You know the reason on why it sounds like "by-the-numbers Swedish death" is because every swedish death metal band were inspired by them right?

Of course I always have this in mind when I diss LHP. My counter argument is that neither the Nihilist demos nor Carnage's "Dark Recollections, which pre-date it, have that "generic" sound to them, so even if they were making a landmark album they weren't kickstarting the whole movement.

I don't really think I should call it generic either, though, I just think it feels very "safe" even for a movement that was still in its infancy.

Of course I always have this in mind when I diss LHP. My counter argument is that neither the Nihilist demos nor Carnage's "Dark Recollections, which pre-date it, have that "generic" sound to them, so even if they were making a landmark album they weren't kickstarting the whole movement.

I don't really think I should call it generic either, though, I just think it feels very "safe" even for a movement that was still in its infancy.

Left Hand Path came out nearly 6 months before Dark Recollections.

LHP - Recorded and mixed at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, December, 1989.
DR - Recorded at Studio Sunlight, Stockholm, Sweden in February 1990.

Did you like Pieces EP or The God That Never Was?

Meh, it still feels like you're looking at it without actually considering the historical context. If it sounds "generic" compared to early Carnage and Nihilist, it's because most bands took influence from Left Hand Path, rather then early Carnage and Nihilist.

Saying LHP is "by-the-numbers" is like saying that Number of the Beast, or Under a Funeral Moon, or Master of Reality are "by-the-numbers" records of their own respective genres. They aren't. They were game changers and people plagiarized them so much it makes them sound "generic" to our 2024 ears, but that's just kind of... looking at them wrong.

I think you have a point, I don't think I phrased my initial criticism correctly. Let me put it this way: I feel like, on its own merits, Left Hand Path is not that interesting, musically, and thus most things that have been heavily inspired by it suffers from also not being as interesting (though that is not a fault of the album itself).

That's fair. Regardless of how influential it was, I can totally understand why someone would argue that it wasn't ambitious enough. I enjoy Swedish death metal do a degree, but it never was the sound I favored the most in death metal.

I disagree man, this is not true. Most girls don't like death metal I think is very delusional to think that. Kalaratri and
Ace_Rimmer are right, at least for me, we have been a male dominated genre since the very beginning and in the extreme metal scene that disproportion of genders only increased.

Iam not saying that is good or bad, it's just a fact about our scene.

Metal is instead part of these bands’ convoluted creative schemes, where it’s either used like a comedic foil (Babymetal), as a musical garment in a theatrical production (Ice Nine Kills), or as a sort of sonic Instagram filter (Our Last Night), where the vague idea of metal is used to market a hunk of normie-millennial cultural detritus as something alternative.

You know that I have ton of respect for you but that doesn’t mean nothing….

Nothing at time sound like LHP

Nothing….

Mark of the Necrogram and Dawn of Damned are sinister and obscure albums simply requires an active listening….

Two masterpieces

Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Death, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy, Carcass, Children of Bodom, Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold are real overrated bands regardless of flawless albums that each band has.

Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Death, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy, Carcass, Children of Bodom, Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold are real overrated bands regardless of flawless albums that each band has.

Considering several of those are some of the most foundational and influential metal bands in history that will be unpopular.

Considering several of those are some of the most foundational and influential metal bands in history that will be unpopular.

Who would you say is not overrated for example?

I hate the word "overrated". It's just a vague (and usually so stupidly arbitrary) notion, and it usually just means "People like these bands more then I like them, so they are wrong."

And yeah... calling Black Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, Death, Darkthrone, Carcass overrated... it's pretty damn silly.

Overrated is just a polite word for bad.

I hate the word "overrated". It's just a vague (and usually so stupidly arbitrary) notion, and it usually just means "People like these bands more then I like them, so they are wrong."

And yeah... calling Black Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, Death, Darkthrone, Carcass overrated... it's pretty damn silly.

I dunno. It's all relative/subjective.
For example, I think Priest's "Painkiller" is an excellent album. I quite like it...every song. There's no scenario in which I'd proclaim it being a 'bad' album.
But I question that amount of praise heaped upon it which, to my ears, is somewhat unwarranted / exaggerated.

I dunno. It's all relative/subjective.
For example, I think Priest's "Painkiller" is an excellent album. I quite like it...every song. There's no scenario in which I'd proclaim it being a 'bad' album.
But I question that amount of praise heaped upon it which, to my ears, is somewhat unwarranted / exaggerated.

I think Black Sabbath with Ozzy were pretty bad but people tend to get really pissed off and defensive when I say it like that.

At this point I've taken to only call overrated bands that have been bad longer than they've been good (at least agreed by the general public). Because sure, they have masterpieces in their catalogue, but if they aren't really matching that quality ever again then they aren't that great, are they? In that sense, yes, bands like Cryptopsy, Deicide or Metallica are overrated. Doesn't make me like their good stuff any less, of course.

Iam not pissed or defensive, but you have to admit that is a weird thing to say in a Metal music forum.

Only because most metalheads lack the balls to say it. Because it's such a gatekept community we fear being excised from, the vast majority of us think that because it's a classic it must be good and I must enjoy it. Even if it's not and I don't. And even in an unpopular opinions thread.

...most of us (including me) are harboring opinions we think are too unpopular to be expressed.

Only because most metalheads lack the balls to say it. Because it's such a gatekept community we fear being excised from, the vast majority of us think that because it's a classic it must be good and I must enjoy it. Even if it's not and I don't. And even in an unpopular opinions thread.