Who would you label as crunchiest band ever?

[big mouth]

Obviously that's the Bay Area that is concerned in this topic..I'd like to have your views on this considering the monsters that have been issued there.... my choice goes right away for HEATHEN... what about you guys?

[Stormbringer]

As a Scandinavian I feel I have to give my vote to Artillery!

[Prof]

Well, I could name half the Bay Area metal bands or early Atheist and Kreator here, but the record that still crushes me every time I give it a spin is definitely 'Within the veil' by Fear Of God. This is more than metal, it's a vibe that to this day, I haven't found anywhere else.

When I finally got to see Dawn Crosby live on that ill-fated European tour in the nineties, very little remained of that magical record, though. With Wrathchild America-members filling in at the last minute for the 'dearly departed' and a sound that had no dynamics whatsoever (it was so loud, you could barely distinguish any instruments - let alone Dawn's voice), it was just such a waste of talent, energy and effort. Plus, Dawn was completely out of it. Very sad, to put it mildly.

Still, 'Within the veil' rages on - a monument of a metal record, with an atmosphere all its own.

[EricStav]

Yeah, I know you are referring to the good ol' "Bay Area Crunch", but how about that GODLY guitar-crunch from Greg Fulton of CYCLONE TEMPLE on the BRILLIANT "I Hate Therefore I Am'" cd. His rhythm playing was BEYOND crunching!!

[big mouth]

Yeah Greg Fulton had a fuckin' crunchy tone especially on that CYCLONE TEMPLE album! Fuck yeah! And ARTILLERY of course fuckin' smokes on their 2nd and 3rd album, hell yeah!!! But another band that came in mind to me is ANGEL DUST with "into.."...once the first tune is over it's a non stop barrage of rifferama that makes you go fuckin' wild! Those guys RIPPED real bad back then! HEll yeah! EXODUS tone all the way but way crunchier!

[ShoveIt]

the MENTAL DECAY 1987 Demo !!!!

[OSMRECORDS]

Wow crunchiest huh? Well here are a few:

1. Vio-Lence
2. Exodus
3. tons of NY/HC bands.
4. Kreator
5. Destruction

and lets not forget Master!

[big mouth]

Sorry Patrick but here I have to disagree, the style of riffing used by DESTRUCTION, KREATOR, MASTER are not crunchy.... they doesn't have that riffing approach/ cutting edge that the Bay Area bands had or ANGEL DUST/ ARTILLERY for Europe had..it's a different style and that what seperates those bands.

[steelreign]

I agree with the HEATHEN vote Laurent, but I also would have to say that Agent Steel's "Unstooppable Force" has some pretty godly crunchiness in its own right. Hell yeah!

[OSMRECORDS]

Fair enough Laurent that makes sense. If you are talking Heathen though what about bands like Forbidden Evil, Sadus and also newer bands like Kaos and Imagika?

[big mouth]

Sure FORBIDDEN EVIL of course... The track "F. Evil" is obvious when it comes to crunch but very few stuff from IMAGIKA is that Crunchy and SADUS had a totally different approach than all the classic Bay Area bands (speed for the sake of speed approach) as for KAOS, even back in '88 I never found them that crunchy either....

[Temple of Blood]

I think Heathen are the crunchiest but not necessarily the best.

[Stormbringer]

SADUS had a totally different approach than all the classic Bay Area bands (speed for the sake of speed approach)

Come on! The first Sadus album is fucking awesome! They had their own style and didn't try to be the next Exodus or Testament that loads of other Bay Area bands definitely did. They couldn't give a shit and just played the music they wanted! Can't wait to hear the new album. I'm sure it'll blow away the latest Exodus album ... although that isn't saying much...

[big mouth]

But that doesn't change anything Niclas.... SADUS weren't delivering crunchy stuff. THEY sure did have their own style in the whole Bay Area thing -just like BLIND ILLUSION- but their Metal was definitively much more based on speed.

[Guest]

Anybody remembers KINETIC DISSENT and their song "Cult of Unreasons" (I think this was the name)? Also I would say that old Iced Earht had some unbelievable picking.

Hm, I still love Kill em All from Metallica, because it was the first time I noticed such a guitar work.

Well, maybe it all goes back to "Children of the Grave" from Black Sabbath? Dang dadadada Dang dadadada Dang dadadada DaDa....

Bye

Neudi