The term “sellout” gets thrown around a lot, especially in the heavy metal community, but it feels so much more nuanced than its use.It’s no secret that Metallica is often the band that gets slapped with this criticism, due to how much they change from …And Justice For All in 1988 to the self-titled black album in 1991. Personally, I like the Black Album, and like most of their next two albums, Load (1996) and Reload (1997), and I even like a lot of what they’ve done on the albums the four albums they’ve released within the past 25 years.But… I do agree that Metallica did make a lot of changes that positioned them to be more “mainstream,” which I can see is frustrating to fans of their original thrash era music. So, are there bands that have avoided this? Who’ve been able to reinvent themselves without being saddled by allegations of “selling out?” I certainly think so, and I invite you to read on if you’re curious…Lorna ShoreI feel that Lorna Shore is one of the best recent examples of a metal band refining itself for the better, without compromising the quality of their musical creativity. The band first formed in New Jersey in 2009, and spent their first few years as a pretty straightforward Winds of Plague/Acacia Strain-influenced deathcore band with rotating vocalists, until they landed on Tom Barber, who was with the band from 2010 until 2018, performing on their first two albums: Psalms (2015) and Flesh Coffin (2017), both of which are decent records.In 2018, Barber left Lorna Shore to be the vocalist of Chelsea Grin, and the band brought in CJ McCreery (originally of Signs of the Swarm) to be his replacement. After recording their third studio album, with McCreery on vocals, Lorna Shore fired him due to a series of sexual assault/misconduct accusations that emerged.All this change, and so abruptly, in such a short amount of time, would have broken lesser bands, but not Lorna Shore. It’s the best thing that ever happened to them…Once McCreery was out, the band asked Will Ramos to be their frontman. Ramos had been with the Staten Island band A Wake in Providence, but had left them to play with Entombed in the Abyss. A man who was clearly struggling to find his place, connecting with Lorna Shore turned out to be exactly what he needed as well.Lorna Shore has since released two acclaimed albums with Ramos at the helm — and one on the way, I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me — as well as the …And I Return to Nothingness EP, which featured what might be the best deathcore song of the last 10 years, “To the Hellfire,” (Check out the music video above.)Their sound is deeper, darker, and more sophisticated than in the years before Ramos, and they’ve been more successful for it. I’ll even go so far as to say that I feel strongly Lorna Shora could follow in the footsteps of bands like Slayer and Lamb of God as the next big arena-level extreme metal band. Speaking of Slayer…SlayerWhile Slayer spent the ’80s as one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands — alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax — the ’90s were a more complicated time for the band (as well as their peers, honestly, but that’s for another time.)After releasing their fifth album, Seasons in the Abyss, in 1990, Slayer struggled with their identity a bit. Their sixth album, Divine Intervention (1994), was met with a mostly “meh” response from fans, as was 1998’s Diabolus in Musica. (Although I will give them credit for Undisputed Attitude, a 1996 project that is mostly covers of old-school punk and hardcore songs, which I believe is a solid window into that aspect of their influences.)In 2001, Slayer both found themselves again AND reinvented their sound with God Hates Us All, which I’ll be bold enough to say is quite possibly their third best album, after the one-two-punch that was Reign in Blood (1986) and South of Heaven (1988).The band had found a direction closer to death metal without giving up their thrash roots, and they were better for it, continuing the heavier themes for their next three albums, before retiring in 2019.OpethWhen it comes to bands that’ve reinvented themselves and their sound but not lost an ounce of respect from their fans, you might not find a better example than Swedish rockers Opeth. Formed in the early ’90s, Opeth was originally a death metal band, and a highly regarded one at that.They began to switch things up with their seventh studio album, Deliverance, in 2003, trading in their deathy sound for a more progressive rock style with clean vocals. This didn’t last too long, however, as they brought back a lot of those death metal elements for their next project, Ghost Reveries (2005), which is generally considered to be their best album.Over the next several years, the band continued slowly shuffling off the heaviest portions of their sound, opting to find more inspiration in ’70s rock and progressive jazz than in Obituary or Entombed.Frankly, their albums Heritage (2011) and Pale Communion (2014), while decidedly different from any of their early material, are maybe some of their best work to date, and can be enjoyed by metal and non-metal fans alike.PanteraThis last one might seem out of left field, but I feel like it’s so obvious. In the ’80s, Pantera was a glam metal band, imitating acts like W.A.S.P. and Mötley Crüe. They released four albums under this style and aesthetic, so it was like, a whole ass career.Then came their 1990 album, Cowboys From Hell, which in theory should not have worked. The band was completely changing their sound, and it didn’t really fit any particular type of genre specification at the time, but was influenced by everything (classic metal, southern rock, hair metal, hardcore punk, and so on).Pantera has also shed the neon makeup and big hair for blue-collar attire that better matched who they were in their everyday lives, rather than putting on costumes and theatrics. There was no guarantee that making these changes would benefit them in any way, as metal fans could have just as easily overlooked them, but that didn’t happen.Pantera went on to record four more albums — including the heavy metal masterpiece that is The Great Southern Trendkill — becoming one of the biggest metal bands in the world based on their working-man approach to the genre. One could argue that Pantera is a great example of a metal band that sold out first and then found success by being more authentic.The post 4 Metal Bands Who Reinvented Themselves Without Selling Out appeared first on VICE.