Metal Talk 

Crazy how much metal has evolved. I certainly feel that Mick Gordon had a HUGE impact on the way metal is produced/perceived now, as crazy is that is to say. I’m so excited to see how this genre continues to evolve.

Nik try not to put Sleep Token in his thumbnails challenge level impossible

Fun! MeTaL! THINGS!!!!!

You can hear alot of nu metal and metalcore influences in todays metal, its like reliving my childhood all over again except im in my 20s

meshuggah and periphery deciding to make the sound that people would use and manipulate for the next 16 years be like: 🥶

I am someone who came along at the very end of Gen X (46) I have said this many times, "You ether evolve with time, or you will get left behind". Most people from my era cannot and outright refuse to say that. I love some bands from the 80's, 90's and beyond. Crue got me into metal, and now I listen to everything from Slipknot, Bad Omens, Sleep Token, Slaughter to Prevail, and many more! Keeping an open mind is paramount to discovering new music!

Nu metal, alternative metal and metalcore from the 2000's made me the man i am today but i also love modern metal and new fun metal shit that comes out today. Its okay to like both eras

Nik you inspired me to play guitar today I just learned walk by pantera and the solo thanks for inspiring me also to get into metal

I remember when Melissa Cross brought out the dvd called Zen Of Screaming in 2005, i bought it thinking it would be crazy vocal techniques, but it just turned out to be regular singing lessons and warm ups, one embarrasing sing lesson later my growls got deeper, my vocals became better, i had better breath control and i could hit more ranges. The history of metal vocals evolving im pretty sure starts with Melissa Cross the GOAT

Nik, you have to react to Starset's "new" song 'Brave New World.' Starset may not normally your style, but this is a shocking level of *heavy* for them. I'm a fan of theirs, and this caught me totally off-guard and blew my mind. The riff is literally terrifying. You will *not* be disappointed.

I’m stuck in 2000-2000 nu metal phase. Love the old 578 but the new stuff too.

Nik: what era of metal you like the most? Me: all of them.

Actually "What the fuck is Mirar?!"

This is one of those debates I think is just void and pointless because it’s literally all just down to personal taste. I like modern metal and really struggle to get in to a lot of older stuff, mostly pre 2000s. Just never happened for me. Me arguing with someone who has the complete opposite taste is pointless and a waste of time because there is no objective answer

I still remember hearing Bullet With A Name for the first time playing WWE: Smackdown vs Raw 2007 and being absolutely blown away

Drummers started doing jazz and metal. Dave Lombardo and Gar Samuelson: did ya'll forget about us? 😂

I grew up as a Warped Tour kid, it's crazy to see how things have evolved. I feel like metal isn't as "raw" anymore, it's cleaner and more produced, like you were saying. There's a hell of a lot of variations now though, so everyone can find something they like.

My main problem with mainstream metal nowadays is that the production can get so obnoxiously clean, that it just stops being heavy, like, it stops being organic, I'm not asking for the music to sound like it was recorded through an old radio, but i do want my music to sound like it was actually made by human beings with passion for what they are playing

I don't know about all this "...and then guitarists/drummers/vocalists started getting better". While modern metal is definitely an incredibly skilful genre utilising a wide range of new techniques, I think crusty old shredders in the 80s definitely weren't worse. I'm sure if you gace Paul Gilbert a 15 minute thumping lesson, he'd have invented Tosin music before Tosin. I don't think "better" is the standard or the right word. Just different. I still listen to Judas Priest from the 80s, and I was listening to Polyphia a minute ago. It's all good.

I have never gotten to a nik video so quickly.

This is a good analysis. I always tell people how much technology shapes music.

