Rarely does a band get famous from their debut album alone. For many rock outfits, that first record is an experiment of sorts and represents the band’s potential without much in the way of experience or self-knowledge. In fact, the following four rock bands ended up sounding wildly different in later works compared to their debut albums. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Let’s take a look, shall we?
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1. In Flames
In Flames might be best known for melodic death metal goodies like The Jester Race and Whoracle. In fact, the Swedish outfit might be one of the most famous melodic death metal bands of all time. And their debut record, Lunar Strain, sounds absolutely nothing like the metal gods we know and love today. It’s a very clear MDM album, but it has folk elements that stand out way more prominently than they do in the band’s later releases.
It’s worth noting that Anders Fridén hadn’t joined the band yet, so Mikael Stanne’s vocals really do make the album sound like it came from a totally different outfit.
2. Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is the kind of band that reinvents itself on each and every album. And out of every record they’ve put out, nothing sounds the least like them quite like their 2001 debut record Sounding The Seventh Trumpet. The songs have potential, but many of them sound a bit underdeveloped. It was clear that the band wanted to mesh metal and skater punk together. They would later evolve, both lyrically and musically, with heavier records like Waking The Fallen, Nightmare, and Hail To The King.
3. Goo Goo Dolls
Everybody knows Goo Goo Dolls as post-grunge darlings. However, their original sound was very different from what you’d hear on songs like “Name” or Iris”. In fact, the band’s 1987 self-titled debut record leans more toward bold, unabashed punk rock.
It’s worth mentioning that the band admitted that most of their debut was recorded while they were drunk and high on drugs. It’s not an amazing album (it didn’t chart well, nor did it get much in the way of good reviews), but the album’s cover of “Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream is at least pretty entertaining.
4. Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails have always had that alt-rock sound, but they have made it to our list of rock bands that sound different from their debut records, nonetheless. Pretty Hate Machine, surprisingly, was a hefty commercial success for a debut record. That’s not exactly common. And it’s quite a mild introduction to a career that would boast grimey, industrial, tortured, metal-adjacent music in later years.
Those dark elements in their later releases are what birthed Nine Inch Nails’ massive fandom. Their debut record, on the other hand, was more synthy and lovesick, at least compared to their later works.
Photo by Corinne Schiavone, courtesy UMusic
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