Bizarre Transformations

[JamesEagle]

I was listening to Hittman’s second album, ‘Vivas Machina’, recently and it struck me what a complete change of sound it was from their first. The debut was straight up metal, heavy and upbeat, while the second album is pure hard rock. Quite a transformation. The only other example of such a shift that springs to mind was Mindfunk, who released what I considered a really good funky, heavy metal album, then went completely grunge. Yuk.

 

Can you think of other bands who have done anything like this? Lots of bands have gradually changed their sound, e.g. bands like Amorphis and Katatonia have gone moved from Death Metal to gothic/progressive rock over the course of several albums, but have any other bands suddenly changed their style from one album to the next?

[Glen]

well some bands have changed completely

 

Loud n Clear >>>> the gimmick which is Rock Sugar

 

Pride (MHR) >>>> Furyon (classic British metal.....and rather good it is too!)

 

Cheers

[Geoff]

Obviously we're not including all the bands that sold out in the mid-90's, like the dramatic differences between Masquerade's debut and their 2nd album?

 

Sticking to bands that changed style rather than sold out, I'd say the difference between Pretty Maids 'Red hot and heavy' (Hard rock/metal) and 'Jump the gun' (pure commercial melodic hard rock) is pretty big. And then another change in style by the time 'Sin decade' came out too, when they started incorporating the speedy tracks in with the melodic stuff.

 

Or the difference in FM between 'Tough it out' and 'Takin' it to the streets.' From melodic rock/AOR to whatever you want to call the trainwreck that was 'Takin' it to the streets.'

 

In fact, just mentioning that one made me think of a thread I made ages ago which springs some to mind:

 

Treat - 'Organized crime' / s/t ; huge difference in style there.

Dream Police - s/t / 'Messing with the blues'

 

All 3 bands went from super melodic to super bluesy. Well, not super bluesy in Treat's case, but a huge change in style.

 

Warrant - 'Cherry Pie' to 'Dog Eat Dog' ; poster boys for "hair metal" / glam one minute, mature hard rock bordering on metal the next. Similar story with Winger - the difference between 'In the heart of the young' and 'Pull' is massive.

 

I guess as time progressed a lot of bands probably changed their style quite a bit. It's almost easier to mention the ones that didn't - bands like Tesla, Slaughter, Dirty Looks... uh, is that it?

[JamesEagle]

Yeah, most bands develop over time, hence I was wondering about bands with a sudden shift in style. I remembered another one yesterday, the most extreme example of this I know of - a Finnish band called Amoral. They released 3 albums of Death Metal (pretty good too if you like that sort of thing, as I do) then surprised everyone by releasing a Hard Rock/Melodic Metal album! Pretty incredible change there, couple of good songs too, but I much prefer their DM days.

[Dead Planet]

The worst example that comes to mind is....Paradise Lost...they went from their best release 'Draconian Times' which was melodic death metal, to 'One Second' which was pop music with synth pop and electronica mixed in

 

 

Fucking morons...I wanted to strangle them...

[heaven&hell]

Skid Row from the first release to Slave to the Grind was much different as was Sven Gali, Slik Toxic and many others in the 90's.

 

At least with Skid Row they got better.

[Evil Rick]

Celtic Frost, the thrash metal band that changed gears big time and released the almost glam/hair metal album Cold Lake.

[JamesEagle]

The worst example that comes to mind is....Paradise Lost...they went from their best release 'Draconian Times' which was melodic death metal, to 'One Second' which was pop music with synth pop and electronica mixed in

 

 

Fucking morons...I wanted to strangle them...

 

 

(Although I think 'Icon' was better than 'Draconian Times'; for me the former is pretty much a perfect album.)

[JamesEagle]

Skid Row from the first release to Slave to the Grind was much different as was Sven Gali, Slik Toxic and many others in the 90's.

 

At least with Skid Row they got better.

 

And again -

 

I don't think there was a huge shift in style with Skid Row, not like Amoral, Paradise Lost, etc, but I fully agree that the second album kicked the debut's butt!

