I feel that there has to be a certain drive and passion when making music. There seems to be a heap of bands that seem to be going through the numbers, churning out albums and touring even though the music is lifeless and way past their best.

So, what bands do you think should really give it away?

Of course, it might be hard if this is a full-time job and they don't know what to do with the rest of their life. Of course, they could form a new band and become reinvigorated after years churning away in their old band. Maybe they can move behind the scenes and go into recording, producing and mixing albums which plenty of people have done successfully.

There are plenty of bands that have been around a long time and still producing great stuff. For example, SAXON has produced some of their best stuff in the last ten years or so. Lots of passion and great music. But, that is not always the case.

I was trying to think of a group that fits this criteria, and I came up with KATAKLYSM. I mean, when is the last album that produced that was really good? A lot of by the numbers death/melodic death albums that kind of make you wish they had given away a couple of albums ago. I didn't like their last album at all, with the djent and core influences creeping into the music. The side project, EX DEO is producing far more interesting music nowadays. They should stick with that in the future.

IN FLAMES would be another that should just give it up.

What is your nomination?

Sad to say- but Metallica don’t really have much left to give. I could also happily never hear another Ozzy solo album again…

Amon Amarth.

Obviously these guys

This is sad; I loved Ozzy as a kid, and he was a crucial part of my formative metal years. Nothing can top those two Randy Rhodes albums, and really most of his 80's stuff is top notch. But you have a point; he has long since devolved into a befuddled comic parody of himself, and I haven't heard anything of his solo stuff, literally in decades, that has moved me in any way. Those ghost-hunter shows his son Jack hosts are actually more interesting than Ozzy to me these days.

Metallica's last two full lengths were still pretty good, although a far cry from their 80's peak. I think honestly Megadeth and Dave Mustaine are more burned out and cringeworthly bad than Metallica, in no small part due to Mustaine preaching his right-wing Ted Nugent-esque views. Plus, the guy can't seem to keep a steady lineup together anymore. (Chuck Shuldiner syndrome I guess.) It's almost better to just call it "The Dave Mustaine Band".

Ozzy is an obvious choice, he has made anything worth a shit in over 20 years.

Metallica but I still like their music and we need an Unforgiven pt 4 before they call it a day,

Yeah, I was thinking about Megadeth after the awful 'Super Collider', but that had a bit of a comeback with "Dystopia". I didn't think it was brilliant or anything, but I thought it was somewhat a return to form.

With all the talks about In Flames and Anders Friden on the 1st page over the last couple of days (or weeks, if you count the thread about The Halo Effect), I kind of figured In Flames might have inspired this thread idea, haha!

They are the most obvious answer for me. They are the definition of a spent force, and the music they have been producing over the last decade and a half has been getting worse and worse with each new release.

I know they are popular still, but if there is a band that is just as useless as In Flames, although they never reached such abyssal levels of suckage, it's Arch Enemy. I think they would do the whole metal world a favor if they disbanded, or at least stopped releasing new material. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for "gateway" metal bands and I understand the role they play in the grand scheme of things. But damn! Arch Enemy has not been artistically relevant since the mid-2000's either...

It hurts to say, but I think both Nightwish and Sonata Arctica would also fit the bill. I hate to say this because Tony Kakko is one of the finest vocalists in power metal, if not in all of metal. But Sonata Arctica has not released a good album since Reckoning Night in 2004.

There is another band that I'd really want to see up it's game, so not really a band that should disband, but more like a band that really need to get back on track and release good music if it doesn't want to lose all kind of relevance during the next decade. I'm talking about Symphony X. Again, this hurts to say, because they are one of my all time favorite bands. They have an untouchable streak of five extremely solid albums, starting with The Damnation Game in 1995, and up to The Odyssey in 2002. I'd even argue that, even if I didn't like the direction quite as much, the follow-up Paradise Lost in 2007 was decent enough. But both Iconoclast and Underworld have been subpar releases in my opinion, and with Russell Allen focusing so much of his time releasing shitty solo albums or poor collab albums with other vocalists, I don't know if Symphony X is a priority for these guys anymore. I really hope they get to work on new quality material in the future, but I also think that if they are to just release auto-pilot stuff like on their latest two releases, they really should think about their priorities...

While not metal, another obvious example is KISS. They should have give it away 20 years ago. Are CRYPTOPSY still going around?

I was kind of glad SLAYER gave it away, although they finished off on a weaker album. I give them respect for that.

Another really obvious one I forgot was MANOWAR. I mean, they have been living off their albums from the 80's for a long time. It is kind of like your favorite football player that was so quick, fast and dynamic when he was young. Now, he is a shadow of himself and just kind of embarrassing running around the field. A bit like MANOWAR.

I don't agree. Megadeth have never really had a stable lineup apart from the Friedman/Menza era, and throughout their history it's always been Dave (plus other Dave for a long time) plus a rotating cast of other guys. Also, 3 out of their last 5/6 records are solid imo, with Dystopia being their best in a while.

