Top-10 Most Overrated Metal Bands

Yo everybody! I've been listening to a lot of stuff lately, particularly thrash metal, and I've been thinking a lot of how some bands are really overrated. Particularly in thrash there are many bands to be found that meet that criteria. I'm sure you're already on to a few of those which I'm about to talk about. But instead of dragging my shit any further, let's start looking the actual overrated metal bands (of all styles).

***Just note***This list doesn't necessarily intend to make these bands appear as bad ones. Just overrated in some kind of sense, which I will also describe in their descriptions respectively.

***Extra note***If you xpected to see some shitty band that is missing, then maybe it's just so shitty that I simply don't listen to it altogether. Examples: Limb Bizkit, FFDP, Slipknot, etc.


10. Iron Maiden

To start off this list I'll go with my very first favorite band in metal. Now, Iron Maiden is awesome, most of us agree on that, but many of us also cannot deny the fact that they're very, very repetitive. I mean, how many galloping bass lines can you make songs out of? Many, apparently. Also, let me just point out that my favorite songwriter in Maiden is Adrian Smith.


9. Sepultura

Another great band ... until "Roots" came along. I absolutely love Sepultura pre-"Chaos A.D." and post-"Kairos", but most of those records in between there were not at all my kind of metal, and my opinion says that I don't understand how "Roots" (in particular) could become so popular.


8. Van Halen

An absolutely amazing quartet of musicians, both the Van Roth and Van Hagar eras, although I never ever liked the Van Hagar era. I listened a lot to these guys during my first few years as a headbanger, and while they're perhaps not that "metal", they still apply to us metalheads, I believe. But what happened is that they did an awesome debut record, and went straight downhill after that. The other David Lee Roth-fronted albums all had a few songs each of interest, but not really that much worthy of noting (although the musicianship was always great).


7. Kreator

Three words plus one equals? "Pleasure To Kill" = awesome. I love that record. The one before it, the debut, was pretty okey as well. However, after PTK I just don't know what the fuck happened. I just find the rest of their stuff to be very boring thrash. Also, "Extreme Aggression" is one of those classic examples of what kind of sound/production a metal record should not have. It just strips away all the weight from the music. It's supposed to sound heavy, right? Well, it fucking doesn't.


6. Morbid Angel

Much like the Kreator of death metal to me. "Altars Of Madness", of course, is an awesome classic. After that I just thought they lost it. I know many people like a few more records they did, but I just don't think they could ever match the success of their debut ever again.


5. Metallica

"Oh, what an obvious choice!", I can hear you thinking. Well, people are right about Metallica being overrated. Partially. Their first four are fucking awesome, I will always love them. However, post-"...And Justice For All" they've been most mediocre or outright bad. I mean, I understand why people love the first four albums, but that's not enough to make them as big as they indeed are. So yes, they are one of the most overrated metal bands. Plain and simple.


4. Sodom

Oooo, now I'm starting to invade on dangerous territory. I am very well aware of how much appreciated Sodom are with metal fans, but I simply could never really understand the fuzz about them. I found it even harder after hearing "Agent Orange", their perhaps most loved and well-known record, because to me it just sounds like a manifest of stolen riffs. I can hear Megadeth, Sacred Reich and other stuff in that. They just never came along as very original to me. With that said there still are some stuff I appreciate, like "Tapping The Vein" for instance. That one is pretty cool.


3. Exodus

Now I'm slowly conquering just about every thrasher's closed-minded ego here. If any band on this list were plain out bad, then that one band certainly is Exodus. I can honestly say that I've never ever understood what so many people see in their music. To me, they just sound so goddamn fucking boring. Unimaginative riffs, uninspired songs, and worst of all are the extremely cartoonish B-rate vocals a'la Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill) style.All I can say whenever I hear Steve "Zetro" Souza, at least in Exodus (he was pretty good in Tenet), is "thank Satan that Testament got Chuck Billy instead". I honestly did not even think that the widely acclaimed "Bonded By Blood" album was anything special. Thanks but no thanks, Exodus.


