I love this board. Lots of good suggestions in this thread, and I’m going to be checking some of these guys out myself. I’ll add a few more that I don’t recall seeing mentioned yet in the thread (and my apologies if someone did, but I missed it).
Blind Guardian, who I’ve plugged before in other threads, and an Italian band called Rhapsody. They both have an epic, melodic sound, and their songs are often drawn from fantasy literature and mythology. Demons & Wizards was a collaboration between members of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, and is definitely worth checking out. Zakk Wylde’s band, Black Label Society. Zakk used to be the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, so if you like Ozzy, BLS might be worth a look.
We’re so in agreement. Both Rhapsody and Blind Guardian are great - especially classic enthusiasts should love Rhapsody, since they’ve done some fairly amusing things with Dvoràk . . . (Hint: Check out The Wizard’s Last Rhymes)
Aaanyhow, I really just came in to plug Nine Inch Nails, if nobody did it before me. Sorry, read the thread earlier but couldn’t reply due to being on a work computer, so if someone caught it in advance, my apologies.
NIN have great, non-ducktales vocals in most their songs and range from heavy industrial to fairly melodical. Their newest album, With Teeth, is my favourite, although it has some fairly obvious political undertones. The classics are of course The Downward Spiral and The Frail.
Just thought I’d chime in with some bands I hadn’t seen mentioned yet.
These are mostly what could be called melodic/power metal.
Beyond Fear (featuring Tim “Ripper” Owens)
Armored Saint (featuring John Bush)
Dream Evil
Firewind
Primal Fear
Seven Witches
Atreyu (some growling, but pretty good)
Trivium
and my wildcard
3 Inches of Blood (If you can get over the high pitched singer it is really good)
You know, this has been my pet peeve with new alternative rock, too. I like Rise Against and Hawthorne Heights except for the screaming. Why do they do that? I’d think their vocal cords would hurt afterward especially when they have to perform the same music night after night.
I feel like you shouldn’t be allowed to give Rhapsody a blanket reccomendation without some sort of disclaimer attached. Yes, their music is quality, and they’ve definitely got some chops–even I, a non-musician, can tell that. Yes, the vocals are clean and quite good. But the down side of the clean vocals, you see, is that you can understand what the singer is saying–and if you actually listen to it, you’re probably going to start giggling at some point.
Rhapsody specializes in a particularly melodramatic sort of power metal–I think they call it Hollywood metal–which inevitably involves lots of dragons and warriors with rippling sinews and that kinda thing. On at least one album, there’s a spoken word piece of not insignificant length, in which the lead vocalist dramatically soliloquizes :dubious: about the death of his noble dragon steed. It’s usually about that point that I start giggling and rolling my eyes and turn the stuff off.
So yeah, they’re a great band, but you’ve got this hump to get over. For me, that means that I can only handle them in small doses from time to time. If you can handle it–and lots of folks can, to judge by Rhap’s success–then it should be great stuff for you. Just wanna make sure you know what you’re getting into.
I think that the OP is just looking for new for him stuff, not just new to everyone else stuff. I’d be curious to have him tell us what he does like metal wise to help with more recomendations.
This is what I was after when I asked “how heavy is heavy?” Metal is a pretty diverse landscape, even if you exclude all of the stuff with black/death vox.
You should hear Brian Posehn’s song “Metal by Numbers”. He not only name checks the Cookie Monster, but also grunts out a few “Cookie Cookie Cookie” lines too. It’s pretty funny.
I was specifically thinking of the song “Pull Me Under” from Images and Words when I replied. I agree though, some of their songs aren’t very heavy. Actually, I guess “Pull Me Under” isn’t even all that heavy.
Someone mentioned Pantera. Isn’t that actually kind of the opposite of what the OP is asking for? I liked their music, but from Vulgar Display of Power onward, it sounds very Cookie Monsterish to me.
I could see some people being put off by Pantera’s vocals, but they’re not what are generally considered Cookie Monster vocals. Go listen to some Six Feet Under, and you’ll understand exactly what the OP was looking to avoid.
Check out Boris, specifically the records Pink and Amplifier Worship. Tiny japanese people, including their adorable little guitarist, Wata, make bone-crushing, speaker-shredding, thundering sludgy doom metal.
I was going to mention Blind Guardian, but I’m happy to see I’m too late.
I know this is a long shot, but it’s mildly possible that you aren’t already into Metallica and/or System of a Down. (Ow! hey! I said mildly possible! I realize this is like telling an ice cream fan there’s a great new flavor called chocolate, but you never know… )
