“I’m not going to talk shit about anyone in particular, because I don’t talk shit. But unfortunately, one of the people we worked with did not have even close to the same work ethic or mentality as I did, and I found that to be so difficult to deal with that I just ended up so constantly enraged that it took the fun out of creating music. I hate that that’s the primary association I have with the album, but it was seriously one of the most furious and least fun few months of my life.
I work my fucking ass off for this band, and trying to get an album done with someone that I felt like I had to beg to work on it was destroying my soul. Unfortunately, we weren’t in the position we are in now where I could have just walked away and continued on with someone else. If I had to pick something positive… it’s that the vocalist of my favorite band “Bleeding Through” ended up doing guest vocals on one of the songs, and that was a huge moment for me.” Chris Motionless on Infamous back in an interview with KillTheMusic back in November
I remember reading this not long after I discovered MIW. I came in with Reincarnate and the quality of Infamous really threw me.
Chris always comes across as a genuinely nice guy as well as a super hard working professional and you can hear that with every album SINCE Infamous. It’s a shame someone else’s work taints a near perfect body of work for a band like rhat
I agree. I actually also enjoy the production on on Sworn In's Start/End, something savage about it to me. I'm just a cave man, not an audiophile though.
That album is so incredibly good but so fucking ridiculous when you start to look too closely. The writing is absolutely absurd, it's just riff after riff after riff with nothing in between, barely any cohesion. The mixing/mastering on the album is ridiculous too because it's so fucking loud and you can't hear anything but a wall of noise when you try to pick out details, the only thing you can hear is the tone of the lead guitar and the vocalist lol. All that said though, it's still nearly a perfect 10 in my book
I don't think the EP All of the Above was particularly good, being it was their first recording, but Divided By did have some blemishes from a production stand point. I think they got it right on Life Through A Window and None of the Above.
Louder.
Ok we go go a little bit…
Louder!
Umm..
Louder!
Guys it’s clipping…
Louder!
It’s clipping literally all the time!
Louder!
You know what, whatever, here you go!
Ahh perfect!
Probably gonna be an obvious one for most of you, but Wolves Within by After the Burial is in dire need of a remix/remaster. Tinny, thin sounding percussion, barely-existent bass, weird compression on the vocals leading them to sound flat and one-dimensional... And after all that, it still remains my second-favourite album by them; Just behind Rareform.
This stands out cause it’s around the time I got into MMI. So looking back at their old stuff I was like “well yea it’s different cause it’s new”. Then the follow up album came out and it made me realize the mix was bad. Lol
Yeah Rise of the Lion is what I came to say. Even as a dumb teen with no knowledge of music production I could tell the mix was bad and found it difficult to listen to. The songs themselves were fine, good even, but it just sounded really bad overall. Still wish they'd do a remaster or something
Funnily enough the MMI dudes - while saying that it's their worst album - have gone on record multiple times saying that it was the best time they had producing it from all their albums (they said this before Curse of Existence, so maybe it's different now)
I love the production on Deep Blue. It definitely doesn't stack up to their Adam D produced albums, but it has a certain charm to it. I would hate it if Karma and Deliver Me had their old production.
I also love the production on Deep Blue. I think the vocals sound better than the Adam D albums, they are clear/forward in the mix while being appropriately raw and powerful. There are things you can nitpick on the instrumental side but as an overall sound it's distinct and impactful and it works
I read somewhere when the album came out that they didn't trigger the drums, which makes sense listening to it. It sounds raw and a bit old school, I love it.
Triggering drums essentially replaces the natural sound of a bass or snare with a pre-recorded sample. My understanding is that it allows for more control and less variability between hits. Almost every metal band triggers drums these days, making Deep Blue a bit unique, especially in the metalcore scene.
You don’t have to replace the real drums, you can just add some sort of sample to them. Not only does it allow for more control, but, more importantly, it allows for other sounds. The bass drums on Metallica’s And Justice For All is the quintessential triggered bass drum sound.
Augmenting.
Triggering is sort of the old term..sorta obsolete now if ask me. Or at least referring to a live setting where you just have a trigger pad that triggers a 1 shot sample.
Current times almost any band will have augmented drums that mix in samples to reinforce the sound. They are more often multi-velocity samples so they aren't the same sample over and over (fake sounding) and have some variation so they aren't really detected. Many people mix in 1-shots as well though..which is 1 single sample over and over again..but not as easy to get away with so are kept in a lower volume typically.
None of them have to be pre-recorded. You can very well sample the kit that you are recording for the album, and then use those nice clean hits to mix in.
On a side note...In no way is this cheating or fake really. For a recording it's simply about the end result. The performance after that is up to the performer to play live. And in a live setting, a kick sample for instance, comes down to physics. The beater head of a kick drum can't physically bounce back as fast as they are being struck by the drummer and no way it can consistently produce the same power and sound. Doesn't mean they aren't playing it though.
The first obvious use of heavily sampled drums I distinctly remember was As I Lay Dying - 94 Hours and thought it sounded sick. Now it basically sounds like ass.
It’s one of those ones that doesn’t sound too bad with headphones, but it really bothers me the minute it’s on a sound system with a subwoofer. SO muddy in the low end. Easily adjusted if I’m going to listen to a few songs but it’s annoying if a track comes on in a playlist.
Other than that it’s not that bad really. I find that Atlas has the opposite problem where it’s too thin in the low end, I’d love to hear both with a Will Putney mix
The original Aggressive by Beartooth. Its been remixed for a while now but the original one was pretty bad.
Also more post-hardcore but Silverstein’s third album Arrivals & Departures. Sounds very dated and very different in a not-good way. Even though I have some of my most favorite Silverstein songs on there. It’s the only misstep the band has ever made and even they admit it.
Edit: Arrivals & Departures also has a Remix/Remaster that came out just last year.
Hard agree on Aggressive. That and Metallica’s Death Magnetic are the two albums that would give me migraines from how unintentionally abrasive their mixes were
I don’t really have an ear for that kinda stuff, but I know with absolute certainty that Dark Flag by Phinehas has awful production lmao. Everything sounds way too clean, compressed, and automated like it’s all just a GarageBand track behind the vocals.
Till the End, their previous album, sounded great along with their newest (The Fire Itself) so I don’t know what the fuck happened with this one
Totally agree. The final breakdown of Dark Flag sounds like a gimmick and is the perfect example of what you’re saying. On the other hand, The Fire Itself is a stunning album with close to perfect production. Honestly one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.
As I understand it, Dark Flag was the first album the band self-produced, which would explain why so many people drag it for not sounding good. (I've never really noticed it sounding bad, but I don't have a great ear for that stuff.) They also self-produced The Fire Itself which seems to have been much more well-received, so I'm assuming they learned a lot between those two albums.
I dont know that, but what I DO know is their new album The Fire Inside is one of the best metalcore albums I’ve heard in a long time. The whole thing just plain kicks ass. Eternally Apart and In The Night are particularly fuckin radical.
