usually when there is this level of pushback, it's because people feel the level of praise being thrown on something is undeserving.

metal is a genre massively outside the mainstream, and that is fine. but knowing how many talented bands don't even get a sniff of the attention bands like ST do, even within the metal scene (look at any hack rock/metal publisher), there's a natural urge to buck against it. are these guys better, more talented, or more creative than any number of bands out there? not really. but if you blend the most mediocre elements of genres together you can lauded for it and get called geniuses

i am all for gateway bands that help people get into other genres. i dont feel like ST will do that. i see them appealing to people who vaguely like the odd metal riff but "nothing 'too heavy". which sounds gatekeeper-y, but ultimately those people have no sincere interest in the scene or genre, they just like inoffensive pop music and the occasional riffs. so to have a band barely in the genre getting a disproportionate amount of play because of people barely into the genre, you're gonna rub people the wrong way yea

that said, ive not seen any real vitriol, like no one is saying the band and their fans should die or get fucked or whatever. they are just pointing out the obvious reasons the band is ass

Album Rating: 4.5

The gateway to the genre comments I don’t really understand. I’ve liked bands like Opeth, Gojira, Devin Townsend, TesseracT, and Leprous for many years. I’ve been to shows where people in their 50’s and 60’s have had conversations with me about Sleep Token. In my experience, they appeal to a wide audience and not just newcomers to the genre.

Album Rating: 4.0

Probably highest average with this many 1’s

Album Rating: 0.5 | Sound Off

Average should be way lower agreed.

Album Rating: 4.0

I wouldn’t go that far. I quite like it lol

Album Rating: 1.0

I’m an Opeth fan, actually itt

Album Rating: 0.5 | Sound Off

Same.

Album Rating: 1.0

I only checked this for cultural relevance / curiosity (especially with being a Brit) and to be honest, I knew this thread would be a big deal and it’s nice when you’re not just talking to yourself like it’s a diary entry (as is often the case elsewhere on the site lol)

yeah, it’ll be interesting to note if and how this band become truly “gateway” at least in relation to metal. Probably a hard thing to gauge and you’d need to wait years before really finding out what people who started here, went on to listen to. There will certainly be younger fans who haven’t heard much metal previously that check ST out, so we’ll see. I definitely have my doubts

Album Rating: 0.5 | Sound Off

My gateway bands were Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir lol. If kids go from this wannabe experimental cringey garbage to any type of respectable metal I would be extremely shocked. But you never know lol.

Album Rating: 3.0

Anything’s Possible, Evanescence is what plunged me into goth metal/rock, Darkwave, Deathrock, post punk, industrial and pretty much anything in that ballpark.

Album Rating: 1.0

Yeah ngl I don't see any single person getting into metal through these guys end up listening to Ulcerate

Album Rating: 1.5

Yooo Hawks I heard Puritania when I was like 10 on accident from a random download on windows media player and they are def one of the bands that introed me into heavier music.

Album Rating: 2.5

> My gateway bands were Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir lol. If kids go from this wannabe experimental cringey garbage to any type of respectable metal I would be extremely shocked. But you never know lol.



My gateway bands were Chevelle and Korn, which led me to Meshuggah and Opeth, which led me to Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, and so forth. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Album Rating: 3.0

i mean i've been into heavy music since i was a baby and my parents blasted white zombie at max volume and i was dancing before i even knew how to walk (they recorded footage of me dancing to "super-charger heaven")

bands like this are still generally more positive than negative for the mainstream, bc while it is more surface level, i feel like anything more ambitious might put some people off lol i'm just all for mainstream bands challenging conventional norms and doing something a little bit MORE than your standard ass tortured poets department basic tier music that doesn't even make any attempt to push us into a post-genre age where it ISNT immediately shunned to try something new

Album Rating: 2.5

I like this band, and even I think this album is mid at best. Clumsy and uninteresting. Removed any of the things that made them interesting and added some of the worst lyrics I've heard on a metal record in a good while.

Album Rating: 3.0

idk every time a revered band for one thing tries something legitimately different and out of their comfort zone the fans historically have been ready to completely reject it and i'm not with that. unspoken king, st. anger, lulu, path of totality, i'd imagine i will feel this way about diabolus in musica too.

Album Rating: 4.5

I admit I was iffy on the album at first listen. I find that the more I listened to it the more I started to fully enjoy it. Past Self is the weakest track on the album and even that has started to grow on me. The beat kind of reminds me of some old school hip hop where it plays throughout the entire song.

im pretty sure my gateway metal band was like bullet for my valentine or slipknot or some shit tbh lol

"idk every time a revered band for one thing tries something legitimately different and out of their comfort zone the fans historically have been ready to completely reject it"

as a general rule sudden sonic changes won't win over every current fan, but it's not like bands haven't been lauded for shifting into different genres before. ulver have spanned like four different genres in their career and each one has been well-received by their fanbase at large

Album Rating: 1.0

My gateway was Guitar Hero, and I liked the cool guitar solo songs. So Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Then discourse at the time because I was very solo-pilled led to a Necrophagist song. Which the solo is very cool but the song isn't great (this still applies today now that I've listened to tons of metal). But yeah Opeth being popular (enough) that was my main first foray into harsher music but I do know somehow I was pointed to Gorguts - Obscura and that was love at first listen so I don't know about gateway bands actually existing unless you have someone directing you. Because I can see a lot of people reaching Megadeth and Maiden and stopping there, this is all I need, I am not musically adventurous.