To answer the question - Deep Purple. This may be something of an unpopular take, but the last album I enjoyed came out in 1993 and the Steve Morse era has just been flat out boring for the most part. I haven't even got around to listening to the last two because I know exactly what I'm in for.

The truth is that some of the laziest, most uninspired sounding music was actually made by people trying as hard as they can. The reverse is true too, some insanely great music has been made by guys just phoning in it.

There's not always a 1:1 relationship between effort and quality.

Isn't that kinda what Nirvana did? They didn't give half a fuck and ended up making some of the best music ever.

Maiden is a big one

Metallica
Mayhem
A lot of norsecore bands

Nah. Grohl has since proven how insanely ambitious he really is. Cobain was MUCH more ambitious and fame-hungry than he cared to let on, but it came through anyway. Whatever he said in interviews, he always seemed to want to be successful. Whether he had it in him to cope with it is another matter. Maybe the only true slacker there was Novoselic, and even that's debatable. Nirvana gave a fuck and a half. Don't believe the myth.

Crematory
Atrocity
Tiamat
Kataklysm
Vesania
Dimmu Borgir
Sirenia
Illdisposed
The Haunted
Carnal Forge
Darkane

Does anyone listen to any of this? Are there any fans of these bands? Why do they exist?!?! :O :O

Metallica
Megadeth
Anthrax (Never understood how they're part of the ''Big 4'')
Dimmu Borgir
Yngwie Malmsteen
DragonForce
Six Feet Under

Convulse has really lost their touch over the years. And it's been like 3 decades so it's understandable. It's just embarrassing to see a band that made a legendary and really mystical album come back and put such hot garbage out. Band would have been better off and retained its mystique if they never made another album

Dimmu Borgir for sure. I've been a fan since high school and I still love a lot of their music, but they're so incredibly stale these days and quite honestly seem like they're not into it at all anymore. Especially Shaggy as a vocalist. He's a talented guy in a lot of respects, but his vocals have been really lacking for many years now. I realize vocalists are often forced to change due to age and wear-and-tear to varying extents (some much more than others, obviously), but compared to EDT and SPD, it's pitiful.

Nirvana cared so little that they tried their best to make their music as radio friendly as possible.

Yeah, Manowar. Their last EP was horrendous. Thunder in the Sky was a good EP, and I even like some songs from Lord of Steel, but they're past their prime. The re-recordings of their old albums were pointless.

What does it matter if they keep going? People want to hear their music, I don't. So I don't.
It's not like people would start booking Absu and Dawn because Dimmu Borgir and In Flames quit.

Six Feet Under comes first to mind, but idk if it counts, because i think this band should never have existed tbh.

Apart from that: Ozzy, Metallica, Dimmu Borgir, maybe even Behemoth after their atrocious last album( but they still have chance to come back to form, i guess), Manowar.

Two bands that would be part of this list but had a surprising recovery, albeit not 100%, on their last album: Megadeth and Satyricon.

Six feet under
Dimmu Borgir
Annihilator... since never nerland
Ozzy
Manowar

i think cycle of revenge was pretty cool - way different style from the osdm they were known for, but i liked it. the last album wasn't great tho', but in any case, i've seen them twice since the reunion, and they're really fucking tight live

Six Feet Under.

I could go 8 eternities without ever hearing modern Chris Barnes's voice again and I'd be a happy lad.

He's never been able to keep a steady line-up. He was able to sorta do it from Rust In Peace to Cryptic Writings, but that's about it.

I used to be a big SA fan during my teenage years and while Reckoning Night was a favorite of mine, Unia was absolutely baffling to me when it came out (and still is) and whatever they have done since I have not been paying much attention, to be honest. With that said, that "acoustic adventure" tour that they've been doing totally looks like a telltale sign that maybe it's about time to call it a day. This is actually the case for most rock/metal bands that decide to go acoustic for whatever reason.

Well, of course if we start including rock bands in here... we aren't done. Same shit could be said about AC/DC.

As for Cryptopsy, a quick search right on this very website could answer your question quite easily. I don't know what you're implying about them though. Their latest two albums have proven they are still a force to reckon with, and they are one of the most incredible live acts I've ever seen.



I agree with this. A good example of a band that seems to try real hard but still ends up releasing turd upon turd is In Flames. While a good example of a mediocre band going through the motion and putting seemingly zero effort in what they are doing is Arch Enemy. Somehow both still have a big following, although I still don't get who is the audience for either of these two bands nowadays. Both are dull beyond belief.



I don't really see how Darkane are fitting in your list to be honest... They have not released anything since 2013, and most of their material was pretty well received and was solid enough. I'm not really into melodic death metal anymore, at least not as much as I was during the 2000's, but Rusted Angel has a couple bangers on there. I always liked their old-school thrash metal infused melodic death metal. Some of their riffs remind me of Darkness Descends/Leave Scars era Dark Angel.

Of course if they aren't going to release anymore music or tour, they might has well disband, but not because they are bad.



Are we just listing bands we don't like now? DragonForce's most recent release shows that they are a capable band beyond the shredding and crazy fast soloing. It's a well-written album, and I hope they keep releasing quality material like it.