Meanwhile on Reddit you have people saying “death to deathcore”, “Slipknot fans should never show their face again to this world” or much, MUCH worse, saying and I quote: “Chester deserved to unalive because he made crap music”…….. that’s just what I’ve found there in one day………

I started with old school Slayer and Pantera in my early teens (90's), with a transition into Industrial Rock (NIN, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, SWANS) and then full experimental noise beat when the drugs kicked in; Einstruzende Neubauten, Download, Autechre, etc. I hear many of those industrial ideas in modern metal, and that evolution makes sense to me

My metal journey started with Metallica, Slayer, Tool, Linkin Park, Disturbed, and then went into Killswitch Engage, Dream Theater, In Flames. Then I went into power metal like Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Within Temptation. Now I do metalcore as my big genre with Ice Nine Kills, Asking Alexandria, We Came as Romans, and Alt metal like Smash Into Pieces. Just discover Versus Me, who are metalcore, and Sick Century who I am not quite sure how to catagorize. I just like metal period. Is best music.

The titles vibe: Son, there comes a time in every future metalheads life when he craves harder rock. Sure ot might only start with black sabbath but over time you listen to thrash, hardcore, death metal, black metal, grindcore esc. Just know, these changes are completley normal. Oh how do i know you are a future metal head? its all in the genes.

Metal in 2024 : Fun MeTHALL things !!!

Whether you like it or not (I absolutely do) Bad Omens has had such a huge influence on the scene, that The Death of Peace of Mind imo will still be talked about in 10 years time. It changed everything. In my opinion, one of the most important albums in recent memory along with You Won’t Go before you’re supposed to by Knocked Loose, and Nex Gen by BMTH.

I’m just really enjoying this era even as someone who also grew up with that nostalgia trip you mentioned. From LP to BFMV and everything that fit in between back then, to how my tastes have expanded these days. I truly love how VAST Metalcore itself is in general with bands from Northlane to something that is just a more modernized version of Metalcore in Bury Tomorrow. Sprinkle in the crazy off the board stuff BMTH keeps putting out and I feel like I’ve been eating good.

Nik - guitar solos aren't a thing today Adam de Micco - can you see me ?

We need a metal version of bowling for soups 1986

When you were talking about your music discovery path it was like you were speaking for me hahaha

I see that 1 million plaque in the background.Congrats on your RU-vid accomplishments Nik!

I just won't ever accept that music was better back then just because of 'lack' of good production. We live in an age where I can record a whole song with drums, guitar, voice and bass and full production with just a laptop, a mic and a guitar. That's huge, and as much as I appreciate records like The Cleansing for their rawness, I love recording crap at home

Thank you dying wish for keeping 2000's metalcore alive 🤘

my metal journey really started with the classic thrash and death metal of the 80s so that stuff will always have a special place in my heart, but i think the era that speaks to me the most is late 90s/2000s metal because of how experimental and fun everything got. i also think this is why i am now Really enjoying all the newer metal that’s been coming out, because it feels like another rebirth of the genre. i’ll always respect the classics but what’s been done since then is so sick

Half of Bring Me the Horizon songs in new CD have references to old stuff, pop and metal. I think we have more creative before. Today it's a race to fill dopamine of ADHD metal heads using breakdown (no complains).

electronic music and metal began way earlier than Linkin Park. In 80s, Ministry, NIN, a bunch of 80's prog.metal bands used electronics in their music too

I’m a much newer metal fan, being introduced to metal through bands like A7x or Slipknot through my brothers, but as I’ve become more into newer metal it’s a lot easier for me to really live in it in comparison to the 2000s metalcore that I wasn’t around for. Because of the fact that I didn’t live through those bands I am not as fully connected or likened to that type of music. Ofc I love all types of metal but being younger allows me to really live in the current scene.

"Everything's awesome cuz we still have F***** Breakdowns!" I exhaled out of my nose on that one.

YES WE WANT THE METAL 2004 2024 SONG

Didn't know mirar was getting big. You love to see it

We need more early 2000's era Metalcore revival. OSDM revival scene has been awesome, same with the Black-Death scene. I like production variation in what I listen to, why bands like Black Cilice (cavernous lo-fi BM) get played right alongside the new Ulcerate or JFAC or TBDM, some of my projects I still mic my amp because that's the sound that's needed. Sky's the limit in a lot of ways.