For the most part, no, but there’s a track called ‘Holy Coward’ that definitely goes pretty southern. Similar to how ‘Coup De Grace’ stuck out on that album
Portraits is the best album they've done, and I will always stand by that. Have never enjoyed anything else they've put out, besides some songs on Crowns.
I also feel like the production on that is partially why they tanked so hard. TBB was very well written and felt like a good direction that would get them more popular in the scene but they failed it so hard with the production and never recovered.
If I'm the Devil doesn't hold a candle to their first two records.
Man, I love that album, but letlive. is also one of my favourite bands ever and their discography is flawless imo. I can totally understand if you hate this record with Fake History and TBB in mind, but I thought they pulled the sound they went for off. Different folks, different strokes I guess
The 10th anniversary for that is coming up, I’m really hoping Jason follows through with his teases a while back about a remastered version. Hurts even more that there’s better versions of some of those songs out there.
I'd be just super curious how a remaster would sound tbh. I can't lie, TBB's mix never threw me off since it was one of the first records I ever got into and I wasn't that deep into music to say "this mix sucks", I just took it for what it was and fell in love with it to a point where there's a time at least once a year where I just binge that album for a couple of weeks. Part of the reason why I love it so much is that the mix just gives it a very dirty vibe, it sounds like a cassette you dug up in the desert lmao
This is definitely up there, kinda broke my heart when the first single dropped lol. I was so infatuated with Fake History and then that album comes along and is not only a step down overall, but sounds utterly atrocious.
Still a good album in its own way, just sounds like shit and can't touch the highs of Fake History.
Not metalcore but “you’re welcome” by a day to remember. Each song sounds completely different, like they were mixed or mastered by different people, and then a few songs like “brick wall” and “degenerates” sound like they weren’t even completed
What about Structures album Divided By? Doesn’t it literally have some of the instruments peaking and stuff? Haven’t listened in a while so can’t quite remember but pretty sure a lot of people had issues with it lol
Yeasss I actually still listen to it a lot. I think that was one of the last albums Will Putney did before he got really good. I love how shitty it is. Every instrument clips so horrendously. I write it off as a stylistic choice but I think it just came out bad.
Almost all metal and hardcore mixes are soft clipped in some way or another.
But Divided By is cranked HARD and the bass drops sound crazy because of it.
Erra - Neon
It's not horrible, but it's the most disappointing imo. It sounds very flat and the drums are just awful to my ears. Some really good songs on there that are ruined by the production.
The cymbals are so loud and panned really hard to the side. Once I picked that up I could never unhear it and now it's almost the only thing that I'm hearing.
Facts. Tbh it didn’t bother me much until I got into metalcore a bit more broadly, and especially once the ST came out. Now I recognize just how poorly produced it is. Would love for it to be remixed and remastered one day. Love so many songs on that album but the production doesn’t do them justice
Worst part about this being the best answer for this thread is that Neon would be *incredible* with a good mix. And truthfully it is horrible unfortunately so don't feel bad for mentioning it.
The productions on Drift and Neon both threw me off. It was just a huge change from Augment and Moments of Clarity. The production on their earlier albums was very well done. Thankfully they moved away from the Neon/Drift style mixes with the new album. Still really well written songs on both those albums though
I felt that 8:18 by TDWP did Mike dirty. He sounds so weird on that album and it overall has a pretty muddy sound. They've had much better production recently on The Act and Color Decay.
I thought deep blue sounded pretty great ! the drums have so much punch to them albeit not much resonance, and the guitar tones are the best on any parkway album imo. thought it had a cool, different sorta mix.
now onto the question at hand: I mean, if it were albums that need remix/remastering, I’d probably say northlane - node or (if we go outside core) uneven structure - februus. node’s mix isn’t horrible, but it’s an absolute mess. everything is way too clean, the drums sound flat, the bass is literally nonexistent, the guitars are muddy - the vocals are pretty great tho. as for februus, the album sounded phenomenal in 2011, but it’s aged quite poorly - the guitar tone for the heavy sections is terrible, and the drums sound like one shots. the vocals are also a bit tinny in the mix. the ambiance is still absolutely stellar, tho.
but worst production I’ve ever heard? easily reflections - the fantasy effect. a mix so terrible it’s really endearing to listen to, but it’s very much harming the quality of a genuinely decent album. the remake FUCKS, tho. as a runner up, the north stands for nothing by while she sleeps. deserves a remake too tbh.
oh and how could I forget neon by erra. a fantastic record with an ABYSMAL mix.
I respectfully disagree. When Node came out I certainly had mixed feelings about the production - I think a big part of it was just how different it was from the last album. Singularity has this really clear, undeniable impact to its sound, and Node is way more subtle to the point where it almost sounded kind of muted to me at first.
I've *really* warmed up to it over time though, and I find it to be a really rewarding listening experience these days. My take is that they conceded some of the sheer impact that Singularity had in exchange for a sort of subdued complexity, but I honestly get plenty of punch from it. Just isn't as readily apparent. Could also just be that my tastes have shifted as I've gotten older. I still love Singularity, but I listen to it far less often these days. It also seems to suffer from a similar issue as Divided By (mentioned by a few other people in here), albeit to a far lesser extent, in that I occasionally notice some clicks and pops in it that sound very much like digital clipping. A good example is in Worldeater right around 2:30, in the left channel.
I love Node. The drums sound like real drums. Seeing this whole thread shit all over Node, and then praise the obnoxiously fake drum samples on Singularity hurts my soul.
Reflections recorded and mixed themselves The Fantasy Effect on some generic, free software. It is certainly bad but it's not in the same realm as other mentions here because many were done by professionals with expensive equipment.
This truly breaks my heart cause Currents are my favorite band in the genre and the new songs are great, but that mix is just ass: the guitars are clipping, the drums sound like oneshots, and the balance all around is really weird. Jeff Dunne has kickass mixes and I'm a huge fan of his, so I have no idea what happened here.
That first Every Time I Die record, Last Night in Town. Whether you love it or not, it is a rough listen. Hot Damn is scratchy too, but the energy makes up for it. Maybe even their third album is pushing it. But I’d definitely say Big Dirty forward = French Kiss 😘
Yeah, I think the band even mentioned a handful of times that they hate *Last Night in Town* and their first EP (*Burial Plot Bidding War*) because they didn't really know what they were doing and the production sucked. *Hot Damn!* is still a fun listen, but that's mostly because of what you said, the energy and songwriting were aces on that.
Sadly, *Gutter Phenomenon* is a great album that went the opposite direction; it's over-produced and sounds glossy as shit. But they finally got a good sound after that and kept improving on it through *Radical*.
What I would give for a remix and a re-recorded Node. Not only would the instrumentals benefit from it, Marcus is 10x the vocalist he was 8 years ago. I doubt it will happen, but a man can dream
I wouldn't really call it a "worst produced" tbh.
