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snarg
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 4:25 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:23 pm 
 

I've been listening to Leiþa's debut album Sisyphus and it got me thinking about metal musicians that stand out as songwriters.

The guy behing this project, Noise, has already 2 great albums released in 2021, the one mentioned above, which for me is the best of the 2, but Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle is also very good and if I'm not mistaken it has been mentioned already by others here on the forum.

I absolutely love his songwriting, listening to that Leiþa album has been an incredible experience, and I'm not even a fan of progressive metal or rock, but here it just sounds mesmerizing and the whole combination just works and sounds amazing.

Would like to hear other opinions on his work as well as what other metal artists people consider to be above others in terms of songwriting.

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King_of_Arnor
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:12 pm 
 

Chuck Schuldiner is an obvious pick. He showcased his incredible virtuosity and versatility with each Death album getting more progressive than the last, and even tried his hand at power metal with his project Control Denied.
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akb88
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Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2019 5:28 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:09 pm 
 

Steve Harris.
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~Guest 1195014
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:15 pm 
 

Many I'm a fan of, but as a one-person songwriter, Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost comes first to my mind. He's consistently credited as the main/only songwriter of PL's music and the consistent quality (and variety!) of their songs especially in the last 15 years is mind-blowing. If he really does write all those crushing riffs and amazing melodies mostly on his own while constantly exploring fresh territory, then absolutely wow.

More often a band relying on a main leader-songwriter results in some stunning but also more mixed and unpredictable results, which leads me to...

Honourable mentions: Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) and Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation) - both have somewhat lost their way in recent years imo (in very different ways), but have written some absolutely stunning material in their careers that many have tried to copy since.

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ModusOperandi
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:41 pm 
 

I think he's a tremendous guitarist alongside everything else as it is, but Sammy Pierre Duet has easily been one of my favorite songwriters of the last 25-years plus, and I can't help but feel he won't get his due until after he's done. There's nothing he's been involved with that wasn't of quality, whether he's the driving force or a helping hand.
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traxan
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:51 pm 
 

Warrel Dane, absolutely.

I think he's lost a step but in his prime, Tuomas Holopainen was an incredible composer. The lyrics, though, were cringe.

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Aldrahn333
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Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:28 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:03 am 
 

The guy that was kicked out of Metallica.

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MawBTS
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:21 am 
 

Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.

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coupdebleus
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Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:11 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:05 am 
 

Michael Hoggard from Ulcerate is a genius. The way he weaves riffs out of little motifs and builds up climaxes is incredible. Even the jankier songs from earlier albums are very well-structured in their more chaotic nature.

And Steeve Hurdle is the reason for the only Gorguts album I love. Not to demean the work of the rest of the band, but Hurdle was on another level.
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MetalVermont
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:12 am 
 

MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


1000%. No shame in this pick! Just for the first 4 albums alone.

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Xymosys
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:13 am 
 

Death By Wall of Text wrote:
Many I'm a fan of, but as a one-person songwriter, Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost comes first to my mind. He's consistently credited as the main/only songwriter of PL's music and the consistent quality (and variety!) of their songs especially in the last 15 years is mind-blowing. If he really does write all those crushing riffs and amazing melodies mostly on his own while constantly exploring fresh territory, then absolutely wow.


I second this
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Terri23
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:52 am 
 

MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


You've got the wrong person. Lars is the guy who arranges the song structures, placing the riffs in order to build the songs. The other guys wrote the riffs.
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Pitiless Wanderer
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:22 am 
 

Devin Townsend is far and away the most naturally talented songwriter. The guy's a musical genius. Richard West from Threshold is also up there.

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~Guest 220079
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Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:39 am
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:40 am 
 

Pitiless Wanderer wrote:
Devin Townsend is far and away the most naturally talented songwriter. The guy's a musical genius. Richard West from Threshold is also up there.


I always forget about him, but indeed, an extremely gifted musician and songwriter.

Whoever gets more credit - Lars or Hetfield - doesn't matter. As Scott Kelly once said, they get the eternal pass for those 1st four records.

And John Haughm. From what I understand he wrote the bulk of the music/lyrics for Agalloch, and what a discography it is.

