The answer is Metallica and anyone who claims otherwise is failing to see the forest for the trees. A lot of the bands people are listing in this thread are virtually unheard of outside of metal fans, and while I'm sure most here would agree they are better or that you would be more excited to see them than something more mainstream - Everyone knows Metallica.
this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2024
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You're probably right. So still same old same old ^^
Are the younger generations also still on Metallica you think?
What do you mean by biggest? And what do you mean by metal?
Gojira just played the fuckin Olympics... They're probably the biggest metal band of all time by some metric at the moment. Like a higher percentage of households have now heard Gojiras music than Metallicas music. Wild.
Last year Sleep Token and Lorna Shore was all anyone was talking about.
Tim Henson is the first guitar god we've had since...idk Tosin Abasi? Alexi Laiho? But his band Polyphia is not exactly heavy.
Djent and Thall have kinda came and went, but there was Vildhjarta and Humanity's last breath for Thall, and Animals As Leaders and Periphery for Djent.
I'm sure Spotify has a different opinion than Billboard or record sales, etc.
Hehe yeah i kept it vague, to capture more of a slice of the mainstream consciousness. Maybe something that regularly shows up on the local "rock" radio.
True about Sleep Token and LS, I've been seeing some billboards out in the wild and Will Ramos is obviously a huge name in the metalcore community still.
Had no clue HLB was such a big one, i really enjoyed them recently after finding them in some mix. Nothing anyone in the wild would recognize though i think.
Yeah the Thall style is an interesting subgenre. Think djent but spooky instead of angry? Lol that's the best I got.
Nah, who am I kidding: similar to djent with a kind of one-liner-comedian delivery of a dynamic range of riffs, interspersed with rhythmic candy, the thing that makes THALL stand out to me is a lot more playing with microtonal bends (which create a spooky aura). I would say a band like Veil Of Maya kind of represents the beginning of a shift into the existence of the genre... Vildjharta made the subtle variation that VoM brought sometimes, their whole thing.
Others followed but I'm old so idk much beyond them.
And if I am not describing HLB and Vildjharta right now, I don't know what I'm doing 😁
Heh nice, thanks some more names to add to the mix!
Always cool to hear something fresh that breaks the mold a bit
In terms of bands that people outside of the community might also know - Slipknot, Metallica, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, maybe Judas Priest are the only names I can think of that have entered mainstream consciousness. By which I mean that people know the names and that they're metal bands even if they've never listened to metal/rock in their lives.
I think everyone else is only 'big' internally to the community. So we know that (for example) Amon Amarth are a big name that could headline a festival but anyone who's not into metal wouldn't have a scooby who they even were.
Fair point.
In that sense, what would be the biggest current headliner you can think of? Something every festival goer would lose their mind over on the line up.
I think what im also looking for/wondering about is what the younger generations are getting into the genre over. Like for me that was the numetal wave with SOAD, Linkin Park.. Still huge names and shaped a generation imo.
All those names I mentioned can still draw a massive crowd. Trouble is, they know it and set ticket prices accordingly. I also personally am not a fan of seeing bands in stadium sized arenas. If a venue is so big they need to erect huge TV screens you've kind of missed the point of seeing a live act IMO.
A lot of younger people (younger than me anyway, which is most people these days) seem to be getting into metal via deathcore. I know deathcore is not popular amongst metalheads but I don't really mind it. Its not exactly my thing but its OK. I see younger people going to see bands like Lorna Shore, Spiritbox, Slaughter to Prevail etc. There also seems to be a lot of post-black bands getting bigger here in the UK - Hundred Year Old Man, Ba'al, Hidden Mothers are all on the verge of something.
I'm with you on the stadium thing. Maybe we're just old now :D
Although at the festival i meant to see Accept close up but my (same age) friend who "had a plan" parked us in like row 2 of the neighbouring stage so he'd be ready for.... Scorpions.. Staring at Accept on the screen while getting completely shrecked by the speaker wall.
Also, i somehow clocked LS as metalcore but im terrible with genres.. I only recently dipped into the heavier stuff via some smaller death core artists, then death metal and black metal. Not sure why anything-core isn't catching "us" as much as the younguns.