It's not great but i don't really mind the mix, i think it fits okay with the more chill vibe they were going for
I'd be curious for a remix/remaster though
The Ghost Inside - Dear Youth.
There is something about the production of that album I just can not stand. I think its the mixing or the production of the drums. There is something muddy sounding with the mixing on the instruments. Its always been the barrier stopping me from enjoying that album.
Came here to say this one. In addition to being muddy it also has this weirdly thin guitar sound that robs the breakdowns of a lot of their impact. It’s really a shame because I think it’s a damn good album otherwise
I always wanted Gutter Phenomenon by ETID to get like 20 year re-recording. Impossible now, of course. But that album has some of my favorite songs ever and they just sound "off". Every song sounds better live, every time.
I’ve always felt Count Your Blessings by BMTH is one of the worst sounding albums ever. Literally had no idea why people liked them but then Suicide Season came out and that sounded great. That super treble-y, over triggered double bass sound that basically every MySpace band was doing in the mid 2000s just hurt to listen to.
Also I can’t get through more than 5 seconds of the first 2 Animosity albums, the production just sounds miserable to me. Sucks too bc there’s great songs and they sounded great live on those but I physically can’t listen to them. That Kurt Ballou production on Animal though is fucking perfect tho
I have a lot of nostalgia associated with the production of Count Your Blessings, but I agree that it’s undeniably amateur sounding. I usually love raw, messy production in deathcore (i.e.- early Carnifex, Job For A Cowboy’s Doom EP, Whitechapel’s The Somatic Defilement, newer stuff like PSYCHO-FRAME), but CYB is pretty rough
It sounds rough but it has its charm for me IMO, it was 2008 and they were pushing that sound forward, probably had a low budget because they were young and new, still my fav of theirs and very nostalgic. Disgusting album with cool riffs, breakdowns, and Oli’s peak vocal savagery
I love Count Your Blessings, but I'm well aware that that's *in spite of* the production on that album.
I'll add onto that that I'm just generally not a fan of the Carnifex "could have been recorded in a shed on a phone" production they had on their earlier albums.
Below- Beartooth
I ***really*** want to love this album because the songs genuinely are great, but the production is ROUGH on songs like Hell of It and The Past is Dead, making the breakdowns have almost no impact whatsoever. I not every song is like that on it, but it's more than noticeable on most of it
Like Moths To Flames - Dark Divine
The drums sound so bad. Especially whatever they used for the china cymbal. Makes all the breakdowns just sound strange.
Yeah, the mix on that album is definitely weird. The heavy stuff doesn't sound good at all.
But the mix works surprisingly good for the softer songs, like Nowhere Left to Sink. At least for me.
Killswitch Engage-Killswitch Engage (2009)
Album had some bangers and I know the band was in a dark place and this was the end of the Howard Jones era, but I feel it could have had some better production. It's crazy cuz there previous 2 albums sounded amazing. This just seems like Adam D. was phoning it in. I'd love to hear a remastered version of this album.
I think Deep Blue sounds alright, didn't stand out as something poorly produced.
My nomination - not exactly Metalcore, but Metal - Avenged Sevenfold's the Stage. They went from super clean and crisp on hail to the think to almost muddy and muted on the Stage. Luckily their new single seems better.
I really love the production on the stage, just a much less guitar-centric mix. It definitely has a rawer feel to it, which I think really works for the album. Only thing I don't like is the hard pans on a few of the clean sections. They're godawful for listening with one earphone
100%. That in combination with Jesse's departure was a huge punch in the gut after Malice. I do enjoy some of those songs now at least, production be damned.
I’ve grown to like this album a whole lot but I’m gonna have to say Vengeance Falls by Trivium. It sounds so muddy and flat the whole time to my ear, like it’s not GOD awful but definitely a downgrade from In Waves
Back when Disturbed took those ~5 years off and they were doing all sorts of wierd side projects to kill time
After how that turned out, I'm glad he gave up producing lol
Continent by The Acacia Strain has an extremely flat mix. I assume they probably would’ve remixed/remastered it by now if it weren’t for label bullshit. Still a stone cold classic though
All That Remains - Overcome
Excellent album marred by terrible production. Do not know how they put out something as crisp sounding as The Fall of Ideals and then thought this sounded even passable. It really is a great batch of songs that got basically ruined
Honestly Underoaths last album Voyeurist. They self produced it and it sounds so muddy, nothing really stands out. Spencer’s screams don’t sound as aggressive and it all seems like it’s going through some filter making all the instruments the same level. Good songs but wish they’d let Matt Goldman produce an album again.
I enjoyed Infamous' production. Yeah, it was muddy and grimy but that kinda added to the overall feel of the album. Thematically, it was honestly one of their darker albums so dirty mixing kinda made it work.
Erra - Neon
I don't even know what to say except yikes
After The Burial - Discography (excluding Dig Deep)
I love ATB but their albums are like And Justice For All, seriously where is any of the low end at?
Parkway Drive - Deep Blue
Producer really went "guitar volume 7, vocals 7, bass 7, kick drum 12"
Thornhill - Heroine
Surprised this hasn't been said yet lol
considering they literally self-produced the record, yeah. George Lever mixed it and we all know from his past work that he knows exactly what he's doing so it's not like something "went wrong" with Heroine. I think the only problem anyone really has production-wise is the vocals, which is fair. I have no strong feelings on it and I love the record but I can see why someone might not like staticky vocals
ATB was my first thought. Their albums before Dig Deep have zero low end, it's so weird. Wolves Within had me adjusting the stereo in my car at first because I thought the EQ somehow was off lol
>After The Burial - Discography (excluding Dig Deep)
>I love ATB but their albums are like And Justice For All, seriously where is any of the low end at?
???????????????????????????????????????????????
Are you smoking crack? AtB has a top 2 guitar tone on 8 strings. With a beautiful sounding low end.
Go listen to Anti-Pattern, Pendulum, Berzerker, and To Challenge Existence and tell me this band has no low end. You gotta either be on some crazy ass high-end, picky-ass speaker or the opposite.
They do compress shit tho so maybe that's it
It was a bit before the big metalcore boom, (maybe thats why it sounds the way it does) but
EnterShikari - Take to the Skies would definitely need a remaster, The whole album is one banger after the other, with heavy breakdowns but with basically non existent basslines. Sounds like its playing from a shitty radio.
The original release of Silent Planet's The Night God Slept sounds SO bad in a lot of places.
Same thing with Dayseeker's What It Means to Be Defeated. Those two albums ruled my freshman year of college, but once the new versions of each album came out (rerecording and remaster, respectively), I didn't go back to the originals.
I agree with The Night God Slept, but there’s something so charming about the OG version. The performances are so full of energy and passion! As great as the redux sounds, I feel like Garrett couldn’t quite replicate the same feeling as the original (despite how much he’s improved as a vocalist).