2. Slayer

And now I've officially pissed off every metal around the world. Well, honestly, I know I don't have. I actually think it's relatively common to see metalheads express their distaste for Slayer these days. Not that I don't like 'em, fuck no, I love Slayer! Don't get me wrong, they're fucking awesome! I especially love the "Hell Awaits" album, but everything up till "Divine Intervention" is very good, really. It's just that they lost their steam after that, and there are so many other bands that do or did a similar thing to what Slayer did, but even better. I mean, "Reign In Blood" is by far the most overrated thing about Slayer. Ever heard Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" album, or Kreator's "Pleasure To Kill"? Pretty much the same thing, only way better, and both of those were (also) released in 1986. Catch my drift? Very good band, just not that good.


1. Nirvana

And the crowned king of this list is none other than the grunge kings Nirvana. I'll admit that I at one point in time did listen to them, a bit (like five songs), when I was like 12 (I am almost 26 now). As I grew up, however, they sound like nothing but children's or angsty teens' "punk" rock to my ears. I'm not overly too fond of grunge otherwise either, but I do love Alice in Chains in particular, and I enjoy listening to some earlier Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone as well. But Nirvana? No. Once again, they're not really a metal band, but since grunge is generally affiliated with metal and its fans, I chose to include (and crown) them for this list.

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I hope you enjoyed this list. Remember, this is just my opinion. It doesn't mean shit to you, just like yours means shit to me. But it can be fun to share and discuss. Well, this is my invitation to discussion, agreement or disagreement.

Peace! //J.

My Top-10 Groove Metal Albums Of All Time

This is my next top-10 list, this time rating groove metal albums and bands. As usual there is one record per band that gets to represent them as a whole, as good as it's possible. This particular genre was quite a challenge to put a list for. I love groove metal, which mostly reigned in the mid-90's, but this metal genre is probably the hardest genre to find good bands within. Believe me, I've listened to almost every single groove metal band that you can find out about, especially from the 90's, and it's really no wonder that most of them went by (totally) unnoticed - because most of them suck. But anyway, I manged to make a top-10 while even naming a few honorable candidates. Here it is:


#10: Farmer Boys - Countrified (1995)

My last spot was the most difficult to place, as usual. There are several album that are pretty equal to battle for this position, but I ultimately went with this one. This is a band whose name and lyrical themes aren't to be taken too seriously, obviously. Despite the shitty band name, the music on this debut of theirs is solid. It's kind of a gothic groove metal album. Think if The Gathering played groove metal, and you should quite nail it, I believe. That's why I gave this one the last spot on my list - because it's more unique than it's last-spot opponents.

#9: Hate Squad - I.Q. Zero (1995)

This album might be wrongfully placed on this to some metal purists, as it's a very hardcore-thrashing album, but I am not that conservative. I still think this album, and the band, fits in the groove folder. This is quite an intense album with lots of groovy hardcore-influenced thrash-riffing, a little like "Cowboys From Hell"-era Pantera. This album has got many solid tunes that gets me moshing and banging my head. The opening track is a neat underground 90's classic called "Not My God", which has later been covered by some modern, shit 'core band.

#8: Lamb of God - Wrath (2009)

One of the few modern bands that carry on today with what Pantera reigned with in the 90's. Again, some purists might not agree with the inclusion of LoG on this list. Many people consider them metalcore, but really. I've discussed this matter a number of times with my buds and we all agree on that Lamb of God is a groove metal band, not a metalcore one. Why? Well, metalcore to me is shit like Devildriver, All That Remains and whatever they're called - shit that I genuinely don't like. I don't think, at least I don't hear it, that LoG sound like them other metalcore bands. LoG is groove, and this album blew me away when it dropped in early 2009. I remember the day I bought it, like in the first week after its release. Good times, and groovy times as well.

#7: Fear Factory - Demanufacture (1995)

Here we've got a real 90's classic. This album was a pretty big success back in the mid-90's and one of Roadrunner Records' best-selling bands at the time, I believe. FF is categorized as industrial metal and they have a lot of those sound effects and atmospheres, but they're essentially a groove metal band musically. Focusing a lot on fast, machine-like and groovy drum rhythms, accompanied with great rhythm riffs and angry as well as clean vocals, FF is a good start of what would really influence the metalcore bands of the last ten years and more. But this was still the real deal back in the day. It's a damn good record. Unfortunately, FF didn't really keep up with any quality releases like this in the future, but this is enough of a great legacy, I guess. Their debut before this album is good as well, with more of a death metal sound.