I've said it before on many of your videos, and honestly I was a hater for a lot of newer stuff that was 'mainstream' metal on Octane or Liquid Metal where yeah, some was cool but I knew there had to be something deeper going on. I found this page and my love for br00tz and all things core was reignited once I could watch a few N.N. videos and pull up Spoopifoo and add all this shit to a playlist and from there recommendations on that platform will give you endless options of what you never even knew existed, and not it's your favorite band, genre, whatever. So, big props to you for being honest and fair across the board and not 'gatekeeping' the genre, especially with how much influence you wield nowadays. To your second point about how the music 'sounds', my old band recorded an EP over the course of about 2 years, in the early 10's, and at that time working with the engineer and producer, I realized just how GOOD music can sound when recorded properly and since then I've become a little snobby when the music 'isn't' pristine and perfect, as you said in this video. I want to be able to play it at god-tier levels on any set of speakers or my car or headphones and it sound PERFECT. And frankly I'm glad we're there, and even more glad Spotify and other platforms are working to give us lossless audio, which is going to be another game changer, as 1411k vs. 320k is a WORLD of difference, even if you don't realize it yet. 5 years ago I never thought a band like Polyphia or Bad Omens would top my Spotify lists but here we are, and I'm all the happier for it.

Meanwhile, I'm over in the power metal corner, blissfully unaware of these things. Seriously, though, there is nothing wrong with picking up newer production techniques. Saxon and Judas Priest put out some great albums this year, and they're trucking along like it's still 1982. Thanks to the internet, music genres have certainly gotten diverse, but there will always be those bands that still do the things you love. You just have to look for them.

anything that makes me headbang makes me happy no more overthinking

love seeing your posts on the same music we might have in common. You rip dude!

Okay i like metal.

The problem I have right now with modern music in general, it's that is hard to be innovative at this point. If a band or a producer bring new things that make them sound different with the rest of the other bands, I assoume it can occur two things: 1 - Get into irrelevance because the competition just produces the same stuff over and over. 2 - It gets the attention everybody, including other bands (also aspiring new ones), that see this new changed and try to replicate it without much of an effort

There will never be anything like the new wave British heavy metal in the 70's, like the thrash wave of the 80's, the groove and death metal of the 90's, the Nu/Alt metal of the early 2000's, the myspace deathcore movement, etc. Each era brings it's own emerging music styles and it is up to the listener whether it is good or not. Personally I think there is good music to be found every single year as long as you are okay with doing some digging, but even in the mainstream there are fantastic bands like Loathe, Archspire, BMTH, Sleep Token, Spiritbox, Knocked Loose, Lorna Shore and so many more that are pushing the boundaries of music whether people like it or not.

I've been playing music of some form for 44 years. It's exciting to see my beloved metal evolve, and even more exciting to see these young pups doing things on their instrument that would have Eddie Van Halen's jaw drop. I've never gotten good enough to be anything but a hobbyist, but these new players are phenomenal.

Im surprised you haven't made a video about Graspop yet? All the better bands i learned from you played there. Slaughter To Prevail, BMTH, Architects, Electric Callboy, Brand Of Sacrifice, ERRA, While She Sleeps and so on. It was a banger of a festival

I always describe to people that growing up in the 2000s gateway mainstream metal was KSE, August Burns Red, and the Asking Alexandra stand up and scream debut (the bible of 578 0-0-0-0-0 ) I don't listen to metalcore anymore but it was a great gateway into hardcore and other types of metal that I listen to now!

making access to information alot easier (with internet etc..) also makes it that music knowledge and ability is no longer gatekept by rich people who could pay for real music classes and such. which is also why there seems to be more prodigies and such in music. The market overall got better technically imo.

Honestly both are fantastic, without classic stuff we wouldn't have our modern sound now. In a way they need each other, With out the classic sound a modern sound wont get formed cause theres nothing for it to grow and evolve off of, without the modern sound metal would just be the same as it was 20, 30, 40 years ago at that point you kind of get bored of the same foraged sound. It's nice to have places to grow and change up the sound of a genre.

Listen to hardcore, this is the best time now more than ever. Sick riffs, sick breakdowns, and so many good bands out there.

