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nhuphuong422
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue May 15, 2018 2:37 am
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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 9:38 pm 
 

So, what do you think of bonus tracks on albums? Do you think they are useless fillers or worthwhile listenings?

I can say, it depends but I never thought of bonus tracks to be that special. Sometimes, it feels unnecessary when a song it's either a live of an older song or just a cover. Covers are fun but not groundbreaking.

With that question here, where has ever been a bonus track being the best on the album? This is for my curiosity's sake.

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Diamhea
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 2:37 pm 
 

Nightwish's Dark Passion Play has the bonus track "The Escapist." Arguably the best song on the album, and only example I can think of offhand...
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~Guest 354281
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Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2015 1:01 pm
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 2:56 pm 
 

In Watain's "The Wild Hunt" the best song is When Stars No More Shine (2013 version).

In fact it's probably the only really good song on that album among some ok ones.

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lordcatfish
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Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:44 pm
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 2:59 pm 
 

Always felt "Wake Up to the Moon" was the best song from Avantasia's Ghostlights. It's a great album all round though.
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severzhavnost
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:04 pm 
 

Crest of the Martyrs by Twisted Tower Dire is already my #7 favourite album of all time, right between Hammerheart and Persecution Mania. And tacking in a bonus re-recording of "The Witch's Eyes" makes it even better.
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joppek
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:07 pm 
 

i felt like we just had a thread like this 5 minutes ago, but apparently it was august last year... anyway, i'm just gonna quote myself from that thread:

joppek wrote:
the japan bonus tracks (demos) dead eternity and the inborn lifeless from in flames' the jester race are probably my fav in flames tracks in all their discography (granted i don't care for anything after about the third album)


also, moonsorrow's cover of rotting christ's non serviam was a fantastic bonus track on their last album, while the grave cover felt more extraneous

usually tho', i don't really care for bonus tracks and most of the time i'll stop an album where the album ought to stop, before any of them

oh and ensiferum's bonus song is a good laugh
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ChineseDownhill
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Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:19 am
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:22 pm 
 

These days I think the bonus tracks most likely to be pointless are the ones tacked onto the end of reissued albums 10 or more years after the original release. Anything labeled "Rough Mix / Demo Version / Rehearsal" I usually don't see why it's even there.

Quote:
With that question here, where has ever been a bonus track being the best on the album? This is for my curiosity's sake.

My old answer to this was When the Mirror Cracks from Xandria — Neverworld's End. I like the whole album, but that song is a strong contender for my absolute favorite on it. A more recent example is The Night at Catafalque Manor from Cradle of Filth — Cryptoriana.

I don't really understand leaving such great songs off the standard versions of albums. I guess in these two cases the respective albums are long enough even without bonus tracks. Regardless, I'm happy I have the "deluxe" versions.
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tobi is an animal
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Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:29 pm
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:44 pm 
 

I don't have any use for bonus tracks of live or cover songs, but there are definitely some original bonus tracks that are good to very good if not the best on a given album.

To name a few, Wake Up to The Moon off Avantasia's Ghostlights, though not quite the best on the album for me is a great choice. I love Fear Of Silence off Paradise Lost's The Plague Within, only Eternity Of Lies I love more. I love Threshold's March Of Progress album and my favorite song would be the bonus track Divinity.

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DoomMetalAlchemist
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 4:17 pm 
 

I've never been a fan of Sleep's Dopesmoker, but the original release on Teepee Records from 2003 has the bonus track of Sonic Titan (live), which I thought was a really good track. Until The Sciences from last month, it was the only official release of the song too.

My version of Cirith Ungol's King of the Dead has a live version of Last Laugh as a bonus track, which is a very worth while bonus track. Don't think there's a studio version of the track, though maybe there is on the Servants of Chaos comp, I don't know, never heard it.

I don't know how much this kind of bonus track counts... The kind from the awkward period of time where CDs were starting to come in to prominence but by no means had killed off vinyl yet, and sometimes certain songs were left off the vinyl version of the album but appeared on the CD. A couple of these examples where the CD-only bonus tracks were great is Manowar's Pleasure Slave (Kings of Metal) and Helloween's Save Us (Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II).