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Wrldeatr
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:49 am 
 

Alexi Laiho no doubt. The stuff this guy's come up with over the years is just amazing. The richness, complexity, intricacy of his compositions while retaining memorability and catchiness is not an easy feat.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:11 am 
 

Matt Johnsen from Pharaoh has to be up there. Intricacy, care, aggression and power.

Jim Matheos from Fates Warning - he did complex jam packed power/prog, clean catchy prog and then the newer Arch/Matheos stuff which is just so damn erudite.

Whoever writes in Psychotic Waltz is just a master at off-kilter, jagged melodicism and tightness of constructs.

Crimson Glory was always great - such tight, smooth writing skills, amazingly powerful.

Recent discovery for me, but the dudes from Coroner are great - smart stuff that nobody else was really doing.

I'd be remiss not to mention Slough Feg's Mike Scalzi, who even when the albums aren't top notch (Atavism, Ape Uprising) still has a few songs that are absolute original corkers with brilliant melodies. At his best he's definitely up there with the best ever.

And Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson (and everybody else who writes in Maiden) of course - the classic 80s stuff is unrivaled and they're still doing good stuff now.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:44 am 
 

Metal Church especially around the time of Blessing in Disguise, The Human Factor and Hanging in the Balance. They became more original and idiosyncratic as compared to their first two blistering but rather standard metal albums. Those three records stylistically fell within heavy/Trad, Thrash and Power metal(s) without fully donning the requisites of each so as to entirely identify with one. I appreciate that. Good, timeless stuff that still stands out from most 80's output - and that decade had few slouches.

I also have to agree with Empy about Psychotic Waltz. Such a graceful and masterful way they had with unusual melodic development. True prog metal craftsmen.

Candlemass' first album is also just fucking perfect with the songwriting. As is Tales of Creation but Epicus is where the band are just utterly mind-blowing. Solitude, Under the Oak and A Sorcerer's Pledge MY GOD!!!! Candlemass nowadays do a lot of retreading and are not as interesting but the early albums will always hold up.

Dream Theater before succumbing to excess were pretty good. Images and Words works so well, going a dime from evocative passages to bombastic flurries of sound and creative curves all over each instrument. James LaBrie at his peak too. I hold up some other songs from Awake and Six Degrees as examples of good songwriting like "Voices" and "Misunderstood" but I enjoyed the band later on for other reasons than actual good songwriting.

Primordial on To The Nameless Dead, Queensryche on Operation: Mindcrime, Testament on The New Order and Souls of Black, Metallica on Ride the Lightning, Jag Panzer on Ample Destruction, Blind Guardian on Somewhere Far Beyond, Armored Saint on Symbol of Salvation, Fates Warning on Awaken the Guardian are some others that come to mind.

This being metal, I take songwriting as a collective band endeavor and find it sorta unfair to single out just one member. Evergrey's Tom Englund writes pretty good lead guitar-heavy croony tunes though.

I'll try to think of others...
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FLIPPITYFLOOP
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:57 am 
 

blackdiamond74 wrote:
And John Haughm. From what I understand he wrote the bulk of the music/lyrics for Agalloch, and what a discography it is.


I'm pretty sure that for Agalloch, John was the nucleus and main visionary of the band, but the songwriting was still very collaborative even in the later years of the band (if you check out Khorada's album, there are moments that definitely sound like they could've been on Marrow Of The Spirit, even if the band as a whole is very different).

- That said, I'd still absolutely +1 John Haughm, as well as the others in Agalloch.
- The guys in Neurosis as a whole, and Scott Kelly & Steve Von Till especially.
- Haavard and Garm from Ulver.
- Johannes and everyone Cult Of Luna involved with the writing.
- The guys in Solstafir.
- Ihsahn - probably my favourite musician of all time, and I adore how diverse his writing is while being truly exceptional the vast bulk of the time (Anthems is my favourite Emperor record, and After is nearly neck-and-neck with it. Phenomenal album, and Austere is a truly breathtaking song)

But one guy I'd like to spotlight is Alexander Von Meilenwald from The Ruins Of Beverast.