6:25 Yes production has gotten a lot more accessible and it's way easier to sound like a professional band with a home studio. But it's not necessarily better. The trap many bands fall into these days is using the same presets to produce that high gain, low end guitar sound where bands almost sound indistinguishable from one another. In fact, this is almost like what happened in the late 80s, where every big band had loud, reverb-drenched production. Which is precisely why "grunge" and bands like Korn stripped down their production so much. The underground metal scenes were always fated to have a less-than-pristine production value due to their budgets and access to studios. But that variation in production is what makes a genre as diverse as metal special. If you look at the non-mainstream bands out today, you'll notice that there's a huge variety of sounds and production styles that aren't limited to whatever metalcore flavour-of-the-week is pushed on the Heatseekers / Spotify's "Kickass Metal" playlist.

This is a great video!

yes love that you cited justin bonnits and andy cyzek

Yea, I definitely need a good production. I don’t want a sterile sound, but trying to listen to a record that seems like it was recorded by a broken cassette recorder placed under underwater is criminal😅

i like the little Justin plug with the vocal videos

metalcore, powermetal and partially nu metal are by far my favorite metal subgenres because of the mix of heaviness and relatively clean vocals

5:53 ...Chelsea Grin reference

Good metal is timeless, regardless. Sounds of perseverance for example will always remain timeless. I feel with the saturation , the weaker and more mid songs/ bands are falling off or being forgotten.

Music is sound, sound makes me happy. No more no less

I've been listening to Vision of Disorder, Botch, Earth Crisis, and all that sort of stuff stuff lately. Some early cores and metals 🤘

I definitely agree with everything you said, but to me the 90s and 2000s will always be my favorite 🎶

00:35 Captain Marvel as good old mcu? lol even the memes are downhill

I think the fact that i've seen this video yesterday, i dreamed with nik with a bass in an slavic film. The most funny is that Nik was actually very happy and couldn't stop flexing. Strange dream but, it was sooo weird and funny 😂

The Bad Omens, Falling in Reverse, BMTH, and Motionless in White style of metal may be the most digestible form of metal to date.

The era to me doesn't matter. I can listen to a song from any decade if it's good. I can appreciate the traits each decade offers. I admit that core genres aren't necessarily for me but recently I came across a deathcore band that I did like. The genre is still not for me but I'll go along with some great stuff.

END video PLEASE. END is an American metalcore supergroup composed of singer Brendan Murphy (Counterparts), guitarists Will Putney (Fit For An Autopsy) and Gregory Thomas (Shai Hulud), bassist Jay Pepito (Reign Supreme), and drummer Matt Guglielmo (the Acacia Strain)

You missed lyrical content: I feel like now vocalists lyrics are light years beyond the early 2000s. IE Silent Planet, MTS, Northlane etc.

I think you should check out Assemble The Chariots if you appreciate production of today's music, while still missing the elements of older stuff. Their music has a bit of everything, and the composition and everything is just amazing. ''Empress'' would be the best song to check out first, even though their newest song ''Evermurk'' is cool too. Not much of pop-element to them, but they represent where we have gotten to amazingly.

There was a mysterious-ness with music back in the 90's, with things like the Death Metal scene and so on. Things like the internet and needing to be an influencer to help promote your music material has diluted that concept over the years. Slipknot was the last band to truly hold that mystery as well as being innovative. After that the next generation (while not bad) had a different, more open mindset and wanted to break the norms at the time. But that's just my "old man yelling at clouds" opinion.

Early 2000s Metalcore got me into Metal (shoutout to NFS Most Wanted), but I find more joy in Modern Metal and combining 50 genres into one song. That shit's fire

I just like metal! 2004 or 2024 or 1994 if it's good music it's good music.

it's more global too, with a lot of bands from all over the world able to share their love of Metal music

The now music is great. There are some great collabs coming out. I'm more motivated to go concerts more than ever. It also helps that I'm older and actually have money.

It's crazy for me that in 2024 most of popular metal bands are basically prog music. 2000's is still goated for me not only in metal but also in rock with pop-punk/emo scene or post-grunge bands

5-7-8 era still my favorite.