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MorbidEngel
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 4:42 pm 
 

I generally don't mind them but also don't think they're absolutely necessary.
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Deathdoom1992
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 5:50 pm 
 

Pretty sure that on Paradise Lost's Shades of God "As I Die" was originally a CD-only bonus track, and that's the best song on that album and one of their best songs in general. The other one that comes easily to my mind is a live cover of "I Don't Care About You" on Time Does Not Heal that I like a whole lot.

EDIT: There's a bonus track on Pyracanda's Two Sides of a Coin which is a great song, although I get it confused with the actual final track on the album (is it "Don't Get Infected"?)

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praey
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 6:00 pm 
 

What's confounding to me is that when a song is as included as a "bonus track" and it's thrown into the middle of the album. Many versions of Dark Tranquillity's Damage Done do this with the song "I, Deception." At that point, why even call it a bonus track at all? I get that it wasn't on the original pressing of the album, but it is really a bonus track when it's been integrated into the tracklist?

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ChineseDownhill
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 7:12 pm 
 

Yeah, I don't really get that either. Lord of All Fevers and Plague is right in the middle of the Altars of Madness CD, but it's a bonus track because it's not on the vinyl version?
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iiix
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:01 pm 
 

I enjoy bonus tracks and B-sides. It's always a plus to hear more material from a band. I do find it strange and offputting when a band includes bonus tracks on an initial release though, that makes no sense to me, extra songs should be reserved for re-issues and anniversary releases...

W.A.S.P. - Show No Mercy !!!!!!! Is my favorite bonus song. I just copped this guy from a recently flooded store in Fredrick Maryland (R.I.P. Vinyl Acres)
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Peyp
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:05 pm 
 

People have already talked about their favorite bonus tracks from albums, so obviously there can be great bonus tracks, but I often don't give them a try (though I know a few worthwhile ones). I guess the main concern for me is how well the bonus track fits in with the rest of the album, since a lot of my pleasure from listening to albums is when the entire thing is coherent and the songs flow with each other while at the same time hold well on their own. You can't really expect bonus tracks to do that, because they're bonus tracks that were probably cut from the album for some reason or another.

An example of bad flow due to bonus tracks for me is Dragonland's Astronomy. I own a Japanese copy with two bonus songs, a cover of TNT's "Intuition", and a piano ballad called "The Last Farewell". While I admit that imo "The Last Farewell" is a great closer, "Intuition" totally takes me out of the mood since it's kind of energetic and peppy, meanwhile the previous song on the album is this conceptual instrumental piece about a man exploring abandoned cellars containing paranormal activity - a piece that is epic, nervous, jumpy, and frightening. They don't transition well at all.

Plus, the last songs on many albums are meant to be the last song. The bonus tracks on Sonata Arctica's 2008 reissue of Ecliptica are very good, but it doesn't feel right being thrusted back into the action of "Mary-Lou" when "Destruction Preventer" ended on a note that felt like a closure to a chapter of Sonata Arctica's career. Sometimes they do work though, and I also appreciate bonus tracks that are put in sections of albums where they would specifically fit... I'm specifically thinking of the 2001 repress of Limbonic Art's In Abhorrence Dementia and the Japanese edition of Sonata Arctica's Winterheart's Guild.

So in conclusion, I guess I mean to say that they sometimes work and sometimes don't. Generalization is risky, but I think bonus tracks can often work well on their own, separate from the album.
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kytokinesis
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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 11:59 pm 
 

Whether I like them or not, I remove them from the tracklist. They usually ruin the flow of the album because they aren't meant to be there in the first place. Like sharpie marks on a painting. Especially if they were produced at a separate time/place and the mix sounds different, or if it's a live song.

The only one I've ever left in is Save Us on the remaster of Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys II. For some reason it's just a good epilogue to that album.

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Xenophon
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 12:15 am 
 

"Save Us" is a good bonus track, although I prefer to play it at some earlier point in the tracklist (usually right before the last song) due to the sense of urgency in the song and how the titular chorus of the song evokes some impending showdown or finale.

