they did more of an acoustic/oldschool opeth vibe (Elysian Woes) , that's when I have hope! I'll still go to their shows and check out the new album when it drops, but man, what they had going for so many years just sung to my soul. I get it, you don't want to play the same stuff you have been for so long, but the newer stuff feels like a bit of a regression.

Newest Cynic cd didn't do anything for me either.

*clicks Search This Thread, types Opeth*

5 other people!

 

[steelprostate]

Have to agree on the Veil of Maya and JFAC posts. Veil of Maya was so good and unique, really with every album. But with Matriarch, Okubo's guitar work went way downhill in my opinion, and he really made the band for me. I don't hate the new vocalist, but I do miss the old stuff. With JFAC, man idk. They have some newer tracks that I love, but I don't feel like they're the same band anymore.

 

[extendedsolo]

Have to agree on the Veil of Maya and JFAC posts. Veil of Maya was so good and unique, really with every album. But with Matriarch, Okubo's guitar work went way downhill in my opinion, and he really made the band for me. I don't hate the new vocalist, but I do miss the old stuff. With JFAC, man idk. They have some newer tracks that I love, but I don't feel like they're the same band anymore.

JFAC is literally a different band than Genesis/Doom. New drummer, bass player, both guitar players. Only thing left over the is vocalist.

 

[InFlames235]

Re-posting in this thread to re-iterate how bad In Flames is these days. This was the band that initially got me into technical music and they are so bad now it's ridiculous. Feels bad, man.

 

[TheBloodstained]

Gojira (Anything after The Way Of All Flesh has been kinda meh...)
SlipKnot (Lets face it... we all want more Iowa)
Mnemic (their debut album was the highpoint of their career)
CKY (The first 2 albums was pure gold. Anything after that couldn't live up to the hype)
HIM (I keep going back to the older stuff. Dark Light is the last decent thing they made)
Muse (The old stuff was so vibey and epic. The new stuff doesn't appeal to me... AT ALL!)
Coldplay (First 2 albums was solid. Everything after was boring)

 

[Lasik124]

Mors Principium Est comes to mind.

Unborn was sooo good!

So does Insomnium

 

[Esp Griffyn]

Gojira (Anything after The Way Of All Flesh has been kinda meh...)
SlipKnot (Lets face it... we all want more Iowa)
Mnemic (their debut album was the highpoint of their career)
CKY (The first 2 albums was pure gold. Anything after that couldn't live up to the hype)
HIM (I keep going back to the older stuff. Dark Light is the last decent thing they made)
Muse (The old stuff was so vibey and epic. The new stuff doesn't appeal to me... AT ALL!)
Coldplay (First 2 albums was solid. Everything after was boring)

Good call on Slipknot, they fell off a cliff after Iowa, which I still think is one of the greatest albums of all time.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Surprised Iced Earth hasn't been brought up. Everything after Horror Show (and some people even hate that album ) has been a snoozefest.

Dream Theater as well. First 3 album (.... you guys I include their real debut ) are gold, and their next 2 (or 3) are awesome. Everything after that is eeeeehh. DT13 was a step in the right direction, same with The Astonishing, but everything between 2003 - 2013 was eeeew for me.

Queensryche was infamously bad for this. Kicked ass up until HITNF, when things got... weird. And it was just weirder from there. Some people will disagree, but I feel like they got back on track ever since Geoff was kicked out.

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

I dont like High Country at all

 

[Duosphere]

Better?
There's no better or worse.
Just like us, bands tastes keep changing.
When their tastes match our tastes = we like.
When they don't = we don't.

As an example, some people prefer DT early albums, some prefer the new ones, some prefer the heavy ones etc, none of them are better or worse, just different tastes.Thank God DT keep changing cause I won't stand albums sounding the same, I only hope they won't add rap to their music

 

[canuck brian]

Meshuggah.

I'm old, something, something, lawn.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Better?
There's no better or worse.

Listen to Operation: Mindcrime, then listen to Dedicated to Chaos. Or Master of Puppets and Death Magnetic.

Yes, there is an objectively better and objectively worse.

 

[MikeH]

Whitechapel. This Is Exile was their pinnacle, in my opinion. The new stuff isn't bad, per se, but I'll never get into their newer stuff like I did TIE and The Somatic Defilement.

 

[MikeH]

Not sure how many people agree with me, but ERRA.

Impulse was amazing, Augment was equally as good, but you could tell they were starting to decline with Moments of Clarity. I enjoyed that EP, but they started to lose their technicality and uniqueness with it.

Drift sucks. I literally can't even get through a whole listening session of it, I think it's that bad. The mixing is subpar (why didn't they go with Brian Hood again ;_, guitar riffs seem uninspired and much more basic/generic than before, and JT has no vocal range whatsoever.

(Didn't include Andromeda because I haven't listened to it)

I'll agree with this. I only listen to the stuff with Garrett, and the one EP they did right after he left. I've listened to one song off of Drift and had no desire to seek out the rest. Just wasn't doing anything for me.