Firstly, he's perfected the art of making music that's both ghastly, dark, sinister and diabolically evil whilst also being catchy, memorable and with great hooks. But beyond that, his structuring and compositions are incredibly forward thinking and totally out-of-the-box. His ideas are provocative and cleverly executed, are full of surprises and as a result he makes songs that retain their excitement regardless of how many times you listen. It's truly amazing that that music can come from just 1 man. I'd go out on a limb and say that by and large, Alexander is one of the most underrated composers in the whole metal genre, and is the most underrated for god damn sure in extreme metal.

I wrote an article/lesson on Ultimate Guitar years ago, analyzing the use of mixed meter and rhythmic displacement in the song The Restless Mills. You know the "clanking" sounds throughout the track? Well, if you count the whole time, you'll notice that they're on a constant loop and always happen at the same time intervals (the song never veers from the same tempo). BUT, Alexander uses mixed meter to move the song and riffs around them and place them at different beats in the bar, which changes their feel completely and dictates the effect they have on each part of the song. It's motherfucking brilliant.

I do feel like I could rewrite this article a little stronger now, but looking back it still gets my points across. Have a gander!
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons ... iting.html

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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:10 pm 
 

Chris DeGarmo from Queensryche is a big one for me. He always had a great ear for melody with his compositions and his playing had a certain atmospheric flair to it. The band has never sounded the same since he left and even if I enjoy the three most recent albums, they still have a feel of a very different band. The dynamics just don't hit the same way without him.

Dave Chandler of Saint Vitus is another that comes to mind. He has a very simple but effective style, pumping out a lot of atmosphere into what are otherwise slowed down punk riffs and writing lyrics that have a lot of character. Wino is another terrific writer both in and out of Vitus and it's always cool to see his style be injected in different contexts.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:11 pm 
 

FLIPPITYFLOOP wrote:
blackdiamond74 wrote:
And John Haughm. From what I understand he wrote the bulk of the music/lyrics for Agalloch, and what a discography it is.


I'm pretty sure that for Agalloch, John was the nucleus and main visionary of the band, but the songwriting was still very collaborative even in the later years of the band (if you check out Khorada's album, there are moments that definitely sound like they could've been on Marrow Of The Spirit, even if the band as a whole is very different).

- That said, I'd still absolutely +1 John Haughm, as well as the others in Agalloch.
- The guys in Neurosis as a whole, and Scott Kelly & Steve Von Till especially.
- Haavard and Garm from Ulver.
- Johannes and everyone Cult Of Luna involved with the writing.
- The guys in Solstafir.
- Ihsahn - probably my favourite musician of all time, and I adore how diverse his writing is while being truly exceptional the vast bulk of the time (Anthems is my favourite Emperor record, and After is nearly neck-and-neck with it. Phenomenal album, and Austere is a truly breathtaking song)

But one guy I'd like to spotlight is Alexander Von Meilenwald from The Ruins Of Beverast.

Firstly, he's perfected the art of making music that's both ghastly, dark, sinister and diabolically evil whilst also being catchy, memorable and with great hooks. But beyond that, his structuring and compositions are incredibly forward thinking and totally out-of-the-box. His ideas are provocative and cleverly executed, are full of surprises and as a result he makes songs that retain their excitement regardless of how many times you listen. It's truly amazing that that music can come from just 1 man. I'd go out on a limb and say that by and large, Alexander is one of the most underrated composers in the whole metal genre, and is the most underrated for god damn sure in extreme metal.

I wrote an article/lesson on Ultimate Guitar years ago, analyzing the use of mixed meter and rhythmic displacement in the song The Restless Mills. You know the "clanking" sounds throughout the track? Well, if you count the whole time, you'll notice that they're on a constant loop and always happen at the same time intervals (the song never veers from the same tempo). BUT, Alexander uses mixed meter to move the song and riffs around them and place them at different beats in the bar, which changes their feel completely and dictates the effect they have on each part of the song. It's motherfucking brilliant.