I think (and this is just my personal opinion) - the 'core stuff sounds too overproduced if that makes sense? I like to hear a bit of feedback or fingers on the fretboard or just some example that shows me its being played by humans lol.
Its not terrible music by any means, despite what some of the more gatekeepy tyes say, and Will Ramos of Lorna Shore has a truly awesome vocal talent but it just all feels a bit...I dunno...lifeless and flat. I do like Worm Shepherd though of that subgenre, they're not afraid to slow it down a bit and put equal emphasis on the guitars as the drums and vocals.
Did you not get to see Accept then? Shame, they're awesome live.
I can kinda see that! I do enjoy when things feel handmade still. In the same vein, I was listening to Unhallowed Deliverance recently and while their stuff is absolutely down my alley, on several songs the bass sounds straight up MIDI. Cant explain it any other way but now I cant unhear it.
Lorna Shore were fantastic live btw, saw them in a medium / smallish venue and that was so much more visceral than on the records.
Btw ended up listening to Accept from further back but as with the stadium shows, it was too far away to "feel live" if that makes sense. From a certain distance people also dont cheer or clap and vibe anymore so im just standing in this slient crowd away from a great party
Oh I'm sure the 'core bands are much better live than recorded - I haven't had chance to see LS yet but I will if they head over here.
Yeah, your comment about standing in a silent crowd watching a great party from a distance is exactly how I feel about stadium shows.
Rammstein.
But yeah, really not sure and keen to read.
How was Wacken?
Wacken was great. Opeth was my fave show i think. Such a smooth talker.
Dusty, and lots of covid in the air though
Also "old" and sadly pretty rapey though. They are huuuge for sure
I just checked the spotify listener count for some of the more popular bands. Looks like metallica still has about 27 million monthly listeners, so I would say they still dominate the industry, even if you could consider them being one of "yesterdays titans".
Newer ones might be Papa Roach (1993) with 13m listeners, or FFDP (2005) with 7m listeners.
So all in all i would say that the older bands do still have quite a lot of influence and listeners. Maybe metal is a difficult genre for newcomers?
Ahh, five finger death punch. The vocalist named the band after the beatings he gave his wife.
joking about the name, but seriously- its a shame the band has to have a domestic abuser at the helm
wait what? first time Im hearing about this
goddamit
Why did you think cops like the band so much...?
because of the style and lyrics about service etc
Ah great, another one. How the fuck do these assholes keep performing
Glad i never listened to their stuff
Fun to see Papa Roach (and gojira further up) brought up, as they were the two first bands to be announced for next wacken... Aaand a lot of my camp mates went "meh" and "who?"
Thats kinda what kicked this question off for me.
Gojira is riding pretty high right now after their amazing show at the Olympics, but that's probably only a temporary bump to their popularity. I'd say Ghost is probably the biggest name in mainstream metal right now.
Ghost is metal?
They're definitely a bit heavier on the rock side, but they lean toward metal with a lot of songs. More so with their earlier albums, but I feel like most people still refer to them as a metal band.
"Ghost isnt metal" is just a common meme, I was playing on it 😃
Yeah I was going to say ghost. I’m always surprised to see how much of their merch is out there in the wild.
"Deathklok is 6th largest economy in the world."
My take is that the music industry has changed so much that we'll probably never see another metal band as popular as Metallica. And yes, that's sad.
The answer is Metallica.
And then second tier would be like Opeth, Blind Guardian, KoRn, etc.
But of bands formed this millennium, probably Mastodon, Motionless in White, Falling in Reverse, Dragonforce. So that probably covers "current."
I was also contemplating Dragon Force. Feels more niche, but almost anyone with some inclination for rock music has peobably heard through the fire and flames at some point.
Adore Mastodon, but yeah feels more "niche". Couple of years ago I saw them in a tiny, seedy venue - great show but I'd be surprised to see them as a main headliner for example.
In day to day radio? None, if not a specific special interest station.
But seems that Linkin Park has 40.5 million monthly listens on Spoopify, followed by Metallica with 25mio
Linkin park isn't metal anymore, and I've actually heard metallica on the radio, but no other metal band
~every LP fan since Meteora lmao
You're right, but its still funny after 20 years