I also really like listening to "Necropolis" as a final song after "The End" on Vader's Tibi Et Igni. It's like the triumphant fanfare that plays as the credits roll after the dramatic and emotional finale of a movie.

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idunnosomename
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 2:45 am 
 

kytokinesis wrote:
Whether I like them or not, I remove them from the tracklist. They usually ruin the flow of the album because they aren't meant to be there in the first place. Like sharpie marks on a painting. Especially if they were produced at a separate time/place and the mix sounds different, or if it's a live song.

The only one I've ever left in is Save Us on the remaster of Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys II. For some reason it's just a good epilogue to that album.


Yes, all very true.

It was a good decision when Iron Maiden put Total Eclipse in the penultimate position, rather than on the end. Otherwise I'd never listen to it, because you just have to finish with Hallowed.

They are getting annoying now, even on Spotify, usually it means you just get a crappy song or two at the end of an album and you need to turn it off.

Except with the most notorious not-shit bonus track, Libertalia, which is often considered the best song on Running Wild's Rogues en Vogue.

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battle_axes
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 3:05 am 
 

Generally speaking, I don't like bonus tracks, but it all kind of depends on (1) which bands do it, and (2) how it's done.

I think for bands whose albums are meant to be taken in as a whole, bonus tracks can really ruin it. Someone mentioned the bonus tracks on the most recent Moonsorrow album, and I think they did it right. The tracks were on a separate CD, not tacked on at the end. That way, the tracks didn't interfere with the album, even though they were excellent (particularly the Rotting Christ cover). Moonsorrow is more of an "albums" band than a "songs" band, so for those tracks to to be added to the end of the album would degrade the larger product, in my opinion. In contrast, on their "Heritage" boxset, there are a couple live tracks on the albums, and it ruins the flow to me.

I think the biggest no-no is adding bonus tracks onto a concept album. Season of Mist did for their reissues of Carach Angren's first two albums. That's just really, really stupid.

What's also super annoying to me is when albums have nearly as many bonus tracks as albums tracks. Thankfully, this is usually for reissues of albums by classic bands, but it's still obnoxious. For example, my versions of Venom's first two albums have 11 and 9 bonus tracks, respectively. Each album only has 11 tracks.

But for bands like Vader, I'm fine with bonus tracks because there usually isn't a "bigger picture" on their albums. It's just 40 minutes of asskickery. I'd still rather have the pure album, but I'm much more tolerant of bonus tracks on death and thrash metal albums.

So yeah, I'd rather live in a world without bonus tracks, but if bands/labels insist on adding them, there's definitely a right way to do it.

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MalconInTheMETAL
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 4:43 am 
 

It really just depends on the album, and, in my opinion, where the band is at in their lifespan. Some of the younger, maybe less-experienced bands (albeit still extremely talented) may give less attention to the tracks, and allow the label to add them to an album without a second thought. I know I have heard some crappy bonus tracks on some bands that I enjoy, and in some cases it may be just a matter of intent. For instance, Dream Theatre released Black Clouds and Silver Linings with an additional side that is only instrumental. If you've heard the album, and know about the 2 20 minute epics on it, you can clearly understand why they did so, and I for one thought it was so freaking cool for them to do that. Musicians and Labrie haters can do anything from jam with DT (if they have the balls & finess) in their basement, or just chill and embrace their supreme instrumental skills. On the other hand, you have a 'band' like Wintersun, who did the same thing with their newest, crappiest album (fuck i have to google it it is sooo forgetabble) The Forest Seasons. Clearly, this was more for the $$$ than anything, as the album mostly sucked anyways.

Now, as far as actual, great bonus tracks, take Amorphis, for instance. Their two most recent albums (Under the Red Cloud, Queen of Time) have fucking phenomenal bonus tracks, and in my opinion and many others, these albums are simply not the same without them. Queen of Time actually was just released today, and I listened all the way through the last two 'bonus' tracks, thinking that the last one "Brother and Sister' was the conclusion to the album. In my opinion, this bonus track is the best fucking song on the entire album. Check both albums out if you want to hear some boner-bonus tracks.