[heaven&hell]

Skid Row from the first release to Slave to the Grind was much different as was Sven Gali, Slik Toxic and many others in the 90's.

 

At least with Skid Row they got better.

 

And again -

 

I don't think there was a huge shift in style with Skid Row, not like Amoral, Paradise Lost, etc, but I fully agree that the second album kicked the debut's butt!

 

Well the first one was a little more closer to the hair metal of the time but Slave had a much more classic metal vibe of Priest meets motorhead.

[heaven&hell]

Icon changed their style three times and I actually loved all three sounds they had.

[martinsane]

The band that keeps popping to mind each time I see this is Alice In Chains. I know "Facelift" was their first official release, but before that they had a number of songs and demo's that put them strongly in the hair/sleeze rock fold IE: Faster Pussycat and the like...

 

 

Wildside made a big switcheroo from great hard rock to, well, grunge.

 

 

How bout Judas Priest? For example: Screaming For Vengeance (hard rock) to Turbo (arena rock) to Painkiller (heavy metal)?

[cdjunky41]

SHOTGUN MESSIAH-A VIOLENT BREED

[bangerdave]

SHOTGUN MESSIAH-A VIOLENT BREED

Such a mess of a album,tryed spinning it a few times but in the ends it still sucks.

[eaglesfan3000]

Lynch Mob's - Smoke This...WHAT AN ABORTION!!!!

[Nick C]

Pantera - from fun pop glam Def Leppardy stuff for the 1st 3 or 4 albums to heavy garage angst filled style metal.

[Metal T]

Shadowlife

[Jeff]

Skid Row from the first release to Slave to the Grind was much different as was Sven Gali, Slik Toxic and many others in the 90's.

 

At least with Skid Row they got better.

 

And again -

 

I don't think there was a huge shift in style with Skid Row, not like Amoral, Paradise Lost, etc, but I fully agree that the second album kicked the debut's butt!

 

Kicked the debut's butt? I have to respectfully disagree there James. I think both of those releases are absolutely great, but each one has a different style. The debut is a solid start to finish, catchy riffs and lyrics, commercial hair rock, the high school girls loved it just as much as the boys, make out in the back seat of a car to I Remember You, 18 And Life was everyone's theme song (so they thought). Slave To The Grind was just as great but in a dark, shove it this balls out rock down your effin' throat like Slave To Grind, Mudkicker to the eery goose bump giver In A Darkened Room. Less commercial, I doubt most girls in my high school could tell you song off this one. Yet, great. But I add absolutely nothing to the actual thread at hand.

[JamesEagle]

Skid Row from the first release to Slave to the Grind was much different as was Sven Gali, Slik Toxic and many others in the 90's.

 

At least with Skid Row they got better.

 

And again -

 

I don't think there was a huge shift in style with Skid Row, not like Amoral, Paradise Lost, etc, but I fully agree that the second album kicked the debut's butt!

 

Kicked the debut's butt? I have to respectfully disagree there James. I think both of those releases are absolutely great, but each one has a different style. The debut is a solid start to finish, catchy riffs and lyrics, commercial hair rock, the high school girls loved it just as much as the boys, make out in the back seat of a car to I Remember You, 18 And Life was everyone's theme song (so they thought). Slave To The Grind was just as great but in a dark, shove it this balls out rock down your effin' throat like Slave To Grind, Mudkicker to the eery goose bump giver In A Darkened Room. Less commercial, I doubt most girls in my high school could tell you song off this one. Yet, great. But I add absolutely nothing to the actual thread at hand.

 

Fair enough. I enjoyed the debut, but the only tracks I really like and would want to listen to now are 'Big Guns' and 'Youth Gone Wild'. '18 and Life' annoyed me, it was an okay song, but it seemed to be on Headbanger's Ball every week and I got really fed up with it. The second album was heavier and full of great tunes, it really surprised me and still rocks to this day.