#6: Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve (1995)

Sweden's Meshuggah, my kinsmen, is a truly unique band. Playing a groovy thrash/death kind of metal style with a lot of weird time signatures that I can't even discuss details about (because I know nothing about that stuff), they take their sound a make it sound huge. This album is a perfect record that stands the test of time. I was very modern and groundbreaking back in its day, but it's still just as fresh today. This album is one heavy motherfucker, and I suggest you put this on when you're fucking pissed off. You won't be disappointed!

#5: Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power (1992)

My favorite Pantera record for many years now, VDOP took the sound they introduced on the mighty "Cowboys From Hell", dropped the power metal influences and made it all more brutal and heavy oriented. The result is a perfection of groove metal. This is probably one of the, if not the most, obvious choice you can go with if you wanna discover the groove metal genre. Featuring classics like "Walk", "This Love", "Fucking Hostile" and "Mouth For War" that I take for granted that you all are familiar with, says enough. I don't need to give this album any boost. You should already know it.

#4: Coroner - Grin (1993)

One of my favorite bands, especially in the thrash metal folder, Coroner ended their full-length album span with this one. While their earlier releases were technical thrash, this one is certainly more groove oriented. However, they do not take a cheap shot at playing Pantera wanna-be's, but rather do it their own way with their unique sound and style. The result is great, and while many of their fans consider this album to be their least good, I can't agree with that. It's not their best, but not their least good either. It is, however, probably their most interesting record musically, as it's the most different album of their career. They would release a compilation album in 1995 with a few new tunes, which sound very much like the material on this masterpiece, if you're interested.

#3: Exhorder - Slaughter In The Vatican (1990)

Exhorder is a band that I give a lot of rightful credit to. Most metalheads haven't heard about them. What's sad about this great band is that they're more famous for being inventors of the style that Pantera got their breakthrough with. Many people including myself have researched within this matter, and Exhorder's late 80's demos clearly shows that Pantera must've "stolen" their sound, and simply got their stuff out first. Pantera became huge, Exhorder went by unnoticed. Such a shame, because this fucking album is of some crushing quality metal that Pantera never even were able to touch. This album is a groovy thrash classic like nothing else!

#2: Machine Head - Burn My Eyes (1994)

This is one of the genre's definite classics. To my ears, I've always thought that Machine Head sounded like a more hardcore-influenced, and maybe even groovier, version of Pantera. With drums inspired of jazz, funk and hip-hop, they get a kind of groove going that no other band here really has. With heavy riffing, angry vocals, and great compositions, Machine Head made their best record already from the start. I know some people might disagree with me on this, while many will agree as well, but I really prefer the sound they had going here than later on in their career. This is nothing less but a must-have for all metal fans. It's just that good. A classic.

#1: Face Down - Mindfield (1995)

My winner of this genre. This is an album I've reviewed here before as I like this band very much. Coming from my homeland Sweden, Face Down is something of a Swedish Machine Head (they were even called Machine God until "Burn My Eyes" was released in 1994), clearly drawing influences from them, Sepultura, Pantera and Slayer. The difference between Face Down and Machine Head, and the other bands of the genre as well, is that FD has a lot of that sweet Swedish death metal ingredient in their music. This, in my opinion, makes their music even heavier than the others. Essentially this is a groovy thrash/death album, also sporting some obvious industrial influences with its samples and keyboards, and the result is crushing! I simply love this damn album. It's awesome.


Honorable mentions:

Grip Inc. - Power Of Inner Strength
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000

Face Down - Mindfield (1995)

Back in 2008 and 2009 I was very much into (early) 90's metal - Pantera, early Machine Head, Fear Factory, Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More, Mordred, and too many others. Besides funky bands I think it was bands with great grooves that especially caught my attention. I don't like nu metal, and I never did, but I always liked funk and that groovy, almost "danceable" metal sound that some bands had.

Since I'm Swedish I've always been very interested in my own country's musical scene. There were lots of great heavy metal bands in Sweden during the 80's, and in the 90's Sweden ruled the earth with its finest death metal (Dismember!!). But other than death metal, I never really heard about bands that followed any of the American trends during the 90's. That was, however, until I read a 1996 mag of Metal Hammer that I bought in an auction. In this mag I read about this new and fresh band Face Down, which was described as a Swedish answer to Machine Head.

