What gay shit are you reffering to? I mentioned one band, Dream Theater, because it was fresh in my mind at the time of the post. DT is progressive metal, and well respected by anyone you think may be better. Listen to ' This Dying Soul' from 'Train of Thought' and honestly tell me that anyone is actually technically better than the bass, keyboard, guitar or drummer. Most ppl just can't get past the singer, which is one of the reasons why musicians are pretty much the only ones that listen to it. I agree with everything else you said.
Sepultura is better than Soulfly imo.
As far as lyrics, I could give a fuck less what anyone is singing about. I could be satan or puppies and I wouldn't care if the music is good. Some lyrics just make for more interesting songs, like Icing on a cake.
I think Iron Butterfly was actually the very first heavy metal, but they only made one albumn and only one of the songs is really any good, "In-a-gadda-da-vida".
