Those of you who follow me will know I am metaller at heart - enjoying a flavour of rock and metal incuding classics such as Metallica, Pantera and Slayer, while enjoying some of the more 'Nu-metal' band such as Korn, Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine. As I have gotten older I have widened my musical tastes to include jazz, blues, dub and more. Some of the newer metal bands and albums have really dissapointed me! It seems that some bands have become popular, and now just follow a safe formula that they know will sell - it all sounds a bit stale to me.

When Metal goes bad

Trivium

Trivium burst on to the metal scene in 2005 with the album Ascendency, offering raw metal and pure badass tunes, such as 'Rain' and 'A gunshot to the head of trepidation'. However, it seems like since then they have gone downhill - moving to more of a pop-metal/melodic sound, and losing that raw agression I loved from Ascendency. I lost track of them abit, but it seems they released their 8th album 'The Sin and the Sentence' in 2017. The guys definetly have some talent - some of the better metal riffs (and solos) around, but I am not a fan of their newer sound. Judge for yourself - heres the single 'The Heart from your Hate' from their latest album:

Machine Head

I think I wrote about this in a previous post, but Machine Head released their ninth studio album Catharasis earlier this year. Machine Head has been one of my favourite metal bands for years, and I always have high expectations for their new releases. 2007s 'The Blackening' is a masterpiece and one of my favourite metal albums. Unfortunately I found Catharasis lacking, and offering nothing new. Although they tried for a nu-metal/rap type sounds it really wasn't my thing. Lets hope they come back stronger - I still have faith! Heres the song 'Beyond the Pale' - what do you think?

A couple of exceptions

Bullet for my Valentine

Bullet for my Valentine have been around since releasing their brilliant first album 'The Poison' back in 2005. They have just released their 6th studio album 'Gravity'. I really enjoyed this album - it has enough of the sound that I live, while offering something a little bit new - a bit of a softer side, but still offering the raw energy. Check out the new single 'Letting you go':

Scars on Broadway

Scars on Broadway was founded by System of a Down member Daron Malakian and released their selftitled album way back in 2008, and have been on hiatus until recently when they released the follow up album 'Dictator'. Scars on Broadway are primarily a rock band, but as you would expect from Daron Malakian there is elements of metal, and all sorts of brilliant lyrics. The new album Dictator hasn't ventured to far from the selftitled album - its possibly a bit slower and more 'pop' sounding - and seems to be growing on me. If you are familiar with their sound then you will recongise a similar sound with the new single 'Lives':

I would love to know your thoughts on this - is metal dead or am I just getting old? also any suggestions about new metal bands/albums to listen to would be much appreciated - I think I have been out of the loop for to long!