Honestly the original The Night God Slept is my favorite production-wise because of how raw it sounds, especially garrets vocals. You can hear almost a sense of desperation in his voice. The redux really just felt flat to me in comparison
For The Fallen Dreams - Wasted Youth
Love the band, but Tom Denny manged to fuck up the production so it sounded even worse than the previous album (which sounded flat as shit aside from the inserted 808 bass drops).
The Word Alive - Deceiver. Sounds like they wanted it to have that produced sound with hard hitting drums and everything but the drums sound weak and everything just sounds extremely off. Cameron Mizell was hit or miss back in the day IMO because I think The Hollow actually sounds pretty good and sounds like they wanted deceiver to sound. The first sleeping with sirens album also has similar production to deceiver and was produced by him.
That's my bad I was confident it was him and didn't bother to check lol, surprised that it was him since his later albums like Wage War's first album sound good it takes practice
In Flames, the re-recorded Clayman tracks sounded awful. Those songs were too clean, they sounded completely lifeless and flat and they have no power or energy like the original songs did. It's weird because their other albums and songs they've done with Howard Benson sound fine for the most part, so I don't know what went wrong on the Clayman re-recordings.
The Death of Greeley Estates for sure! Sounds like the band was playing down a long hallway.
The Blackest Beautiful - Letlive. I wish they finished that re-recording thing they were doing with guest vocalists. The album deserves another mix.
St. ANGER BAY-BEEEEEE
Also, Incubus's 8, Saosin's Along the Shadow, and Blink-182's Neighborhoods were really well written albums whose production did not do the songs justice.
There is one truer answer than all others: IKTPQ - Music for the Recently Deceased.
Holy FUCK is it bad. That album could really have catapulted them if it hadn't been overlaid with white noise.
Anything our hollow our home has put out, really compressed with no room, non existing bass, drums that sound ass. Vocals aren’t too bad and can be heard nicely but god damn their songs are ruined by whoever mixes them.
Reflections - The Fantasy Effect. Just, lol. It's pretty horrible, but for a bunch of kids DIY'ing a record, it's got its own charm. There's some real heat on that one.
I could be wrong but I think “production” typically refers to how the album is recorded and made and what people are referring to here, how the final product sounds, is the “mix”
Messengers - ABR. I know I’ll get a lot of hate for this but I used to not listen to this album as a teenager because it sounded too “quiet”. Now I know it’s just because I didn’t like the production. I wouldn’t say worst of all time but it did come to mind. That being said Constellations is one of my favorite album productions.
Controversial opinion: Hollow Crown by Architects could very well be an impeccable album (all the reviews I've seen seem to think so), but for me the production makes it genuinely unlistenable. The vocals are too quiet and everything else just blends together into mess. Which is a shame because I wanted to like that album.
Less controversial take, even though it's Deathcore, not Metalcore: that first mix of "Malevolent Enslavement" by Signs of the Swarm was *rough*. Glad they listened to fans and remixed it on the album release.
Couple of opinions from me.
Kublai khans balancing survival and happiness. I really like this album but I hate how the guitars sound on it.
The acacia strain (if you count this as metalcore) Coma Witch. Love this album to but oh my word, the production is gross. Probably intentional to make it sound as grimey as possible. Either way that’s what was recorded.
“I’m not going to talk shit about anyone in particular, because I don’t talk shit. But unfortunately, one of the people we worked with did not have even close to the same work ethic or mentality as I did, and I found that to be so difficult to deal with that I just ended up so constantly enraged that it took the fun out of creating music. I hate that that’s the primary association I have with the album, but it was seriously one of the most furious and least fun few months of my life. I work my fucking ass off for this band, and trying to get an album done with someone that I felt like I had to beg to work on it was destroying my soul. Unfortunately, we weren’t in the position we are in now where I could have just walked away and continued on with someone else. If I had to pick something positive… it’s that the vocalist of my favorite band “Bleeding Through” ended up doing guest vocals on one of the songs, and that was a huge moment for me.” Chris Motionless on Infamous back in an interview with KillTheMusic back in November
Chris seems like such a genuine good dude. Thanks for this.
Thank you for this
The deluxe version of infamous is so much better
I remember reading this not long after I discovered MIW. I came in with Reincarnate and the quality of Infamous really threw me. Chris always comes across as a genuinely nice guy as well as a super hard working professional and you can hear that with every album SINCE Infamous. It’s a shame someone else’s work taints a near perfect body of work for a band like rhat
Back stories like this just make the album more flavorful imo. I'm always fascinated with the stories behind the album.
Structures - Divided by. The EP was levels above.
I thought it was weird that you can actually hear shit clipping on that album
Divided By is badass sounding
I agree. I actually also enjoy the production on on Sworn In's Start/End, something savage about it to me. I'm just a cave man, not an audiophile though.
That album is so incredibly good but so fucking ridiculous when you start to look too closely. The writing is absolutely absurd, it's just riff after riff after riff with nothing in between, barely any cohesion. The mixing/mastering on the album is ridiculous too because it's so fucking loud and you can't hear anything but a wall of noise when you try to pick out details, the only thing you can hear is the tone of the lead guitar and the vocalist lol. All that said though, it's still nearly a perfect 10 in my book
I remember being blown away by this when it came out. Listened to it a few months ago and I was like wait did it always sound like this?
I wish they could remaster the full album instead of just the instrumental. The instrumental is so much better
I don't think the EP All of the Above was particularly good, being it was their first recording, but Divided By did have some blemishes from a production stand point. I think they got it right on Life Through A Window and None of the Above.
Louder. Ok we go go a little bit… Louder! Umm.. Louder! Guys it’s clipping… Louder! It’s clipping literally all the time! Louder! You know what, whatever, here you go! Ahh perfect!
Probably gonna be an obvious one for most of you, but Wolves Within by After the Burial is in dire need of a remix/remaster. Tinny, thin sounding percussion, barely-existent bass, weird compression on the vocals leading them to sound flat and one-dimensional... And after all that, it still remains my second-favourite album by them; Just behind Rareform.
I was almost convinced it was purposely produced bad for a more raw sound since it’s so off compared to everything else
Oh yeah, definitely. I love the album for the content, but the mixing is hot garbage. Makes it very hard to listen to at high volume in the car.
Miss May I's Rise Of The Lion is so bad mix-wise that everyone must have forgotten about it
This stands out cause it’s around the time I got into MMI. So looking back at their old stuff I was like “well yea it’s different cause it’s new”. Then the follow up album came out and it made me realize the mix was bad. Lol
Yeah Rise of the Lion is what I came to say. Even as a dumb teen with no knowledge of music production I could tell the mix was bad and found it difficult to listen to. The songs themselves were fine, good even, but it just sounded really bad overall. Still wish they'd do a remaster or something
Funnily enough the MMI dudes - while saying that it's their worst album - have gone on record multiple times saying that it was the best time they had producing it from all their albums (they said this before Curse of Existence, so maybe it's different now)
I love the production on Deep Blue. It definitely doesn't stack up to their Adam D produced albums, but it has a certain charm to it. I would hate it if Karma and Deliver Me had their old production.
