Metal recordings with high SQ

Nightfall
Nightfall Posts: 10,086
edited August 2014 in Music & Movies
Can anybody recommend me any metal recordings that aren't a victim of the loudness war? I know this is a tough task, which is why I'm asking. Any sub genre, I like it all. From death metal to prog and anything inbetween.
afterburnt wrote: »
They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

Village Idiot of Club Polk
Post edited by Nightfall on
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  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,493
    edited July 2014
    There is a lot of well recorded metal on vinyl, but I not seen much on disc. Some of the better discs would be original release stuff like Metal Health by Quiet Riot, and Def Leppard's Pyromania from about 1986. The later copies just suck.
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  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,086
    edited July 2014
    nooshinjohn wrote: »
    There is a lot of well recorded metal on vinyl, but I not seen much on disc.
    This is basically what I've found as well thus far. Maybe a turntable should be bumped to a higher position on my list...
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited July 2014
    Too many ways to classify rock. :smile:

    Does Led Zeppelin fall into this category? If so then run, don't walk, and get the first three albums just remastered. Better yet, download the high-res files.
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  • Mikey081057
    Mikey081057 Posts: 7,127
    edited July 2014
    Dream Theater
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  • Toolfan66
    Toolfan66 Posts: 17,372
    edited July 2014
    The original CD of Ratt Out of the Cellar is a great recording.. But yeah vinyl is the better way to go when it comes to metal but that doesn't mean it's great..
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  • shawn474
    shawn474 Posts: 3,052
    edited July 2014
    The Metallica concert DVD with the San Francisco symphony orchestra is one of my all time favorite concerts to watch/listen to
    Shawn
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited July 2014
    Several of the Sabbath releases on SHM-SACD are stellar sounding - the only one that doesn't seem to be viewed as great is Paranoid (it is still good imo, just not as good as the other SHM-SACD releases).

    The original vinyl release of Sabbath's Heaven and Hell is great!

    Judas Priest on vinyl sounds really really good too - Stained Class, Killing Machine.

    If you consider Porcupine Tree's moments of heaviness as 'metal' (and it is crushingly heavy at times) then Deadwing and In Absentia are good sounding on CD.

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • voltz
    voltz Posts: 5,384
    edited July 2014
    I picked up Def Leppards "Mirror Ball" live vinyl double LP and it is a must have in my book!
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  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,135
    edited July 2014
    Erik Tracy wrote: »

    If you consider Porcupine Tree's moments of heaviness as 'metal' (and it is crushingly heavy at times) then Deadwing and In Absentia are good sounding on CD.

    +1 on those Porcupine Tree's both of those get played at least once a week a lot of Steve Wilson's mastering jobs are great recordings.
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited July 2014
    First let me say I'm a huge PT fan and Steven Wilson does a great job on pretty much everything he engineers. That being said, In Absentia and Deadwing in particular (and really anything since) are pretty dynamically compressed, the mixing is great and they sound good overall but they DID fall victim to the loudness war, at least the regular CD versions. The DVD Audio versions are much better.

    Also be careful of any of the PT remasters that have been released, some of those have been ruined as well.

    PT is definitely above average in terms of sound quality, but they're far from perfect.
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited July 2014
    Mikey081057 wrote: »
    Dream Theater
    Some DT stuff is well done, most of it isn't.

    They have a couple albums on HDTracks that are well done and Images and Words is well done also, pretty much anything else on CD of theirs isn't that great. Keep in mind I'm speaking to the dynamic compression since the OP specifically asked about that, I'm not commenting on the music itself or other things like production or the mix since that is more subjective.
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  • Fongolio
    Fongolio Posts: 3,516
    edited July 2014
    I have quite a bit of metal music (all genres) on vinyl and when I compare the cd counterparts, vinyl wins almost every time. Far less compression on vinyl than on cd. I have a few DVD-Audio and SACD titles in metal that are all better than their cd equivalents. My son John has a couple Slip Knot titles on vinyl that sound amazing. If you are into newer metal try to find vinyl versions and I know you will be very happy.

    Big love for Porcupine Tree which I have only found on DVD-Audio and cd. Much prefer the DVD-A versions and I love the surround mixes with this band!
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  • bthogan
    bthogan Posts: 151
    edited July 2014
    I think that Pantera's very-not-remastered Vulgar Display Of Power is surprisingly well-recorded, all things considered. The first release by Anselmo's new band, Phil Anselmo and The Illegals, is also not too shabby. Not masterpieces of audio engineering, but better than you might expect.

    There's a band called Carbomb, whose first cd, Centralia, sounds better than ok.

    I'd love to recommend a Meshuggah cd, but I don't think they sound as good as they ought to, with the possible exception of their ep, I. And maybe Obzen.
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited August 2014
    Another update...

    I have two Tool CDs that sound pretty darn good:
    * Undertow
    * Aenima

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited August 2014
    Lateralus is also well done and has good dynamics. 10,000 days is the lone truly horribly compressed Tool album, and it's a damn shame because Vicarious is one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time and swounds like crap.
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  • Xharlix
    Xharlix Posts: 48
    edited August 2014
    The Mobile Fidelity gold CDs of "Hysteria" and "Pyromania" by Def Leppard are sound great. But warned, these discs are out of print and draw top dollar.
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  • obieone
    obieone Posts: 5,077
    edited August 2014
    I've found the SQ of Monster Magnets "Powertrip" and "God Says No" to be exceptional.
    I refuse to argue with idiots, because people can't tell the DIFFERENCE!
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