Up until recently I would have said Edguy, but it's looking like Tobias Sammet has all but put the band on ice as it is given his total fixation on writing borderline Meat Loaf ripoffs with an occasional side of symphonic metal with the "new" Avantasia. Edguy's last salvageable album was Hellfire Club and that was way back in 2004 and was a mixed bag that had a few really lame joke songs that are highly skippable. Following 3 subsequent albums that have been utterly terrible and another mixed bag that occasionally flirts with glam rock territory (Space Police), I'd basically written them off as over, and now that Jens Ludwig is likely to become Magnus Karlsson's competition over at Frontiers Records, it's pretty safe to say that the glory days of Theater Of Salvation, The Savage Poetry and Mandrake are over. It was a good run, but I don't see how any potential future releases by Edguy would be worth the CDs they'll be printed on.

Bloodbound, Freedom Call, Power Quest, Nightwish, Hammerfall, a lot of the older PM bands that just didn't seem to remember how to write a good song anymore or how to sound as vital. Nightwish is actually at least trying some new shit, but the writing and performances are so subdued and enervated to me.

Megadeth and Testament for sure - completely brain-dead rehash music for years. But eh in the end I wouldn't actually tell 'em to quit - artists will keep doing their thing no matter what.

Consider me informed

Sadly, I think I have to agree with this as well. I was a huge fan of Edguy in high school. Hellfire Club, Mandrake and Theater of Salvation were some of my favorite records at the time. I actually remember Rocket Ride coming out and being mildly disapointed by it at the time. It was new Edguy, so I thought that was a win. It was overall a weaker album, but I salvaged what I could. It quickly fell off the rotation though, and I don't I have touched it since 2008 or so. I tried listening to tracks from the following records here and there, but I was unimpressed and quickly gave up on them. I can't say I was ever impressed with Avantasia beyond the first album. I used to listen to The Scarecrow when it came out, but beyond the first few listens and the pleasure of discovering the featuring vocalists, there really wasn't much to it either.

So yeah, just like Empyreal said:



Most of these bands have failed to reinvent themselves. But they still seem to have very loyal fanbases, as they are still touring and managing to release new albums every now and then.

I think Edguy was better later on than on the older albums. And Sonata Arctica have always been interesting because they never seemed to care about sticking to metal beyond a general heaviness - so they stayed fresh to me. They're one of the only bands I'm not even sure I could classify as one simple genre.

Kamelot is another that went massively downhill after Ghost Opera - though Silverthorn is still good. Hoping they come back strong sometime.

Yeah? I don't know, I can't stand their wannabe funny tracks, and their flirt with cock rock on so many tracks, without ever reaching the awesome levels of epic heavyness and power of their 1998-2004 era.

One of the most mentioned bands in this thread is Metallica and I mentioned them myself but why should they give it away, when they are going gold with any release? All bands peak and never reach the same level again but they can still put out music and have great live shows, this applies to Iron Maiden as well - saw them on the Legacy tour in 2019 and it was one of their best performances in nearly 40 years of seeing them.

Somebody mentioned AC/DC, well their latest album fucking rocks. Yes, it's the same old formula but who cares? Motorhead is dead and gone but they always did their thing, if they were still around I would definitely go see them again.

They were good on the 90s stuff but it was clearly a band of teenagers that was still evolving their skills. They just sounded more confident on the later ones like Tinnitus or Age of the Joker - neither of which really laid it on too thick with the humor to me anyway.

You know, In Flames offer varied degrees of suck and its at least interesting to see how they'll fail next time, but Arch Enemy...they are the absolutely most boring "trademark" tripe they could possibly be. From drum patterns to riff patterns and repetitive soloing, down to the lyrics...it's all just massive recycling in most un-diverse ways.

Oh, and Running Wild. This band has been killed almost 20 years ago.

I'd say that Nightwish is the most evident answer, to me. Honestly, they should've reformed back when Tarja was kicked out of the band.

Since then, they've been trying to sound innovating in many ways possible, by assuming that poppy, but noisy and shapeless musicality with Anette or with those intergalactic voyage film score stuff with Floor, that coincides with the moment Tuomas discovered analogous sound effects. While "The Greatest Show on Earth" is, undoubtely, an epic music piece, the truth is that, at least for me, everything else that was released around the same time or later is a failed attempt to replicate such ideas. All of this, in the sense that the songs became so repetitive and adorned with a cornucopia of endless sonorous effects and tentatively epic introductions that end up not captivating the listener's attention and/or interest.

Now that Marco left, I feel that Nightwish is just "Tuomas and his colleagues". It's not that it is bad for bands to modify their music and to integrate new musicians in their line-ups, the thing is that, in this particular case, both things were done in such a destructive way that I'd say the best to do is to end activity, to avoid getting even more dilapidated.



Well, I actually do, especially Sirenia, which is one of my favourite bands, at the moment. As for the others in the quoted reply, I just like them, I wouldn't say I listen to them with so much frequence, nor do I follow their discography, but they do put out some great music.

They've been playing Clouds in its entirely for the last couple of years...that's at least one valid reason for them to continue.