[Iron1]

I was (and still am) a huge Pestilence fan back in the day. Got Malleus the first week it was out, and by the time Spheres hit they were one of my all-time favorite metal bands. I still remember the night this song hit Headbangers Ball and instantly thought "WTF, the guitars sound awful!" but still loved the song, Martin's Vox and Patrick's riffs. A week later I discovered Bolt Thrower and that was the end of Pestilence being my fave band.

The tone is like nothing but pick sub-harmonics squeezed through a way-too-tight hi/low pass filter. Not sure if it's the producer who screwed it up or the guitar players bought all new gear and didn't know how to dial it in before recording or what... but man the guitar tone is awful.

What song do you love that has a guitar tone you hate?

 

[1]

Not so much the guitar tone but the overall production - every song on Psalm 69. Fantastic album with such an unfortunate flat, lifeless mix that has no balls whatsoever.

 

[146]

Blizzard of Ozz.

Anacrusis' entire catalog as well. Great albums, not so great production. Hate is perhaps a bit strong term for how I feel about the tone, but it could definitely be a lot better.

Even the re-recorded versions from 2009 sound like a low budget early-90's production. :lol:

 

[Jazzhands]

Can I go with entire albums?

Because Ozzy's Ultimate Sin and Black Label's 1919 Eternal.

 

[AdamCook]

...And Justice For All

 

[Iron1]

...And Justice For All

/Thread

 

[105]

Cowboys From Hell
Everything Randy Rhoads
The entire "When the Storm Comes Down" album

 

[thrashinbatman]

it took Testament a while to figure out their production, and this album is the worst one. a great song totally undermined by the tone (among other things).

as a demonstration, the 2012 re-recording:

 

[Rocka_Rollas]

Not so much the guitar tone but the overall production - every song on Psalm 69. Fantastic album with such an unfortunate flat, lifeless mix that has no balls whatsoever.

I'm not a experienced listener to "industrial metal" or whatever thats called.

But I get your point about it...

Imagine if it sounded like THIS (it kicks ass so maybe not appropriate for thread, I just wanted to give an example of "industrial" (?) sound that just sound amazing)

 

[Rocka_Rollas]

it took Testament a while to figure out their production, and this album is the worst one. a great song totally undermined by the tone (among other things).

as a demonstration, the 2012 re-recording:

I prefered the first :lol:

But maybe I also liked that it was tuned higher and played faster.

 

[Jazzhands]

Not so much the guitar tone but the overall production - every song on Psalm 69. Fantastic album with such an unfortunate flat, lifeless mix that has no balls whatsoever.

Al can write some good music (Psalm 69, the Bush Trilogy), but the dude has no ear for sound. Even the best Ministry albums sound really, really bad.

Oh one more because fuck it. Sabbath's The Eternal Idol. Tony Iommi's guitar sounds REALLY bad. But some of my favorite Sabbath songs come from that record.

 

[146]

I prefered the first :lol:

But maybe I also liked that it was tuned higher and played faster.

Yeah, don't think the second sounds great either - could of course be youtube messing with the sound quality. I've definitely heard great tones from Testament, but I don't think that youtube video is a great example. Sounds quite muffled and muddy.

 

[scole]

it took Testament a while to figure out their production, and this album is the worst one. a great song totally undermined by the tone (among other things).

as a demonstration, the 2012 re-recording:

That 2012 re-recording has been shared here before and it still sounds awful. The drums are sterile with no life and do prefer the tone of the original recording. There's just more life in it. I think Souls of Black sounds worse than Practice. They rushed that album to capitalize on the success of Practice and I think it shows in the sound of the album.

 

[Mattayus]

Can I go with entire albums?

Because Ozzy's Ultimate Sin and Black Label's 1919 Eternal.

1919 Eternal for sure. Even as an 18 year old when that came out I thought the tone/production sucked. It sounded like industrial metal because of that horribly scooped toneless guitar sound. It's like he's mic'd up the cab with a bit crusher. In a baked bean can.

 

[DonBot]

Every Primus album except for Anti-Pop. I absolutely love Primus and Larry LaLonde and get that it's a part of the package but man...

 

[DonBot]

Not so much the guitar tone but the overall production - every song on Psalm 69. Fantastic album with such an unfortunate flat, lifeless mix that has no balls whatsoever.

Ever see them live? It's even worse. :ugh:

I'm not a experienced listener to "industrial metal" or whatever thats called.

But I get your point about it...

Imagine if it sounded like THIS (it kicks ass so maybe not appropriate for thread, I just wanted to give an example of "industrial" (?) sound that just sound amazing)

That is such a good album. Not going to lie, in my bands in the 90s I totally tried to rip off their sound and style of that album.

 

[noodles]

The Rust in Peace album. Killer album, but the the muddy tone lacks that tight gut punch that Metallica always had. Expanding on that, no one has ever wanted Dave Mustaine tone.

 

[105]

I prefered the first :lol:

But maybe I also liked that it was tuned higher and played faster.

The second one might sound better, but the performance of the song vastly superior in the original. There's no energy, and there's no edge in the new one. The new one is also "perfect" which takes all the feel out of it.

 

[thrashinbatman]

The Rust in Peace album. Killer album, but the the muddy tone lacks that tight gut punch that Metallica always had. Expanding on that, no one has ever wanted Dave Mustaine tone.

I've never once heard a Megadeth tone and been like, "shit that's good, how do I sound like that?" It's always been at best, serviceable.

 

[Rocka_Rollas]

So far most entries to this thread has been actually OK sounding.

Prepare for one of the worst guitar tones in metal history :lol:

Great song but holy shit did Rolf mess something up with EVERYTHING in the production here.

I don't mind programmed drums on albums (like every Running Wild album from 2000s Victory and forward) but something is seriously wrong here :lol:
This is from 2005 so no real excuse to sound like a 1986 synth wave drum machine

Rolf is also one of those singers that NEEDS a reverb+delay to sound great on recordings.
Albums after this was too dry and FX-less so it really doesnt fit but this one is a weird "bathroom reverb"