I do feel like I could rewrite this article a little stronger now, but looking back it still gets my points across. Have a gander!
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons ... iting.html


Totally agree with the Solstafir mention. Regarding extreme metal, they're one of the more sharper songwriters. Primordial, Solstafir, Rotting Christ, Nile, Enslaved, Insomnium, In the Woods..., Borknagar, Scythian, Absu, Melechesh all built their names on outstanding extreme metal songwriting.
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metroplex
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:15 pm 
 

MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


That was Lars job actually.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:24 pm 
 

metroplex wrote:
MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


That was Lars job actually.


I'm thinking they all put together The Unforgiven [for example] but James' singing style on that and Kirk's playing are what make it a songwriting high point.
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lordcatfish
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:00 pm 
 

+1 for mentions of Hetfield/Ulrich, the folks in Iron Maiden and Alexi Laiho.

I'll mention Pete Steele, who has a near flawless body of work with Carnivore and Type O. Of course the other members added their touches to make the songs really special, but Pete laid the groundwork.

Although his writing has been a bit more inconsistent in the past decade or so, Tobias Sammet is someone who I rate highly. Not afraid to take chances and do what he wants. I think from around 2000 - 2008 he was really on the ball.
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pressingtoplead13
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:24 pm 
 

I cant believe the thread has gotten this far without the mention of DOUG CERITTO. Doug was an absolute machine when it came to writing riffs. Not only did he right a great amount of Suffocations most classic songs but the first Hate Eternal album was by far their best work and the songs he did are just dripping with riffs. Doug IMO is the best songwriter i've ever heard.

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Miikja
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:40 pm 
 

^ It takes more than great riffs to write a great song. That said, props to Doug if he wrote Catatonia because I love that song.

I'll second the writers in Iron Maiden because a lot of their songs have been covered in many ways and the compositions hold up. I think that's one way to determine the quality of songwriting, by stripping a song to its core and see if it's still good. Wasted Years comes to mind, you can play just the chords on an acoustic guitar and sing along, the tune still rocks.
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~Guest 1195014
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:44 pm 
 

Pitiless Wanderer wrote:
Devin Townsend is far and away the most naturally talented songwriter. The guy's a musical genius.

How the hell did I forget about Devin. He's basically best of both words of the two "types" of lead songwriters I mentioned, in that he has basically no limits to what he does but pretty much never goes below a certain level of quality. It's also why discovering his discography is so daunting, it all sounds so good that it's hard to decide where to go next.

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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:43 pm 
 

I'll second Akerfeldt, Townsend, Schuldiner, Harris, Steele, Hetfield, and Mustaine mentions in particular. In so many bands this is a very challenging question since it's often a collaborative process and it's not necessarily clear who writes what, plus the idea of separating songs from performances is sometimes inextricable. So I tend to go with people who I've seen produce quality output in multiple different projects.

Dan Swano's work is mindbogglingly good across so many different genres with Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Witherscape, Unicorn, his solo material, etc.

Anders Nystrom with Katatonia, Bloodbath, and Diabolical Masquerade. Such a master of creating darker, atmospheric moods.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen with Ayreon, Star One, The Gentle Storm, Guilt Machine, Ambeon and others. Sometimes it's a bit uneven, but the seamless way at his best that he can blend so many different genre, vocal and instrumental elements is quite astounding.

traxan wrote:
Warrel Dane, absolutely.


What material are you referring to? He's a lyricist, but musically I've always had the impression that his other band members handle that, at least mostly. In particular, Jeff Loomis would be another pick of mine for Nevermore, his solo albums, and Conquering Dystopia. It can be very difficult to make complex, technical material memorable, but he really has a knack for it.

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Aldrahn333
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:44 pm 
 

Jeff Hanneman, Gary Holt, Peter Tägtgren, Roman Saenko, Alexander von Meilenwald

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:10 pm 
 

Tom Warrior. You can write some of metal’s greatest, and most influential music, with only the bare minimum of technical skill.
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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:30 pm 
 

Hexenmacht46290 wrote:
Tom Warrior. You can write some of metal’s greatest, and most influential music, with only the bare minimum of technical skill.


Agreed, although Martin Ain's contributions also have to be noted, particularly on Monotheist.

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MetalVermont
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:39 pm 
 

Terri23 wrote:
MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


You've got the wrong person. Lars is the guy who arranges the song structures, placing the riffs in order to build the songs. The other guys wrote the riffs.