So, all in all, it really depends on several things. But I think it is safe to believe, if the band has a lot of mileage, is very respectable, talented and has always given everything it has to its fans, then yea, bonus tracks FTW. If the band consists of arrogant, narcissists who, although talented, may nearly be swimming in a pile of their own self-centered shit, you may want to think twice about their bonus tracks.

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MalconInTheMETAL
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 4:45 am 
 

It really just depends on the album, and, in my opinion, where the band is at in their lifespan. Some of the younger, maybe less-experienced bands (albeit still extremely talented) may give less attention to the tracks, and allow the label to add them to an album without a second thought. I know I have heard some crappy bonus tracks on some bands that I enjoy, and in some cases it may be just a matter of intent. For instance, Dream Theatre released Black Clouds and Silver Linings with an additional side that is only instrumental. If you've heard the album, and know about the 2 20 minute epics on it, you can clearly understand why they did so, and I for one thought it was so freaking cool for them to do that. Musicians and Labrie haters can do anything from jam with DT (if they have the balls & finess) in their basement, or just chill and embrace their supreme instrumental skills. On the other hand, you have a 'band' like Wintersun, who did the same thing with their newest, crappiest album (fuck i have to google it it is sooo forgetabble) The Forest Seasons. Clearly, this was more for the $$$ than anything, as the album mostly sucked anyways.

Now, as far as actual, great bonus tracks, take Amorphis, for instance. Their two most recent albums (Under the Red Cloud, Queen of Time) have fucking phenomenal bonus tracks, and in my opinion and many others, these albums are simply not the same without them. Queen of Time actually was just released today, and I listened all the way through the last two 'bonus' tracks, thinking that the last one "Brother and Sister' was the conclusion to the album. In my opinion, this bonus track is the best fucking song on the entire album. Check both albums out if you want to hear some boner-bonus tracks.

So, all in all, it really depends on several things. But I think it is safe to believe, if the band has a lot of mileage, is very respectable, talented and has always given everything it has to its fans, then yea, bonus tracks FTW. If the band consists of arrogant, narcissists who, although talented, may nearly be swimming in a pile of their own self-centered shit, you may want to think twice about their bonus tracks.

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MRmehman
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 7:15 am 
 

I swear we have this exact same thread every 5 days or so.

There's plenty of bands with amazing bonus tracks. Judas Priest, Primordial, Celtic Frost and Riot V all have bonus tracks arguably just as strong as the meat of the album. That being said, there's plenty of fucking awful bonus tracks, usually covers, demos and alternative versions of existing songs. It's a double edged sword.

Still not buying Antichrist till Gorgoroth add some shitty, potato quality live tracks to the end of that bad boy.
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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 9:39 am 
 

I don't go for bonus tracks very often but they don't bother me either. I think it's best when they either include B-sides from the era or bundle an EP that came before or after it. I also like the idea of putting a CD/vinyl exclusive bonus track in there to encourage physical purchases over downloading or streaming.
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hmi
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 2:47 pm 
 

They're mostly filler to me. An album is a cohesive thing and tacking on some demo or live version or a cover (which is usually Raining Blood, haha), often in a different audio quality, is pointless and annoying. When the bonus songs start playing it's usually my cue to replay the album from the beginning. I do like bonus songs that sound similar to the album material or if it's a whole EP, but that tends to be the minority of bonus material I come across.

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gizzard_puke
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Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:10 am
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 2:50 pm 
 

MRmehman wrote:
There's plenty of bands with amazing bonus tracks. Judas Priest, Primordial, Celtic Frost and Riot V all have bonus tracks arguably just as strong as the meat of the album. That being said, there's plenty of fucking awful bonus tracks, usually covers, demos and alternative versions of existing songs. It's a double edged sword


I agree, if it's a new song I'll give it a go the rest can fuck off. I think my favorite bonus track is Motorheads "Turn You Round Again" which was the B-Side of "I Got Mine"

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InnesI
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 3:01 pm 
 