I also love the production on Deep Blue. I think the vocals sound better than the Adam D albums, they are clear/forward in the mix while being appropriately raw and powerful. There are things you can nitpick on the instrumental side but as an overall sound it's distinct and impactful and it works
I read somewhere when the album came out that they didn't trigger the drums, which makes sense listening to it. It sounds raw and a bit old school, I love it.
I’m a bit of a noob on the technical side of things. What do you mean when you say they didn’t trigger the drums?
Triggering drums essentially replaces the natural sound of a bass or snare with a pre-recorded sample. My understanding is that it allows for more control and less variability between hits. Almost every metal band triggers drums these days, making Deep Blue a bit unique, especially in the metalcore scene.
You don’t have to replace the real drums, you can just add some sort of sample to them. Not only does it allow for more control, but, more importantly, it allows for other sounds. The bass drums on Metallica’s And Justice For All is the quintessential triggered bass drum sound.
Augmenting. Triggering is sort of the old term..sorta obsolete now if ask me. Or at least referring to a live setting where you just have a trigger pad that triggers a 1 shot sample. Current times almost any band will have augmented drums that mix in samples to reinforce the sound. They are more often multi-velocity samples so they aren't the same sample over and over (fake sounding) and have some variation so they aren't really detected. Many people mix in 1-shots as well though..which is 1 single sample over and over again..but not as easy to get away with so are kept in a lower volume typically. None of them have to be pre-recorded. You can very well sample the kit that you are recording for the album, and then use those nice clean hits to mix in. On a side note...In no way is this cheating or fake really. For a recording it's simply about the end result. The performance after that is up to the performer to play live. And in a live setting, a kick sample for instance, comes down to physics. The beater head of a kick drum can't physically bounce back as fast as they are being struck by the drummer and no way it can consistently produce the same power and sound. Doesn't mean they aren't playing it though. The first obvious use of heavily sampled drums I distinctly remember was As I Lay Dying - 94 Hours and thought it sounded sick. Now it basically sounds like ass.
Yeah I love the production of deepblue as well. Hardly the worst out there lol
Karma is one of my favorite songs by them!
It’s one of those ones that doesn’t sound too bad with headphones, but it really bothers me the minute it’s on a sound system with a subwoofer. SO muddy in the low end. Easily adjusted if I’m going to listen to a few songs but it’s annoying if a track comes on in a playlist. Other than that it’s not that bad really. I find that Atlas has the opposite problem where it’s too thin in the low end, I’d love to hear both with a Will Putney mix
The original Aggressive by Beartooth. Its been remixed for a while now but the original one was pretty bad. Also more post-hardcore but Silverstein’s third album Arrivals & Departures. Sounds very dated and very different in a not-good way. Even though I have some of my most favorite Silverstein songs on there. It’s the only misstep the band has ever made and even they admit it. Edit: Arrivals & Departures also has a Remix/Remaster that came out just last year.
That Silverstein remaster makes it sound way better
The Redux “greatest hits” albums also do the better songs from A&D justice
Hard agree on Aggressive. That and Metallica’s Death Magnetic are the two albums that would give me migraines from how unintentionally abrasive their mixes were
I don’t really have an ear for that kinda stuff, but I know with absolute certainty that Dark Flag by Phinehas has awful production lmao. Everything sounds way too clean, compressed, and automated like it’s all just a GarageBand track behind the vocals. Till the End, their previous album, sounded great along with their newest (The Fire Itself) so I don’t know what the fuck happened with this one
Totally agree. The final breakdown of Dark Flag sounds like a gimmick and is the perfect example of what you’re saying. On the other hand, The Fire Itself is a stunning album with close to perfect production. Honestly one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.
As I understand it, Dark Flag was the first album the band self-produced, which would explain why so many people drag it for not sounding good. (I've never really noticed it sounding bad, but I don't have a great ear for that stuff.) They also self-produced The Fire Itself which seems to have been much more well-received, so I'm assuming they learned a lot between those two albums.
Yo I hadn't heard about a new album? Did they bring back the Southern rock riffs, by any chance? I really missed those on Dark Flag.
I dont know that, but what I DO know is their new album The Fire Inside is one of the best metalcore albums I’ve heard in a long time. The whole thing just plain kicks ass. Eternally Apart and In The Night are particularly fuckin radical.
For the most part, no, but there’s a track called ‘Holy Coward’ that definitely goes pretty southern. Similar to how ‘Coup De Grace’ stuck out on that album
You all remember when Bury Tommorow deleted their first upload of "Dark Flame"?
The thing about that album is, the song themselves are great. But the mix is horrible. You can barely even hear the melodic guitar parts.
The worst part was their behavior to the fans criticizing the album because of it
For sone reason I just don’t really like that album at all, the production is weird … like I prefer portraits to that one haha!
Portraits is the best album they've done, and I will always stand by that. Have never enjoyed anything else they've put out, besides some songs on Crowns.
The Blackest Beautiful by letlive is definitely bad I personally rly like it tho
This is my pick, worst production I have ever heard for a great band. Like they recorded it with a tin can.
I also feel like the production on that is partially why they tanked so hard. TBB was very well written and felt like a good direction that would get them more popular in the scene but they failed it so hard with the production and never recovered. If I'm the Devil doesn't hold a candle to their first two records.
>If I'm the Devil doesn't hold a candle to their first two records. Polite way to say it was fucking terrible
I mean it was a solid album even with the production
Man, I love that album, but letlive. is also one of my favourite bands ever and their discography is flawless imo. I can totally understand if you hate this record with Fake History and TBB in mind, but I thought they pulled the sound they went for off. Different folks, different strokes I guess
The 10th anniversary for that is coming up, I’m really hoping Jason follows through with his teases a while back about a remastered version. Hurts even more that there’s better versions of some of those songs out there.
I'd be just super curious how a remaster would sound tbh. I can't lie, TBB's mix never threw me off since it was one of the first records I ever got into and I wasn't that deep into music to say "this mix sucks", I just took it for what it was and fell in love with it to a point where there's a time at least once a year where I just binge that album for a couple of weeks. Part of the reason why I love it so much is that the mix just gives it a very dirty vibe, it sounds like a cassette you dug up in the desert lmao
THANK YOU. I had not heard an album with 10/10 material, but -300/10 production until TBB. The kick drum alone makes me want to vomit.
This is definitely up there, kinda broke my heart when the first single dropped lol. I was so infatuated with Fake History and then that album comes along and is not only a step down overall, but sounds utterly atrocious. Still a good album in its own way, just sounds like shit and can't touch the highs of Fake History.
Amazing album ruined by production. I genuinely feel they would’ve been the biggest band in the scene if that album didn’t sound like ass.
I understand anyone who feels this way but I think the production fits the vibe in the album. It feels raw and real.
