When Bands Change Their Sound...

Changed Sound for the Better

Avenged Sevenfold - They started off as a typical metalcore band but quickly shed the -core skin and added epic solos, and diverse musical passages with City of Evil.

God Forbid - Another band that started off as a pure metalcore band that slowly evolved into a melodic thrash band starting with Gone Forever.

Behemoth - They started off as a black metal that, to me, didn't do anything special. It wasn't until they started adding death metal to the equation did they start to have something unique.

Death - I'll probably catch some flak for this one; but I feel that their earlier albums, while very influential and laid down the ground work for death metal it was unrefined and not representative of what was to come. From the album Human on they started adding progressive elements that really showed off Chuck's musical chops.

Neutrality

Emperor - They effectively remained a black metal band but Prometheus basically tossed aside all black metal trappings. Some hated it but I personally loved it. I love that album and their older work equally.

Pantera - They went from a standard glam metal to an influential groove metal band. I like both eras of the band.

Change for the Worst

In Flames - They went from a highly influential and pioneering melodic death metal band to something representing what is typically dubbed 'mallcore' in derision. The more recent albums ironically ape what the modern metalcore band has been doing for the past five years and In Flames is a huge influence among them.

Metallica - Black album on. I really don't bother with Death Magnetic. They're dead to me for all I care.

Morbid Angel - Great classics like Covenant and then you get to Heretic. What the fuck is that? Seriously they lost all the edge and evil and sickness they used to have. I don't even care if they're around anymore.

Machine Head - Burn My Eyes was a fantastic album. Definitely one of my favorites and then they released The More Things Change...and it went all down hill from there. They thankfully recovered with the release of Through the Ashes of Empires. Anything between those two albums basically don't exit to me.

Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor is a brilliant album. It seems pretty heavily influenced by Opeth but I love that and consider the album to be a masterpiece. So what happened with the release of Gloria? Industrial influence seems at every measure and gone are the epic, winding passages that take a listener on a journey. I'll still await the third album but hopefully it'll be back to times of splendor. Pun definitely intended.

Jam it back in, in the dark.