What bands do you think have gone backwards and why?

[thevisi0nary]

This is all opinion based.

Mastodon - Everything up until cracke the skye was always a step forward for musical maturity, and then just took a massive step backwards with the hunter. I just really dont get it. New song isnt sounding bad but it doesnt sound like they are really pushing the boundaries the way they were.

Born of osiris - I dont even feel like i need to explain this. New reign was ground breaking, higher place was awesomely original, discovery was good/great at some parts but not overal, and this new album is just awful.

 

[BusinessMan]

I agree with born of Osiris

Whitechapel, listen to their new songs, terrible lyrics, guitars eh.
Atch enemy. Their new album, based on the song war eternal, is going to be boring. Plus they replaced Angela.

 

[Edoris]

All That Remains. Back when they released The Fall Of Ideals they were up there with Killswitch Engage for quality metalcore but with their newest release they're just an average rock band. Quite sad really, but the comment section whenever they share a video or song from their new album is pretty hilarious haha

 

[thevisi0nary]

Not directly the band you mentioned but i feel kill switch kind "meh"d out after heart ache, but i didnt dive deep into the cds so that is an uneducated opinion. And i know this is exile by while chapel was awesome but i didnt listen to much after that.

 

[Lickers]

Very much agree on the Mastodon point. I was more than a little upset when head The Hunter. It only has 2 or maybe three songs I have any interest in. I'm hoping it's a blip and they'll be returning to form with the new album.

Soundgarden & The Mars Volta also wnet backwards with their last releases which is a real shame - especially on the Soundgarden front. Maybe the expectation of them was too great given their prolonged break.

 

[Rev2010]

There's quite a few for me:

Linkin Park - for obvious reasons. Started off heavy and catchy but quickly turned to much lighter music.

Slipknot - my favorite band and I still love them, but I think it's pretty clear they started off with way more energy and gradually softened up. Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE their slower/softer tracks, I actually think they're excellent, but there's so much more of that than the heavy fast stuff these days. I also like AHIG the least out of all their albums.

Korn - I still love them, but just looking at their history one can easily see the changes from the first few albums. Between members leaving, JD dabbling in dubstep, etc I think they've taken a few steps backward.

Soulfly - love them too, but I think their earlier albums had a lot more groovy/catchy riffs then their latest few albums. And now he has his son on drums for the last album and without even knowing that I said to myself, "WTF is up with the drums? Why are the drum parts so boring and lifeless?". Then I read a review on Amazon from someone saying the same thing about the drums and I wikipedia'd the album and read his son is now at the drums.

Nine Inch Nails - yet again another one of my favorite bands, but honestly I think he/they slowly started declining in awesomeness after The Downward Spiral. I do like the following albums like The Fragile, took me a while to get into With Teeth but eventually I did, Year Zero I only like 2-3 songs, and their latest two albums also only about 3 songs on each.

Funny, all of these except Linkin are in my favorite bands list and I feel they've gone a bit downhill.


Rev.

 

[Apatheosis]

The Faceless
Symphony X
Gojira

 

[asher]

IB4Opeth & Metallica

 

[rifftrauma]

All That Remains. Back when they released The Fall Of Ideals they were up there with Killswitch Engage for quality metalcore but with their newest release they're just an average rock band. Quite sad really, but the comment section whenever they share a video or song from their new album is pretty hilarious haha

Could not agree more with this...used to crush this band when This Darkened Heart came out...they are an absolute abomination now IMO. I know you've got to make money but jeeysus f'ing christ....

 

[cwhitey2]

A7X

 

[gunch]

You could argue that every major Sumerian band has gotten worse over time

 

[ChubbyEwok]

+1 for All That Remains, after The Fall of Ideals they just went down hill. It's such a shame too, they could've been great.

 

[Darknut]

Nevermore..

 

[The Mirror]

Well not totally backwards but they had ups and downs and are now absolutely at their bottom.

Megadave/deth

They first got really great improvements from record to record and reached the top with Rust in Peace.

Then came the downfall with the way to Risk.

Then it went upwards and Endgame was (imo) their best record since RIP.

And what now? Super Collider and recent events with a guy who forgot how to play guitar and had to show it to everyone while "playing" Vivaldi with orchestra?

Nope. I think Megadave is absolutely at his end. He should really really quit.


Big Edit regarding Opeth:

For me. No Way.

Mikael reached his top two times with Still Life and Ghost Reveries and Heritage was a great hommage to the 70s. I am absolutely pumped for Pale Communion and I'm almost certain it will be my record of the year.

 

[Rosal76]

Atrocity.

Demo days : Death Metal/Grindcore
Hallucinations + Todessehnsucht = Technical Death Metal
Blut = Groovy Death/Thrash
Calling the Rain + After the Storm = Folk Metal
Willenskraft = Death/Thrash w. various elements
Die Liebe = Gothic/EBM/Industrial
Werk 80 + Werk 80 II + Gemini = Gothic/Industrial Rock/Metal
Atlantis + Okkult = Symphonic Industrial Death Metal

From this.



To this.



Art is subjective so I can't really blame them for wanting to change but damn.

 

[aneurysm]

The Answer is pretty simple.... the Reason are the 90es cause they were f..... awesome.
I can remember back then around 95/96 there was this Festival with Bands like Sepultura, Type o´Negative, Life of Agony, Fear Factory !
You could tell not only by listening, it doesn´t get any better .
To me 90% of all Bands nowadays sound the same.

 

[Nails In Your Coffin]

- Metallica
- Megadeth
- Anthrax
- Slayer

The list goes on and on...but they're pretty self-explanatory. No reasons needed.

 

[JustMac]

Mastodon, it's no longer progressive rock, "regressive" rock, they're pandering to the masses and although I dig "High Road", it's made me all the more suspicious that Once More Round the Sun will be their 'Load' to how The Hunter was 'the Black Album'

others would include Metallica (hence the analogy, lol), Megadeth, Baroness, Meshuggah, the Faceless, the Contortionist , Lamb of God, Intervals, Dream Theater, Coheed and Cambria, BFMV (I was never a fan but still), Bloc Party, the Strokes, Circa Survive, the Black Keys, the Safety Fire (first record had much more vigour), After the Burial, LCD Soundsystem, the Roots,Slayer, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Wolfmother, Foo Fighters Vildhjarta, Torche, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, the Sword, Soundgarden, Scale the Summit, Rise Against, Born of Osiris, Red Fang.



I was thinking about SikTh, but it's just that The Trees are Dead... is such a phenomenal album (not that DoaDD isn't) that a superior follow up is nigh-on impossible

 

[FalseConcept]

Insomnium is one band that I kind of feel has taken a step back. Their music has been and always will be good but anything after Across The Dark kind of seems like they're going in a direction less melodic death metal and more metalcore. Given, I do like metalcore but I feel in their case that they were a bit better before their change in sound. Then again, maybe I just haven't given their new music enough listens but that's the general impression I have.

 

[asher]

StS? Really?

I'm curious. What makes you say that? I think The Migration is leaps ahead of their previous work IMO.