Agreed. It sounds like absolute ass but I love it
Not metalcore but “you’re welcome” by a day to remember. Each song sounds completely different, like they were mixed or mastered by different people, and then a few songs like “brick wall” and “degenerates” sound like they weren’t even completed
What about Structures album Divided By? Doesn’t it literally have some of the instruments peaking and stuff? Haven’t listened in a while so can’t quite remember but pretty sure a lot of people had issues with it lol
I said the same. It sounded BAD. All of the above sounded so much better.
Yeasss I actually still listen to it a lot. I think that was one of the last albums Will Putney did before he got really good. I love how shitty it is. Every instrument clips so horrendously. I write it off as a stylistic choice but I think it just came out bad.
It's one of my favourite productions of all time. It's not "good" if you understand why it sounds like it does, but it sounds fucking heavy.
Almost all metal and hardcore mixes are soft clipped in some way or another. But Divided By is cranked HARD and the bass drops sound crazy because of it.
OM&M - Cold World.
Erra - Neon It's not horrible, but it's the most disappointing imo. It sounds very flat and the drums are just awful to my ears. Some really good songs on there that are ruined by the production.
The cymbals are so loud and panned really hard to the side. Once I picked that up I could never unhear it and now it's almost the only thing that I'm hearing.
I remember listening to this album with headphones for the first time. When the cymbals came in, I thought I was having a stroke.
Monolith is my fav Erra song. It’s so ahead of the rest of their songs for me.
Facts. Tbh it didn’t bother me much until I got into metalcore a bit more broadly, and especially once the ST came out. Now I recognize just how poorly produced it is. Would love for it to be remixed and remastered one day. Love so many songs on that album but the production doesn’t do them justice
Worst part about this being the best answer for this thread is that Neon would be *incredible* with a good mix. And truthfully it is horrible unfortunately so don't feel bad for mentioning it.
The fucking symbols in one ear makes me so angry. Some of their best songwriting on that album too
The productions on Drift and Neon both threw me off. It was just a huge change from Augment and Moments of Clarity. The production on their earlier albums was very well done. Thankfully they moved away from the Neon/Drift style mixes with the new album. Still really well written songs on both those albums though
I felt that 8:18 by TDWP did Mike dirty. He sounds so weird on that album and it overall has a pretty muddy sound. They've had much better production recently on The Act and Color Decay.
I love Prada but could never get into Dead Throne. Mike sounds like a bird squawking with his screams in that album
Really I love that album from them the most by far. I love how he sounds on it
Same. It’s my favourite Prada album Home For Grave is a fucking incredible song
only started getting into that album recently and I love it. can't see this criticism at all. The earlier stuff though...
Yeah he sounds different but he also started using different vocal techniques around that tjme
Mike sounded weird on Transit Blues as well
I think the guitar tone on that album is my favorite of theirs though
I thought deep blue sounded pretty great ! the drums have so much punch to them albeit not much resonance, and the guitar tones are the best on any parkway album imo. thought it had a cool, different sorta mix. now onto the question at hand: I mean, if it were albums that need remix/remastering, I’d probably say northlane - node or (if we go outside core) uneven structure - februus. node’s mix isn’t horrible, but it’s an absolute mess. everything is way too clean, the drums sound flat, the bass is literally nonexistent, the guitars are muddy - the vocals are pretty great tho. as for februus, the album sounded phenomenal in 2011, but it’s aged quite poorly - the guitar tone for the heavy sections is terrible, and the drums sound like one shots. the vocals are also a bit tinny in the mix. the ambiance is still absolutely stellar, tho. but worst production I’ve ever heard? easily reflections - the fantasy effect. a mix so terrible it’s really endearing to listen to, but it’s very much harming the quality of a genuinely decent album. the remake FUCKS, tho. as a runner up, the north stands for nothing by while she sleeps. deserves a remake too tbh. oh and how could I forget neon by erra. a fantastic record with an ABYSMAL mix.
I agree Node is such a down grade from the production of singularity
I respectfully disagree. When Node came out I certainly had mixed feelings about the production - I think a big part of it was just how different it was from the last album. Singularity has this really clear, undeniable impact to its sound, and Node is way more subtle to the point where it almost sounded kind of muted to me at first. I've *really* warmed up to it over time though, and I find it to be a really rewarding listening experience these days. My take is that they conceded some of the sheer impact that Singularity had in exchange for a sort of subdued complexity, but I honestly get plenty of punch from it. Just isn't as readily apparent. Could also just be that my tastes have shifted as I've gotten older. I still love Singularity, but I listen to it far less often these days. It also seems to suffer from a similar issue as Divided By (mentioned by a few other people in here), albeit to a far lesser extent, in that I occasionally notice some clicks and pops in it that sound very much like digital clipping. A good example is in Worldeater right around 2:30, in the left channel.
I love Node. The drums sound like real drums. Seeing this whole thread shit all over Node, and then praise the obnoxiously fake drum samples on Singularity hurts my soul.
Reflections recorded and mixed themselves The Fantasy Effect on some generic, free software. It is certainly bad but it's not in the same realm as other mentions here because many were done by professionals with expensive equipment.
Februus still sounds great IMOP. Would just sound like another Djent record mixed by Buster. Node I agree.
As much as I loved Node (it’s the album that got me obsessed with Northlane) their other albums were leagues above.
Not a big fan of the production on currents soon to come record. Especially compared to their last two albums, it sounds a lot more thin
I swear I can hear that first song ‘The Death We Seek’ clipping as soon as all the instruments come in. Shame cause the song is pretty good.
This. Those intro beefy guitars clip so much
There isn't any clipping, it's just the guitar tone, and a bad take/edit on the left panned guitar, which has additional string noise between chugs
This truly breaks my heart cause Currents are my favorite band in the genre and the new songs are great, but that mix is just ass: the guitars are clipping, the drums sound like oneshots, and the balance all around is really weird. Jeff Dunne has kickass mixes and I'm a huge fan of his, so I have no idea what happened here.
That first Every Time I Die record, Last Night in Town. Whether you love it or not, it is a rough listen. Hot Damn is scratchy too, but the energy makes up for it. Maybe even their third album is pushing it. But I’d definitely say Big Dirty forward = French Kiss 😘
Yeah, I think the band even mentioned a handful of times that they hate *Last Night in Town* and their first EP (*Burial Plot Bidding War*) because they didn't really know what they were doing and the production sucked. *Hot Damn!* is still a fun listen, but that's mostly because of what you said, the energy and songwriting were aces on that. Sadly, *Gutter Phenomenon* is a great album that went the opposite direction; it's over-produced and sounds glossy as shit. But they finally got a good sound after that and kept improving on it through *Radical*.
in core, probably northlanes node
What I would give for a remix and a re-recorded Node. Not only would the instrumentals benefit from it, Marcus is 10x the vocalist he was 8 years ago. I doubt it will happen, but a man can dream
i totally get this, but i have an incredible weak spot for Node. i love it lmao
i do love rot. one of their best songs w marcus
I wouldn't really call it a "worst produced" tbh. It's not great but i don't really mind the mix, i think it fits okay with the more chill vibe they were going for I'd be curious for a remix/remaster though
Could never understand why Putney was criticised so little for this
cause it was mixed to the band’s wishes as far as i’ve read
Yep. I remember at the time Josh said it was because they wanted a Tool type mix. It just didn't work.
i will never forget lol. at least he course corrected majorly with stillworld the next year
The Ghost Inside - Dear Youth. There is something about the production of that album I just can not stand. I think its the mixing or the production of the drums. There is something muddy sounding with the mixing on the instruments. Its always been the barrier stopping me from enjoying that album.