I managed to track down my own copy of the CD which was reviewed in that mag, which was their debut album "Mindfield". When I heard it I instantly heard those Machine Head influences, but it was still different. Compared to Machine Head, Face Down had less of the many hardcore-punk influences of Machine Head, and instead the influence of Swedish death metal. Now this is something I actually appreciate more, since I dig hardcore-punk, but never was a huge fan of it.

The "Mindfield" CD was played a lot in my old boy room back in 2009. I really their sound, like a darker and somewhat doomier sounding Machine Head, with Pantera's tight and heavy album sound, completed with Swedish death metal-thick guitars. Then at some point, I ventured further into the music world to discover more styles of a different kind (bands like The Doors, for instance), and so I kind of forgot about Face Down.

I recently rediscovered the album (and band), and "Mindfield" has been played a lot at my crib lately, which my girlfriend Linn ain't too fond of, as she's not into that 90's metal sound. I've also listened a lot to their second album "The Twisted Rule The Wicked", which I liked back in the day as well, but not as much. Today, however, I appreciate it a lot more. It's more brutal and sounds a lot more raw, which is the reason I didn't like that one as much back in 2009. I think it sounds like a more brutal brother of Testament's album "Low". But I always really liked the machine-sounding production on "Mindfield", it suits the music perfectly, just like with Pantera and their albums.

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I wrote an album review of "Mindfield" for the Metal Archives back in 2009, here it is:

"The first real feeling I got from this album upon hearing it was that it sounded like these guys was, or could've been a great Machine Head cover band in their formative days. I also later found out that they formed as Machine God. I don't think there's too much speculation from where their inspiration comes from. But anyhow, these guys weren't maybe groundbreaking, but they did in fact do some good metal music. I guess that this album could pretty much be described as a follow-up by Machine Head with different singer, 'cause they're very much alike. Another great thing I love with this album is that they've got "audio warfare" as they call it, which basically is keyboards. It gives the tunes the right athmosphere and it can probably remind a little of industrial metal as well.

All of the songs are heavy as hell and some are slower while others are faster. Some songs, mostly "One Eyed Man" and "Save Me, Kill Me" are like ballads with heavier and/or faster parties. "Hatred" is a song that pretty much catched everything this album's about. It starts off heavy and mid-fast and goes into an epic mid-section before ending pretty damn aggresssive. The most important about the album is probably Marco Arco, the singer (later in The Haunted, yes). The guy has gotta have some angry feelinga inside him since he screams the hell outta his loungs. The production is pretty nice, could've been better but it could've also been worse.

In it's whole I think the title "Mindfield" lives up to itself. This ten-pack of "post-thrash" explosives is defenitely of my recommendation. Also, if you're a fan of bands like Machine Head, Exhorder, Pantera, Lamb of God etc., and it'd actually turn out that you like Face Down ... Then check out the Swedish band Brainwave and their album "Outstretched". It's the same deal as this one. Enjoy!"

Pantera Reunion?!

First off, the photo to the right was scanned by me in 2008 from a Sweden Rock Magazine (I don't recall what issue), and if you don't believe me, then go to http://www.lastfm.se/music/Pantera/+images/7559869 and look at the uploader, which is Idiots-Rule = my account. I love this photo of Pantera btw, it's a great, early shot from 1989 or 1990. I really love how Dimebag (R.I.P.) really is looking thrash here, while Phil look hardcore as usual.

But anyway, the topic I wanted to discuss about Pantera today is a potential reunion with them. I've read lots of opinions from fans all over the net for one or two years now, and the most common sollution for a "reunion" looks like Pantera feat. Zakk Wylde. Now I love Zakk, he's a great guitarist, a cool dude, he played with Ozzy whom is my favorite of all time, and he's got Black Label Society which is another band that I love. But as much as I love Zakk and his music through the years, I also do love Pantera and their legacy - a legacy I belive should be left alone and to age with pride. While I certainly still would find it cool to hear and maybe even see a reunion (or as close to one as it can be, without Dimebag that is), I still believe that it would ultimately be a rotten, dirty, and bad thing to do. Now from what I understand, the surviving guys seem to agree that a reunion is out of the question, which is a relief to me. I mean Phil's got Down, which I totally love, and he should stick with that, focus on that as well as his side-projects. Rex is doing fine with Kill Devil Hill which is one of my favorite bands of this year, and Vinnie Paul also seems to have a solid place in Hellyeah (though I don't listen to them, never have been, I dunno why, haven't got the slightest idea).