Bonus tracks can, by themselves, vary in quality just as much as the regular album. However I don't like added tracks even though they might be good. I always view an album as a whole. Composed and put together in a certain way to make it work as a listening experience. Hopefully a well thought out sonic ride through emotions. If a band then decides to add a track that doesn't really have a place in the album, seen as a whole more than just songs thrown together, it usually takes me out of it. It is of course more obvious if the bonus track is added in the middle of the album but even when they add them after the last song it usually hurts the albums feel for me. I'd argue its better to release something akin to Megadeth's Hidden Treasures where they collect many different songs that didn't make it to the regular albums.
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Deathdoom1992
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 5:27 pm 
 

Helloween actually do great bonus tracks. Primary example being the rerecording of "Victim of Fate" with Kiske on vox which is their best damn song ever aside from "Starlight" (and possibly "How Many Tears"). "You Run with the Pack" is a good bonus track too.

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HenryKrinkle31
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2018 11:46 pm 
 

Depends on the song. Some are great, some are not.
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Lord_Jotun
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PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2018 10:19 am 
 

HenryKrinkle31 wrote:
Depends on the song. Some are great, some are not.


Pretty much all that needs to be said on this subject.

Generally speaking I'm pretty happy to get more music for my money, and I won't say no to demos, rehearsals, rough mixes either - as a musician and sound engineer, they can be interesting to hear. I wouldn't go as far as buying another copy of a record I already own just for those, though; that's something I consider only if the bonuses are leginimately new or rare material.
Speaking of which, I'm a big fan of reissues that gather b-sides and several related non-album tracks as bonus contents on a single release, sparing me the issue of hunting down a a trunkload of different releases, some of which may be difficult and/or expensive to obtain.

nhuphuong422 wrote:
With that question here, where has ever been a bonus track being the best on the album? This is for my curiosity's sake.


For me, the four bonus tracks on Fear Factory's Digimortal (digipack version) are better than several regular cuts from the same album. Strain vs. Resistance might be one of my favorite FF tunes overall, in fact.
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Runko
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PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 11:19 am 
 

If it's just live tracks or demos I don't give a shit, but if they're unused songs from the same studio sessions then I'm all for it. On the last few Opeth albums for example, the bonus tracks have been better than some of the "official" album tracks.

Though when bands insert them into the tracklisting of the album (The Haunted and Machine Head come to mind) it just ruins the flow and pace of the album, just leave them as bonuses at the end.

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Malefikant
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PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 12:43 pm 
 

Most of the time I don't like them, because they ruin the concept of an album or are of inferior quality (demos/rehearsals, live versions etc.). But two exceptions I can think of right now:

- "The Lake" on KD Fatal Portrait. Such a better last track than "Haunted"!

- "Bloodlust" on Venom "Black Metal" (Banzai LP). I am just used to this, didn't know for years that this song isn't canonical. I see now that it's somehow out of place between "Raise the Dead" and "Teacher's Pet", though.

https://www.discogs.com/de/Venom-Black- ... ase/755242

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Lord_Jotun
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2018 6:03 am 
 

Runko wrote:
If it's just live tracks or demos I don't give a shit, but if they're unused songs from the same studio sessions then I'm all for it. On the last few Opeth albums for example, the bonus tracks have been better than some of the "official" album tracks.


Too bad that since Watershed they also have a tradition of making you jump through hoops to listen to them, by slapping them on the audio portion of a bonus dvd or, worse yet, having them as downloads instead of just putting them on the damn cd. Now that's something I'd call fucking annoying.
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Gornot
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2018 1:10 pm 
 

It really depends from band to band. If you take, for example, Cradle of Filth, I really don't see how anyone can withstand the unholy amount of bonus material considering some of their albums have been despicably terrible by themselves.
On the other hand, bands like Epica and Kamelot tend to have good stuff. The bonus stuff from "The Holographic Principle" was hilariously amusing and Kamelot's Japanese bonus "Ties That Bind" from Haven was arguably one of the best songs off that album.

Opeth's "Watershed" limited edition (with like 4 bonus trakcs) is a prime example of this - without those bonus tracks I really can't consider it a full album experience.