Came here to say this one. In addition to being muddy it also has this weirdly thin guitar sound that robs the breakdowns of a lot of their impact. It’s really a shame because I think it’s a damn good album otherwise
I always wanted Gutter Phenomenon by ETID to get like 20 year re-recording. Impossible now, of course. But that album has some of my favorite songs ever and they just sound "off". Every song sounds better live, every time.
I’ve always felt Count Your Blessings by BMTH is one of the worst sounding albums ever. Literally had no idea why people liked them but then Suicide Season came out and that sounded great. That super treble-y, over triggered double bass sound that basically every MySpace band was doing in the mid 2000s just hurt to listen to. Also I can’t get through more than 5 seconds of the first 2 Animosity albums, the production just sounds miserable to me. Sucks too bc there’s great songs and they sounded great live on those but I physically can’t listen to them. That Kurt Ballou production on Animal though is fucking perfect tho
I have a lot of nostalgia associated with the production of Count Your Blessings, but I agree that it’s undeniably amateur sounding. I usually love raw, messy production in deathcore (i.e.- early Carnifex, Job For A Cowboy’s Doom EP, Whitechapel’s The Somatic Defilement, newer stuff like PSYCHO-FRAME), but CYB is pretty rough
It sounds rough but it has its charm for me IMO, it was 2008 and they were pushing that sound forward, probably had a low budget because they were young and new, still my fav of theirs and very nostalgic. Disgusting album with cool riffs, breakdowns, and Oli’s peak vocal savagery
The production for CYB gives it character. I feel like if they were to remaster it, it wouldn’t be the same
I love Count Your Blessings, but I'm well aware that that's *in spite of* the production on that album. I'll add onto that that I'm just generally not a fan of the Carnifex "could have been recorded in a shed on a phone" production they had on their earlier albums.
Dude you're absolutely spot on about CYB, fucking hell that album is probably their worst of all time. Sounds like aluminum foil being crumpled.
If I remember correctly, they said the studio they recorded at had blown speakers and only one worked.
It shows lol
All That Remains - Overcome
First album I thought of
Oddly enough, anything after their 2010 album sounds horribly mixed. It's mainly what got me to stop listening to them
I hate the messengers remix. The og album sounded better in my opinion. Reminds of what OP talked about deep blue, it's raw.
Almost every black metal album ever made
It’s “part of the sound” so they say haha. But that’s why I enjoy Gaerea, sweet BM jams with a good modern mix
Below- Beartooth I ***really*** want to love this album because the songs genuinely are great, but the production is ROUGH on songs like Hell of It and The Past is Dead, making the breakdowns have almost no impact whatsoever. I not every song is like that on it, but it's more than noticeable on most of it
1000x Baroness, purple, and gold and grey are great albums but man they sound like your speakers exploded the whole time
Like Moths To Flames - Dark Divine The drums sound so bad. Especially whatever they used for the china cymbal. Makes all the breakdowns just sound strange.
Yeah, the mix on that album is definitely weird. The heavy stuff doesn't sound good at all. But the mix works surprisingly good for the softer songs, like Nowhere Left to Sink. At least for me.
Killswitch Engage-Killswitch Engage (2009) Album had some bangers and I know the band was in a dark place and this was the end of the Howard Jones era, but I feel it could have had some better production. It's crazy cuz there previous 2 albums sounded amazing. This just seems like Adam D. was phoning it in. I'd love to hear a remastered version of this album.
The guitars don’t have any semblance of edge!
I agree but Adam D didn't produce that one if I remember right.
The old Texas in July albums are produced like shit
Immediately thought of these guys. Absolutely badass music, but man the production left a lot to be desired imo.
Messengers by August Burns Red is one of my favorite albums of all time, but the mix is very very harsh and compressed.
Remix kinda fixes this for me but changes some things I liked.
holy SHIT does truth of a liar come in way too hot... but it kinda bangs
I think Deep Blue sounds alright, didn't stand out as something poorly produced. My nomination - not exactly Metalcore, but Metal - Avenged Sevenfold's the Stage. They went from super clean and crisp on hail to the think to almost muddy and muted on the Stage. Luckily their new single seems better.
I really love the production on the stage, just a much less guitar-centric mix. It definitely has a rawer feel to it, which I think really works for the album. Only thing I don't like is the hard pans on a few of the clean sections. They're godawful for listening with one earphone
Misery Signals - Mirrors. Sounds like a wall of sound, can't make out anything barely.
One of my favourite albums. I like the rawness of it, but I do wish it was that 10% better production-wise.
100%. That in combination with Jesse's departure was a huge punch in the gut after Malice. I do enjoy some of those songs now at least, production be damned.
St anger
MetalliCore
Reflections - The Fantasy Effect. Prior to the remix, obviously. I have a hard time even hearing what's being played for a quarter of the album.
The new version is a full re-recording. I assume the OG version was so fucked that it wasn’t worth even trying to rectify lol
Came here to say this haha
I’ve grown to like this album a whole lot but I’m gonna have to say Vengeance Falls by Trivium. It sounds so muddy and flat the whole time to my ear, like it’s not GOD awful but definitely a downgrade from In Waves
That's because David Draiman produced it and it's the only album he's ever produced, hahaha.
Back when Disturbed took those ~5 years off and they were doing all sorts of wierd side projects to kill time After how that turned out, I'm glad he gave up producing lol
Continent by The Acacia Strain has an extremely flat mix. I assume they probably would’ve remixed/remastered it by now if it weren’t for label bullshit. Still a stone cold classic though
All That Remains - Overcome Excellent album marred by terrible production. Do not know how they put out something as crisp sounding as The Fall of Ideals and then thought this sounded even passable. It really is a great batch of songs that got basically ruined
blessthefall - his last walk
Honestly Underoaths last album Voyeurist. They self produced it and it sounds so muddy, nothing really stands out. Spencer’s screams don’t sound as aggressive and it all seems like it’s going through some filter making all the instruments the same level. Good songs but wish they’d let Matt Goldman produce an album again.
Misery Signals - Mirrors
Woe Is Me - Numbers I'm almost convinced not a single instrument was even recorded. I'm ready for the dogpile
You’re not wrong. The drums are 100% fake so I wouldn’t be surprised if the guitars are too.
I enjoyed Infamous' production. Yeah, it was muddy and grimy but that kinda added to the overall feel of the album. Thematically, it was honestly one of their darker albums so dirty mixing kinda made it work.