LOL. Another newb comes in with his hot take! To say Lars is a better songwriter than James demonstrates massive ignorance as to what “songwriting” means.

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Endarkening
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:04 pm 
 

Pitiless Wanderer wrote:
Devin Townsend is far and away the most naturally talented songwriter. The guy's a musical genius. Richard West from Threshold is also up there.


Came to mention Devin, beat me too it. I also love the Greg from Paradise Lost was mentioned.
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King_of_Arnor
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:12 pm 
 

MetalVermont wrote:
Terri23 wrote:
MawBTS wrote:
Call me dumb but I'd go with James Hetfield. Despite how bad Metallica got, he has a really good ear for what makes a song engaging and interesting.


You've got the wrong person. Lars is the guy who arranges the song structures, placing the riffs in order to build the songs. The other guys wrote the riffs.


LOL. Another newb comes in with his hot take! To say Lars is a better songwriter than James demonstrates massive ignorance as to what “songwriting” means.


"Newb" is a bit rich coming from someone who joined four months ago. Anyway, Terri's point was that you can have good riffs but the song as a whole will be incoherent if they're haphazardly arranged. Also, Lars writes drum parts to the songs as well which gives the riffs a needed backbone. My favourite example of his songwriting is in 'Blackened' at about 5:30 where a previously used riff sounds completely different because he comes in on the offbeat after a fill. Then at 5:40 he goes back in sync with that riff, which afterwards leads seamlessly into the verse riff.
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OzzyApu
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:03 am 
 

LithoJazzoSphere wrote:
Dan Swano's work is mindbogglingly good across so many different genres with Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Witherscape, Unicorn, his solo material, etc.

Took this long for someone to bring his name up. Seconded. The man is a genius.
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DecemberSoul
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:32 am 
 

-Quorthon (obviously)
-Fredrik Söderlund - highly underrated musician, especially his work as Octinomos and Parnassus has yielded splendid results. One of the greatest riff masters in all of Swedish black metal.
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septicgoathorn
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:43 pm 
 

havent seen tony iommi, trey azagthoth or hank shermann and michael denner mentioned yet. trey and iommi have a very distinctive riffing style that cannot be emulated no matter how hard you try. both have written tons of classic albums such as master of reality, altars of madness, vol 4, paranoid, covenant, etc. hank shermann and michael denner are probably my favorite guitar duo in metal too. can't go wrong with mercyful fate's "satans fall" or "doomed by the living dead". some of the best songs ever written.

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Tranquillian
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:35 pm 
 

Composers who are the main composers in their bands and have had long careers with mostly great songs:

Steve Harris
Greg Mackintosh
Dave Mustaine
Tony Iommi
Kai Hansen
Olli Mikkonen
James Hetfield
Quorthon
Andre Olbrich
Charlie Benante

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LycanthropeMoon
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:53 pm
Posts: 2296
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:46 pm 
 

Roy Khan and Thomas Youngblood when they were writing together in Kamelot. The two really knew how to play to each other's strengths and as a result wrote a string of power metal classics ("The Fourth Legacy", "Karma", "Epica", "The Black Halo") and even the last couple albums they wrote together ("Ghost Opera", "Poetry for the Poisoned") are honestly pretty damn good.

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cultofkraken
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:18 am
Posts: 3013
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:14 pm 
 

I think Nicke Andersson is underrated in recognition of his songwriting abilities with Entombed. There was a notable dip in quality in that department when he left. Everything Death Breath did was better in comparison to the contemporary work Entombed created.
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Tony the Peroy Slayer, bards shall sing your story.

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MetlaNZ
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:45 pm
Posts: 2696
Location: Lost in Necropolis
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:32 pm 
 

My pick goes to the late great Mark Shelton of Manilla Road. The run of albums from Crystal Logic to The Courts of Chaos and then Atlantis Rising to Playground of the Damned is one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest in music. Everything else he had a hand in was bloody good too (Hellwell, Riddlemaster). Massive riffs, godly solos, unique vocals and simple but effective lyrics, all combined to take you on an amazing journey, whether it be to ancient lands or into a Lovecraftian nightmare or some battle between good and evil. The man was a legend.

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