Generally, if you're into hunting for bonus material, try grabbing Japanese editions of albums, as those tend to have the best b-sides (and not just intrumental/piano/symphonic/whatever version of the same songs (unless you're really into those).

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MalconInTheMETAL
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:21 pm 
 

Gornot wrote:
Opeth's "Watershed" limited edition (with like 4 bonus trakcs) is a prime example of this - without those bonus tracks I really can't consider it a full album experience.


That release is actually entitled, "WaterSHIT" inCRAPplicable edition :D

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:45 pm 
 

Katatonia are the kings of bonus tracks, specifically B-sides that were later made bonus tracks. Examples? 'Untrue', 'Quiet World', 'Fractured', 'No Devotion', 'Sulfur', 'Help Me Disappear', 'March 4', 'Displaced', 'Dissolving Bonds', Code Against the Code', 'Ashen', 'Sold Heart', 'Second', 'The Act of Darkening', 'Unfurl', and 'Wide Awake in Quietus'. They have more than that, but those are the best, to me. I mean, that's more than an album's worth of great songs that were mere B-sides and bonus tracks. I want to mention the version of 'Inside the City of Glass' featuring vocals; it's not a bonus track, but it can only be found on the 2013 version of 'Viva Emptiness'.

In Flames has also had some great bonus tracks, like 'Man Made God', the redone version of 'Clad in Shadows', and their cover of 'Strong and Smart'.

Some of Soilwork's best music has been bonus tracks, like 'Asylum Dance', 'Martyr', and 'Wherever Thorns May Grow'. They have several more bonus tracks than these, but again, these are just the best.

And I can't be remiss in mentioning Blind Guardian. 'All the King's Horses', 'Doom', the various versions of 'Harvest of Sorrow', 'Distant Memories', 'Dead Sound of Misery', the cover of 'The Wizard', the cover of 'Beyond the Realms of Death', the live version of 'Run for the Night', the cover of 'Trial by Fire', and 'Gandalf's Rebirth'. A truly glorious band.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:52 pm 
 

MalconInTheMETAL wrote:
Gornot wrote:
Opeth's "Watershed" limited edition (with like 4 bonus trakcs) is a prime example of this - without those bonus tracks I really can't consider it a full album experience.


That release is actually entitled, "WaterSHIT" inCRAPplicable edition :D

Fucking roasted. :evil:

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GTog
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:31 pm 
 

If it's more music from a band I like, or an album that I was particularly impressed with, then I'm fine with it. I own a lot of Japanese releases of fairly common albums, just because the Japanese one had one more track on it. Within Temptation's The Unforgiving comes to mind.

I do not buy re-releases of older albums just to get the bonus track though. It's too easy to get that one track as a b-side or on some compilation, and that makes it not worth the money. Iron Maiden in particular seems to be obsessed with releasing everything they ever thought of multiple times, so there's no point in buying a re-release.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:34 pm 
 

On their last two albums, Summoning reserved some of the best tracks for the bonuses. What the heck fire, guys? Maybe they understand that bonus tracks are a bit meaningless to die hard fans who already have all their old demos and eps if they are just old demos or eps, so they did this so that it would be worthwhile getting the special editions?

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Cheapsteaks
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:27 am 
 

This is a niche complaint, but I Scrobble a lot from Spotify so it gets annoying when the bonus tracks have (BONUS TRACK) or whatever following them. I know I could go in and use a manual scrobbler to fix them but it's usually too much work, so I either just skip them or leave them be.

(my fave bonus track is Borderline by U.D.O. from Mastercutor, fyi)
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Sweetie
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:37 pm 
 

I depends. Most of the time I like it, because it can reveal unreleased songs I hadn't previously heard (see many a Judas Priest remastered album), or when it gives you demos, it prevents you from needing to seek them out on your own, which can sometimes be hard to come by.

However, if it's just four songs off the actual album that hardly sound any different at all (See the bonus tracks for Megadeth's So Far So Good So What remaster), then it's definitely pointless. So definitely a case by case scenario.
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