I was listening to Into Eternity- Timeless Winter and the drums are just something else. If the production was better the song would be a daily listen for me. What others are out there?
All Anacrusis albums. They're still really great albums that I listen to regularly, but the production sounds very low budget (which it probably was). I think they re-recorded their 2 first albums around 2010, but the production still sounds like a low budget recording from the early 90's. :lol:
I like how "Politics" sounds. :shrug: It's not high budget but the vibe is there. The S/T album is just remixed demos, so it's actually kind of amazing it sounds as good as it does.
Man, that album just sounds bad, especially considering how good the prior ones sounded.
I would submit the first WatchTower album. I know *why* it sounds bad - $4K is not a budget for anything but gear rental for an album in the '80s - but...
Palaces by LoG. Even the remaster is only decent-to-goodish IMO, but the original sounded like a tin can. I didn't notice years ago cause I was listening to an ipod through the stock shitbox headphones so EVERYTHING sounded like a tin can, but listening back on it now, or on a stereo and it's pretty harsh.
One that I always thought was complete garbage when it came out was As I Lay Dying's Frail Words Collapse. Also wish you could hear the guitars on the 2 death metal Living Sacrifice albums lol.
A lot of the early 90s classic death metal albums are lacking in production quality. Unquestionable Presence by Atheist, Focus by Cynic, Human by Death (and so on).
Interesting thread. I did a similar thread on Metallum a while back, which I focused on certain old thrash albums that are worth mentioning here:
Possessed - Beyond The Gates.
Another album where it sounds like the producer tried to rob the band's sound of all its power. If you heard the raw, chugging power on an original copy of either of the band's 1986 demos (not the uploads on YT) you will know what I'm talking about, the difference is like night and day. It is like a different band playing the same songs. The band's second album 'Opressing The Masses' was far superior in sound, and closer to capturing the raw power of the band's demos.
Dark Angel - Leave Scars.
After the raw, dark, atmospheric mastery of Randy Burn's production on their classic 'Darkness Descends' album, 'Leave Scars' was a muddy, noisy sounding mess, and a big let down production wise. Maybe not surprising considering the band produced this album themselves, but still disappointing.
First Maiden Album sounds so weak compared to Killers and after. No Prayer sound like crap because its a terrible terrible Album,. Have no clue what Steve was thinking apart from saying that they wanted to go back a bit into Maiden roots... well what a freaking failure in all aspects. In fact after Martin left the choirs Maiden never sounded as huge as with them. Bruce always seems to be singing inside a Closet.
But if everything sounded perfect the most of the mojo those Albums had would be diluted IMO... I prefer them badly produced or not up top modern standards than everything sounds the same of nowadays.
Black Sabbath's Born Again. Amazing album. As a huge fan of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath it's actually an all time favorite.
The production is so bad that most people prefer the demo versions, that also sound terrible, to the actual album.
Any of the newer Iron Maiden albums where Steve Harris has at some point told Kevin Shirley, "I like it like it sounds right now, don't do anything else, this is going to be the mix we release". That started with Dance of Death, that was never meant to be the final mix. It was as unfinished as the terrible album cover, which was also a rough unfinished version.
I fucking adore Steve Harris. He's my idol. He's also a 50+ year old man who has been playing loud stages his entire life and obviously has hearing damage. Every album from Dance of Death on has suffered from him deciding at some point before the album is finished he likes how it sounds and it should be released as is.
Never Say Die! has atrocious production, even though I think it's overall a strong (and underrated) album.
Tony's guitar sounds really weird on this album. He was using a John Birch all-maple neckthru SG at the time that had hilariously overwound pickups, and this was the last album where he used his old Laney with the built-in treble booster mod. The combo was just an awful, brittle sound, which marred Technical Ecstacy too, but not to this degree.
Although Tony kept using the John Birch for several years after that, he was experimenting with different amps starting with Heaven & Hell. Having Martin Birch behind the board for the next two albums also helped a lot, as Tony had been producing before that.
Combine that with Bill Ward's constant bashing of open cymbals on every single song, and I don't there's any way a good mix of this album could have happened. It's just one big trebly, washy mess.
This is coupled with the problem of the original LP being the only totally decent master I've heard. More recent CDs are horribly brickwalled, the original '80s U.S. Warner Bros. CD is unbearably bright, and the '80s West German Vertigo CD is better but lacking some presence.
That's why he IS the man. He created the Modern Tone and the Superstrat and the Shredding that is still sought after almost 40 years later . Sure there was Shredding before but not like what he was doing. He will be forever a Legend.
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