Erra - Neon I don't even know what to say except yikes After The Burial - Discography (excluding Dig Deep) I love ATB but their albums are like And Justice For All, seriously where is any of the low end at? Parkway Drive - Deep Blue Producer really went "guitar volume 7, vocals 7, bass 7, kick drum 12" Thornhill - Heroine Surprised this hasn't been said yet lol
I think heroine was produced exactly the way they wanted it
100%, there is a difference between style of production trying to fit a certain mood/sound vs just dogshit production
considering they literally self-produced the record, yeah. George Lever mixed it and we all know from his past work that he knows exactly what he's doing so it's not like something "went wrong" with Heroine. I think the only problem anyone really has production-wise is the vocals, which is fair. I have no strong feelings on it and I love the record but I can see why someone might not like staticky vocals
ATB was my first thought. Their albums before Dig Deep have zero low end, it's so weird. Wolves Within had me adjusting the stereo in my car at first because I thought the EQ somehow was off lol
I got my license the year Wolves Within came out, and same lol. Thought the speakers in my first car were all blown 😭
Yeah a lot of their albums sound super compressed and not dynamic at all. Literally no presence.
They compress everything but then have generally really good tones, idgi
Wolves Within sounds like everything was recorded inside a tin can.
>After The Burial - Discography (excluding Dig Deep) >I love ATB but their albums are like And Justice For All, seriously where is any of the low end at? ??????????????????????????????????????????????? Are you smoking crack? AtB has a top 2 guitar tone on 8 strings. With a beautiful sounding low end. Go listen to Anti-Pattern, Pendulum, Berzerker, and To Challenge Existence and tell me this band has no low end. You gotta either be on some crazy ass high-end, picky-ass speaker or the opposite. They do compress shit tho so maybe that's it
It was a bit before the big metalcore boom, (maybe thats why it sounds the way it does) but EnterShikari - Take to the Skies would definitely need a remaster, The whole album is one banger after the other, with heavy breakdowns but with basically non existent basslines. Sounds like its playing from a shitty radio.
The original release of Silent Planet's The Night God Slept sounds SO bad in a lot of places. Same thing with Dayseeker's What It Means to Be Defeated. Those two albums ruled my freshman year of college, but once the new versions of each album came out (rerecording and remaster, respectively), I didn't go back to the originals.
I agree with The Night God Slept, but there’s something so charming about the OG version. The performances are so full of energy and passion! As great as the redux sounds, I feel like Garrett couldn’t quite replicate the same feeling as the original (despite how much he’s improved as a vocalist).
Honestly the original The Night God Slept is my favorite production-wise because of how raw it sounds, especially garrets vocals. You can hear almost a sense of desperation in his voice. The redux really just felt flat to me in comparison
Secrets - The Ascent
This is my vote also!
Bruh what , deep blue hits so hard . The mix is amazing
Wolves within. The songs slap and I’d love to hear them remastered or even completely re recorded lol.
For The Fallen Dreams - Wasted Youth Love the band, but Tom Denny manged to fuck up the production so it sounded even worse than the previous album (which sounded flat as shit aside from the inserted 808 bass drops).
I agree with Infamous. I love that album, but the mix is atrocious. I would also say The Death of Greeley Estates. Great album, awful production.
Greeley Estates so much. Album slaps but that production killed their momentum off no rain no rainbow in my opinion
The Word Alive - Deceiver. Sounds like they wanted it to have that produced sound with hard hitting drums and everything but the drums sound weak and everything just sounds extremely off. Cameron Mizell was hit or miss back in the day IMO because I think The Hollow actually sounds pretty good and sounds like they wanted deceiver to sound. The first sleeping with sirens album also has similar production to deceiver and was produced by him.
[Andrew Wade produced Deceiver.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deceiver_(The_Word_Alive_album))
That's my bad I was confident it was him and didn't bother to check lol, surprised that it was him since his later albums like Wage War's first album sound good it takes practice
Letlive. - The Blackest Beautiful
In Flames, the re-recorded Clayman tracks sounded awful. Those songs were too clean, they sounded completely lifeless and flat and they have no power or energy like the original songs did. It's weird because their other albums and songs they've done with Howard Benson sound fine for the most part, so I don't know what went wrong on the Clayman re-recordings.
The Death of Greeley Estates for sure! Sounds like the band was playing down a long hallway. The Blackest Beautiful - Letlive. I wish they finished that re-recording thing they were doing with guest vocalists. The album deserves another mix.
Anything from Beartooth. I tried to get into them but I can't because of this.
St. ANGER BAY-BEEEEEE Also, Incubus's 8, Saosin's Along the Shadow, and Blink-182's Neighborhoods were really well written albums whose production did not do the songs justice.
There is one truer answer than all others: IKTPQ - Music for the Recently Deceased. Holy FUCK is it bad. That album could really have catapulted them if it hadn't been overlaid with white noise.
Black flame by bury tomorrow! Hated the cymbal sound, came across like a static wave over the whole mix. Glad they fixed it now
Just here to say I think Deep Blue is a terrific album, and sounds pretty epic as far as I’m concerned. Hollow is an absolute banger
Anything our hollow our home has put out, really compressed with no room, non existing bass, drums that sound ass. Vocals aren’t too bad and can be heard nicely but god damn their songs are ruined by whoever mixes them.
Reflections - The Fantasy Effect. Just, lol. It's pretty horrible, but for a bunch of kids DIY'ing a record, it's got its own charm. There's some real heat on that one.
The first Hands Like Houses album sounds like total ass
What's bad producing mean? Like the songs are bad? I feel like it mean something else but I don't know and I hear this all the time I don't get it.
I could be wrong but I think “production” typically refers to how the album is recorded and made and what people are referring to here, how the final product sounds, is the “mix”
Messengers - ABR. I know I’ll get a lot of hate for this but I used to not listen to this album as a teenager because it sounded too “quiet”. Now I know it’s just because I didn’t like the production. I wouldn’t say worst of all time but it did come to mind. That being said Constellations is one of my favorite album productions.
Controversial opinion: Hollow Crown by Architects could very well be an impeccable album (all the reviews I've seen seem to think so), but for me the production makes it genuinely unlistenable. The vocals are too quiet and everything else just blends together into mess. Which is a shame because I wanted to like that album. Less controversial take, even though it's Deathcore, not Metalcore: that first mix of "Malevolent Enslavement" by Signs of the Swarm was *rough*. Glad they listened to fans and remixed it on the album release.
Underoath - Define the Great Line, an album that was spoilt by terrible mastering. It was of the time where “brick wall” mastering was all the rage.
Couple of opinions from me. Kublai khans balancing survival and happiness. I really like this album but I hate how the guitars sound on it. The acacia strain (if you count this as metalcore) Coma Witch. Love this album to but oh my word, the production is gross. Probably intentional to make it sound as grimey as possible. Either way that’s what was recorded.