Recommend me some quality Metal

I basically grew up on Metallica, so I’m totally spoiled. They’re awesome musicians, have complex rhythms and song structure, are melodic, heavy, and thrash like hell. They’re great. But I can only listen to their songs 400,000 times each. I like most of their stuff, up to and including Load, but especially Puppets, of course.

This recent thing called “metalcore” sounds pretty much the same to me, though I really like two Trivium songs, cause they’re fast and heavy (Rain and Like Light to the Flies). I just downloaded the new Himsa album (Summon in Thunder) and am super stoked because it’s fast and heavy as shit. It includes a song called Big Timber that has basically the best video ever. Their other album Hail Horror was pretty badass too (opening of Seminal is everything great about metal). Unearth has one album that kicks my ass (III: In the Eyes of Fire), but their vocalist makes me angry after a while. Something about the pitch of his voice.

Stuff from back in the day? I like about 1/4 of all Pantera songs, and have never really gotten into Sepultura. Faith No More has some excellent heavy riffs. Rob Zombie is cool, with a 2/3 success ratio, but I have to DO stuff while I listen to him, like play Carmaggeddon 2, which was basically designed for Rob Zombie.

I haven’t heard much Iron Maiden, but like what I’ve heard, and I have a massive soft spot for anthemic power metal like Hammerfall and certain Dragonforce songs (Through the Fire and Flames makes me want to populate the earth with little guitar players who will only play that song). The first 1/3 of this Coheed and Cambria song is fucking mindblowing.

That’s all where I’m coming from. Any thoughts/recommendations? For me the music is about energy. It can be aggressive, it can be a little mean, but above all it’s got to rock. Any other metal nerds out there?

I can’t stand hardcore thrash, but I was a Maidenhead (ahem) as a kid. I’d recommend “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” as my favorite of their albums. The synthy stuff is a bit dated but the songwriting is good (particularly title track, Infinite Dreams, and The Clairvoyant). They also have some other great one-off songs, like “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” “Revelations,” “Wasted Years,” and “Stranger in a Strange Land,” “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” and “Powerslave.”

(some of my favorite albums, warning: i’m not really into power-omgz-extreme metal)

Mastodon - Blood Mountain (1, 2, 3)

Opeth - Blackwater Park
Ayeron - The Human Equation
Dream Theater - Train of Thought
Sahg - I

I read this as ‘quality meat’ and was confused…

Mastodon’s album before Blood Mountain, Leviathan, is what got me back into metal after the being turned off by the whole nu/rap metal stuff of the 90s. It’s a little more cohesive than Blood Mountain because it’s a concept album based on Moby Dick. No, really.

I’m more into the stoner/weirdo/experimental end of all things metal, but here are some of my recommendations:

High On Fire - their two latest records, Blessed Black Wings and Death Is This Communion, are absolutely fantastic. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike is like the second coming of Lemmy, making High On Fire the Motorhead of the new millenium. Check out the first track from Blessed Black Wings, “Devilution”, as a taste.

The Baroness - Georgia metal band that sounds a bit like Mastodon crossed with Fugazi. The vocals sound more alt-rock than metal, but these guys are really inventive musicians without ever dropping into pointless technical wankery. Check out their MySpace page.

Amon Amarth - Part of the genre known as battle or Viking metal, Amon Amarth are like a live-action version of Dethklok from Metalocalypse - big shirtless European dudes who swing their hair in time to the music. They sing songs about Valhalla and the treachery of Loki, and really, isn’t that something we can all relate to? Video for “The Pursuit Of Vikings”.

Isis - Bands like Isis, Pelican and Cult Of Luna are part of what’s known as “ambient metal”, which means that they tend to play long, mostly instrumental songs that focus more on mood. Isis are pretty interesting in that they release a remix album for each of their “official” releases, where they let people go crazy with their music, which is the sort of thing I wish more bands would do. Their official site.

one word
MANOWAR

death to false metal

Stepping in to recommend my likes annnnnd…

slowly backing away as I see what my recommendations would lead to -----> A sound thrashing (get it) of all this “pseudo-metal, nu metal that has no resemblance whatsoever to real metal” (which is, eveidently, determined by a board of directors that meets in secret or something because I cannot get added to the newsletter).

Ahhh…a discussion about what metal is … that would be so awesome and refreshing.

I got a lot of good suggestions a year or so ago when I asked something similar.

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=30425

Doh, I posted in that thread, so I cannot hide.

ZOMG…lulz @ Tyjenks choices!!!

(p.s: i have and listen and like all of those minus Staind)

Dethklok.

I haven’t been into heavy music lately as much as I used to be, but I’ll do what I can.

I’m backing hard Iron Maiden (one of my all time favorite bands) and Manowar (Let each note I now play be a black arrow of death sent straight to the hearts of all those who play false metal shred).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2za92DQOCw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDuRmxB7Xo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2bnKeUvKG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-px1RWf6kw

System of a Down’s first album may technically be nu-metal but it’s totally awesome and probably the high point of the entire genre.


Rhapsody is pretty sweet from what I’ve heard.

Anthrax during the Joey Beladonna era is nice. I could never really get into the John Bush stuff. Among the Living and Persistence of Time are my favorite albums by them.


Apocalyptica is technically metal, I think? And totally awesome.

DragonForce, Hammerfall. Nightwish if you like it a little dark/emo, Rhapsody if you like it way-over-epic.

Sonata Arctica count as metal? I dunnno.

Symphony X if you like instrumental stuff.

Sure. They’re pretty much power metal, like Symphony X.

Rhapsody goes by Rhapsody of Fire these days, if you’re looking for newer stuff by them. They’re totally ridiculous and good fun.

Check out Children of Bodom for a thrashy black metal band playing, uh, punk songs.

I also love, love, love Coheed and Cambria’s “Welcome Home” (thanks, Harmonix!), but the rest of the album it’s on doesn’t sound like it. Is their other stuff worth looking into, considering that I love that song, but find the rest of that album pretty meh?

I always considered them kinda Norse-Pop like Stratovarius. Is Stratovarius metal, too?

Heh, never really been good at the whole designations thing.

Another vote for Blood Mountain. It’s probably one of the best albums of all time.

And I’ll throw some love to Helmet. Both Meantime and Betty feature some killer songs. I’m not as big a fan of their later material, but anybody who’s ever played Guitar Hero can testify to how unassailably awesome “Unsung” is.

Keeping to that hard-as-steel New York vibe, I’ll tap Life of Agony and Biohazard.

Yes.

Also, Helmet is great. Which also reminds me that Prong is great. Cleansing and Rude Awakening are two of my all-time faves.

I’m also really enjoying “Ire Works”, which is the latest release from Dillinger Escape Plan. If the concept of “glitch metal” sounds vaguely interesting to you, you should check it out.