Which Forgotten Metal and Rock Bands Deserve More?

TL;DR

Strapping Young Lad, SikTh, Rainbow, Bleeding Through, and several other once-prominent bands deserve renewed attention because their music remains distinctive, intense, or unusually well crafted. The selections show how lineup instability, changing trends, side-project status, stylistic shifts, and fading media attention can push notable artists toward obscurity even when their recordings retain considerable appeal.

Transcript

The music industry is an extremely fickle business. Audiences and the media build you up one day and then forget about you and move on to the next big thing the next day. Either through success or sheer dumb luck, some bands are fortunate enough to maintain their success and sustain a long-term career. Whereas others aren't so fortunate and are rel... Read More

Key Insights

• Steel Panther is presented as a band whose offensive, direct humor was initially entertaining because it was delivered with conviction and backed by strong compositions, Michael Star's vocals, and Satchel's guitar playing. Their popularity later diminished as the central joke became less exciting.
• Strapping Young Lad is described as exceptionally unhinged and densely produced, particularly on City and Alien. The recordings seem close to collapsing under their own intensity, yet the music has remained powerful despite the way changing tastes can make other heavy records feel less extreme.
• Velvet Revolver is characterized as an undervalued raw rock band whose association with Guns N' Roses kept some listeners from taking it seriously. Contraband receives particular praise for Slash's guitar work, memorable songwriting, and Scott Weiland's colorful vocal performances.
• 3 Inches of Blood is portrayed as a successful blend of Painkiller-era Judas Priest, harsh vocals, and a power-metal atmosphere. Although the formula appears excessively corny on paper, strong songwriting made it compelling and briefly positioned the group for much greater success.
• SikTh is credited with pioneering a mathematical, djent-like approach that many later musicians copied. The transcript specifically notes that Misha from Periphery has repeatedly identified SikTh as a major influence, making the band's present obscurity especially surprising within progressive metal.
• Annihilator is described as an inventive thrash band that enjoyed some success in the 1980s but struggled to preserve momentum because of lineup problems. A brief resurgence arrived through the Roadrunner United project in the 2000s, while Jeff Waters's erratic writing and guitar solos remained defining attractions.
• Bleeding Through is presented as proof that 2000s metalcore was not uniformly polished. The band combined extremely heavy, nearly grindcore-like guitars, blast beats, gothic keyboards, chaotic off-grid performances, and uncorrected clean vocals whose imperfections strengthened the rough atmosphere.
• Satyricon is described as one of the rare black metal groups to reach the metal mainstream. Its move from conventional black metal toward a cleaner, mid-tempo black-and-roll sound produced several years of success, although the band later faded from the commentator's regular awareness.

Questions & Answers

Q: Which forgotten metal and rock bands does the list recommend?

The selections named in the description are Steel Panther, Strapping Young Lad, Velvet Revolver, 3 Inches of Blood, SikTh, Annihilator, Still Remains, Stone Sour, Bleeding Through, Rainbow, Elliot Minor, Anthrax, Satyricon, Akercocke, The Sword, Primordial, Coheed and Cambria, Chimaira, To-Mera, and Gob Forbid. The discussion treats them as notable acts that now receive less attention than their music or earlier prominence warrants.

Q: Why is Strapping Young Lad still considered intensely heavy?

Strapping Young Lad remains intense because its music is described as exceptionally dense, unhinged, and almost psychotic in its construction. Songs from City and Alien sound as though their recordings could collapse inward at any moment. While changes in trends and audience tastes can weaken the impact of older heavy music, these recordings are presented as a rare exception that still sounds extreme.

Q: Why did Steel Panther become less popular?

Steel Panther initially succeeded because its inappropriate, offensive, and direct humor was performed with enough conviction and bravado to feel charming and enjoyable. The music also had substantial craft, particularly Michael Star's vocals, Satchel's guitar playing, and the carefully assembled compositions. According to the commentary, the joke eventually became old, the band failed to keep the idea exciting, and its popularity diminished substantially.

Q: What makes Velvet Revolver worth revisiting?

Velvet Revolver is worth revisiting for straightforward, raw rock songwriting, impressive guitar playing from Slash, and memorable vocals from Scott Weiland. The first album, Contraband, is singled out as especially strong, with every song described as carefully written and memorable. The band was often treated as a variation on Guns N' Roses, but the commentary argues that this framing unfairly obscured its own quality.

Q: How did SikTh influence progressive metal?

SikTh is credited with developing the frantic, mathematical, djent-like sound that many later bands adopted. Its music combines progressive complexity with a deliberately erratic and highly energetic character. The transcript also states that Misha from Periphery has identified SikTh on several occasions as a major influence that helped shape Periphery's sound, despite SikTh remaining unfamiliar to many listeners.

Q: What made Still Remains different from other metalcore bands?

Still Remains stood apart through a raw, epic, and melodic form of metalcore built around well-crafted, memorable songs. Keyboards gave the group an additional identity and sometimes created similarities to melodic bands such as Amorphice and Dark Tranquility. Although Roadrunner promoted the band heavily during the 2000s, the commentator says it later disappeared from discussion without a clearly understood reason.

Q: Why is Bleeding Through's production style distinctive?

Bleeding Through used a rougher approach than the clean production and prominent shredding often associated with 2000s metalcore. Its sound included extremely heavy guitars with an almost grindcore quality, blast beats, gothic keyboards, and performances that seemed recorded off the grid. Even the clean vocals lacked pitch correction and sounded imperfect, but those flaws reinforced the chaotic hardcore atmosphere rather than undermining it.

Q: How did Satyricon bring black metal toward the mainstream?

Satyricon moved beyond its earlier, relatively standard black metal approach by adopting a black-and-roll style. This shift retained central features of black metal while cleaning up the presentation and making songs more mid-tempo and forceful. The change proved successful enough for the band to enter the metal mainstream and enjoy several years of success before largely disappearing from the commentator's awareness.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The list revisits metal and alternative bands that were once prominent but later received far less attention. Its selections range from Steel Panther's comedic hard rock and Strapping Young Lad's extreme density to Velvet Revolver's raw rock, showing that commercial decline does not necessarily reflect weak musicianship or songwriting.

• Several featured groups distinguished themselves by combining styles that rarely appeared together. SikTh pursued frantic mathematical progressive metal, Still Remains added keyboards to melodic metalcore, Bleeding Through mixed chaotic heaviness with gothic textures, and Elliot Minor fused pop punk and emo with classical elements and sophisticated vocal harmonies.

• The commentary links obscurity to different causes, including jokes becoming repetitive, recurring lineup problems, shifting audience tastes, stalled activity, and changing genre fashions. Rainbow, Anthrax, Satyricon, Stone Sour, and others are presented as acts whose earlier importance or distinctive qualities deserve more recognition from current rock and metal listeners.