You know what it is? I like a lot of albums from pre 2000, I like a lot of albums from 2000-2010, I like a lot of albums from the 2010's, I like a lot of albums from the 2020's. I was so ready to comment if I liked 2004 or 2024 more, until I actually asked myself the question.

Gotta love that the thumbnail is literally SlipToken

Nik! You should react to this Metalcore band called Reserate! They are from Singapore and they SLAP guaranteed!

Darko US be the craziest band that utilises ALL the chaotic (yet) sophisticated sounds. Their new album certainly identifies a lot of that stuff. It’s weird. But works.

"Everything's awesome 'cause we still have fkn BREAKDOWNS" 🙌🙌

Honestly, I like both! As long the song is good and I enjoy what I’m hearing and I’m playing it on repeat, then it’s a banger song. There’s nothing wrong with the old style, but in my opinion, if you’re doing the same thing over and over again, it begins to become stale. You can only come up with so many riffs, chords, etc. Adding new elements to your music will bruh some spice to it which us listeners will enjoy. We all need something fresh in the mix.

Nik has been yelling at us a lot more than usual..."WTF IS MIRAR?!" Dude, we look to you for the answers lol

as a younger person, while i think a lot of new metal is fun af, some bands just don't seem to grasp the metal community or themes that the genre was built around. alternative genres like metal and punk and emo are very tied to certain movements and attitudes, and popular metal artists essentially being pop stars with guitars is a worrying trend away from the community that is.

I graduated high school in 02 and the concerts were top tier. Static X/Mushroomhead, Slayer/Hatebreed, Killswitch/Shadows Fall/Lamb of God, DevilDriver, Chimera, Nothingface, Stone Sour, Slipknot, I got screamed at by Corey Taylor, saw Dimebag w/ Damageplan a few months before it happened, watched Ivan Moody preform 1 song at Ozzfest with his band MotoGrater before they broke up(i still think it's better than any song Five Finger Death Punch has made), and witnessed Manson use a female dancer's butthole as a mic stand. Besides Ozzfest I never paid more than 20 bucks for a ticket and it was all small venue "bars". I am hopelessly stuck in "my era" of metal but I appreciate the next generation for keeping it going.

i know of no other way of telling you to please check out Pillar Of Wasps. metal is amazing. metal can be everything it wants to be even if you hate it. Pillar Of Wasps actually sounds like the band name. you do good work.

to me the best mixing was done in the 90s, the right amount of compressione with the right amount of original thumpness left in it

"Yaaaahhh Slaaayyeeerrrr!" - Nik Nocturnal

A Dai Zero Kan metal cover could go hard too.

Zeroes. Zeroes are definitely the best part of heavy music. They always was and always will be

You literally named every band in order that got me hooked into the metal world

Good thing in metal is you can always discover something new.

2000's simply had so many good records, i feel 2010's onward can't compete, i mean, we had: Opeth run from Blacwater Park to Watershed, Gojira, Mastodon, Converge, Soad, Deftones, Boris, Behemoth, Pig Destroyer, Electric Wizard, ISIS, Neurosis and so many other amazing bands and records

yeah a 2004 vs 2024 would be SICK

I've got a question for the community! I got into metal living in Germany and I kinda got the feeling that the shift Nik is talking about (metalcore getting more synth parts and becoming crab core) happened years later here. I remember making the argument that metalcore is what 'heaven shall burn' does and this whole crabcore stuff needed a different term. But it was around 2010... Nik talks (in other videos) about this shift happening way earlier. Did it really take this long to reach Europe or is it just me??

I think regardless of the 2000s vs 2020s debate, we can mostly agree that the 2010s were a super rough time for metal. The earlier parts of the decade especially saw a time where most everything in pop culture had this pretty sheen start being applied to it, and the only other option was to make something outwardly abrasive like dubstep (which I don’t hate for the record, check out the Rage Valley EP by Knife Party for some killer shit). That huge divide in sanitized versus unsanitized media left metal in a weird spot and only within the past 5 years or so do I think that’s been lifted some. I’m not entirely content with the sound of most current metal acts, but I’m so happy to see it start to reclaim an audience and hope that inspires a new wave of great artists. Certainly has inspired me to