i just had to butt in
crazy train and holy wars relevant today? *lol*
ok, for the sake of argument, they are not bad songs (a bit cheesy with the lyrics), but i certainly wouldn't write anything like that in this day and age... and they are what i call "beginner metal" songs... the kind of metal that would impress you when you are still new to the genre. again, im not saying they are bad songs... its just, mr. crowley (although honestly, i like ozzy a lot better with sabbath) and hangar 18 are better examples coming from those bands.
and yes, children of bodom and lamb of god just dont hold a candle to a band like slayer. i dont care how much kerry king's solos are off key and stuff, but these "chops heavy, so-called-metal" bands nowadays just dont do the E scale right.
you listen to them and still call yourself metal? Ok, so maybe you are because those bands still have more 'metal' in them than anything else... but just because one thing is metal, doesnt mean its good. any genre of music whether underground, unsigned or mainstream are bound to have crap representatives to their name.
listen to monstrosity, suffocation, terrorizer, cannibal corpse (i only like one album, the Bleeding), deicide, krisiun, necrophagist - cmon, you know these bands too man!
... and then listen to lamb of god and children of bodom (so ok, children of bodom have the chops... but they are like pop cradle of filth to me - as if COF wasnt pop enough already ... and the only good thing with lamb of god is that i saw their bassist using Warwick).
im a big fan of metal myself, but lets not close in other forms of music... so metal has the riffs... but emo whether past or present definitely have the lyrics.
for the record i hated kupaw metal more than pop emo. the latter just smeared the name of metal... mall emo, i couldnt care less...