With this said, I'm sure that there would be lots of great names, big as small, to pay tribute to Dimebag if a reunion ever would take place, but really everyone. Show Dime some respect, don't destroy the great legacy of Pantera, no matter how much money the capitalist, bastard suits can caugh up to see it.

Over and out.

Kill Devil Hill - Kill Devil Hill (2012)

This album has been one of the albums I've been looking the most forward to for quite some time now and finally it arrived. This supergroup consist of Jason Bragg - vocals (ex-Pissing Razors), Mark Zavon - guitars (ex-W.A.S.P.), Rex Brown - bass (ex-Pantera, Down), and Vinny Appice - drums (ex-Dio, Heaven And Hell, Black Sabbath). The band is now going on tour with another supergroup - Adrenaline Mob - featuring Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater) on drums, among others I don't know too well. Though, if I'm gonna be honest, Adrenaline Mob is an okey band, but not really my bottle of Coke. I couldn't personally really recommend them, but Mr. Portnoy is a great drummer nonetheless. Anyway ...

This album is quite varied, yet follows a line that doesn't completely separate the songs too much style-wise. The band themselves have reported it sounding like a mix of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Alice in Chains, which I definitely agree with and couldn't describe any better. Some people have even said they hear some Pantera in this (because of Rex Brown), but I don't really hear anything that did lead my mind to Pantera, except for maybe the calm "Gates Of Hell", which sounds somewhat southern styled and "The Great Southern Trend-Kill" alike. The album starts with a track called "War Machine" which is an instant rocker and face-punch introduction to what this album is about. Vinny Appice doesn't play double bass drums so there are no really fast-paced tunes to be heard here, but this song would be one of the faster ones on the album. We get two songs that start off with Rex's mean bass acompanied with drums in "Hangman" and "Rise From The Shadows". Personally, I'm a fan of bass guitars and I belive it is the most underrated and overlooked instrument in metal music. "We're All Gonna Die" gets my thoughts a lot to Alice in Chains, especially during the chorus, and "Old Man" is probably the most straight-forward and simplest rocker on the album, reminding me of Led Zeppelin. Much of the other material is kind of Ozzy- and Dio-era Sabbath sounding, heavy and doomy.

The tunes come in a nicely done production. It sounds okey for an album by today's standards when everything is supposed to be in the red, why I don't know really, but it's like that and that's the way it is (hi Run-D.M.C.!!). Very instrument is also audible which I strongly like, especially the meatty bass. The guys put out great performances overall, but with both Vinny and Rex that comes as no big surprise, really. Mark Zavon also proves to be a great guitarist and I can only wonder where he's been before this project, aparat from a touring member of one of my all time fave bands W.A.S.P. But the biggest surprise about this band is the singer Jason Bragg. What a guy! This guy sings really fucking good, I love him! I guess he could be described as a mix between Lane Staley (ex-Alice in Chains, R.I.P.) and Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath), at least he sounds like that to me. He also used to be in a now defunct band called Pissing Razors that played a groovy sound somewhat similar to Pantera, Exhorder and Machine Head, in which he used more screaming which I didn't think was his great talent. I even think I can go as far as saying he's my favorite singer of the year, so far at least. Just great, what a voice, damn.

So to put a close to this review now. This was probably the one album I was looking forward to the most for quite a long time now, especially after hearing these three great tracks they put out for streaming: Time And Time Again, Voodoo Doll, and Revenge. I love all these three tracks and I really think they were good preview choices, they describe the album very well, I think. They also made a video for the song "Strange". A good one, but probably not the one I'd do a vid for. Anyway, after hearing the whole album, it left me a little disappointed in some way. I don't quite know what way(s), but I felt like I miss something. Maybe it's just that some tunes aren't as strong as the others, though there are no fillers really. To check out Kill Devil Hill and see what they're all about, I'd recommend the three tunes they released for streaming as album previews, as well as the video of course, and one of my own personal fave tracks on the album: Up In Flames.

Final rating: 8,5 / 11 ("this go to eleven" ;-) )

Keep your eyes open for the album in Spotify and you can check out some stuff by them at YouTube already, and of course buy the album and support them! :-)