I need some good old fashioned heavy metal scream-o music. I’ve always loved hard rock (Metallica, Disturbed, Slipknot) and have some scream-o music in my library (OK, it’s one song by Gojira but still) but I would like more. I don’t really know where to start either so I figured I would ask on here.
Thanks in advance!
I love Metallica, but I always hated Disturbed and Slipknot. Maybe it’s an age thing.
Anyway, my favorite metal bands :
Overkill (especially the W.F.O. album)
Slayer (esp. ‘South of Heaven’, ‘Seasons in the Abyss’)
Megadeth (‘Rust in Peace’)
King Diamond (‘Conspiracy’)
Anthrax (when Joe Belladonna was the vocalist; I never like them as much after he left)
Judas Priest (although the earlier ones may not be what you’d consider heavy metal anymore–‘Painkiller’ is a pretty heavy album though)
Search for **ultrafilter’s **threads on Essential Listening…there’s a metal category, IIRC…
Snowboarder Bo - where are you?
**Sir **- what exactly are you looking for? Howly vocals or does there have to be darkness to the overall tone? Can you offer some thoughts on Judas Priest, where Halford can hit any note ever conceived (and many never before imagined) but sings songs that sound…well, cool. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming and Breaking the Law are fun songs, not downers…not that there’s anything wrong with emotionally dark songs - I just think of them in a different category…
Does that make sense and what is your thinking?
Also - are you looking for straight-up metal or is the grey area between hard rock and metal worth exploring. If you don’t know of the band **UFO **from mainly the 70’s - it was New Wave of British Heavy Metal at its finest, but nowadays is considered more hard-rock-y. Their live album, Strangers in the Night - is a minor classic, with Michael Schenker’s lead work on Lights Out and Rock Bottom having a LOT of influence to guitarists coming right behind him…does stuff like that interest you?
My first suggestion to anyone who likes Metallica is, go get Iced Earth. Iced Earth has a style that is a culmination of Metallica’s Master of Puppets to Black Album sound combined with some Iron Maiden type Power Metal influences. Consider looking at their albums Dark Saga, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Alive in Athens, and Horror Show. Avoid the newer Ripper stuff (yes, THAT Ripper) since I just don’t think it’s as good. There is absolutely no way you won’t like them.
…Speaking of Iron Maiden, I’m surprised they’re not on Batso’s list. That does seem like a pretty solid list of some old school metal bands that pretty much anyone should appreciate. I might also consider adding to it maybe Manowar and Dio.
Depending on what other stuff you like, you may want to consider looking at some Power Metal or Progressive Metal. Some other stuff to look at might be Blind Guardian, Evergrey, Nevermore, Helloween, etc. for some examples of several different types of Power Metal, or if you like the more progressive type maybe look at something like Dream Theater (my theory: everyone likes Dream Theater), Therion, or Nightwish.
I’m not a fan of Slipknot, so it’s hard to gauge what kind of influence that might have on your tastes, but that might even make some forms of modern Thrash or even looking into melodic Death Metal or Metalcore some possibilities.
If you can check back in the thread after you’ve checked out some of those and some of the others mentioned, I can probably give some more pointed suggestions.
If you like Gojira, you’ll probably like the Dillenger Escape Plan, particularly the stuff they did circa Calculating Infinity.
A good progressive-but-growly option is Opeth. If you absolutely hate “Cookie Monster” vocals then you may want to skip it, but I’m a fan. The lead vocalist does break into ‘regular’ singing now and then, and has quite a lovely voice, so it’s definitely an intentional stylistic choice rather than lack of talent, which some non-fans of the style may assume.
I don’t know much about metal anymore, but my bf really likes Lamb of God, and I went with him to see them in concert and they were really good.
Dethklok is the band from the show Metalocalypse, and while it’s music written for a cartoon show I think it’s good. They are touring with Mastodon now I think.
I’d go with a little Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, and Motorhead,
If you want old-school, you can’t beat Appetite For Destruction by Guns-N-Roses. It is one of the top albums of all time in any genre.
Iron Maiden would be on my list, but I figured I’d stop short of listing every band I like. Maiden was my first concert ever, I love their music–I just sort of thought the OP was looking for some heavier stuff, closer to thrash metal.
My full list would have lots of other bands though–I was always a big fan of Helloween, Nuclear Assault, Sacred Reich, Motorhead and lots of others.
And definitely add Dio to your list.
Testament. Chuck Billy has one of the best scream voices in metal.
Start with Practice What You Preach.
If you don’t mind a little bit of screamo then you may want to check out Alexisonfire’s last album, Old Crows/Young Cardinals. They use three singers but the lead used to be heavy on the screamo. He’s switched to a growly vox style that reminds of Al Jourgenson (Ministry) and it suits them.
That reminds me, Ministry’s last two albums rocked. Rio Grande Blood and The Last Sucker.
Mastodon might suit your tastes. They don’t quite have the songwriting chops of Metallica in their prime but they are superior in several other ways, notably the drumming. On their last album they learned to scale things back a bit at times. Well worth a listen.
I second Opeth too. They’re a bit like Tool in that they are so good they transcend the genre a bit.
:dubious: Just what the hell do you mean by “old school,” young’un?
A bit of a hijack, but I saw Tool in concert a few months ago and they were freakin’ awesome.
The opposite of “nu” school. You know…not sucking.
Although the OP might want to add Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden and Godsmack.
I’m here. 
Hard to tell exactly what the OP is looking for. Screamo is a distinct style of post-hardcore, and Gojira isn’t really part of that scene. Bands like Thursday, Alexisonfire, The Used, even My Chemical Romance and AFI fit that bill.
Basically, screamo is emo, just faster and with more yelling. The lyrics are still (typically) whiney, but the guitars are harsher and the tempo is faster.
Gojira are more of a progressive (death) metal band, with some elements of math metal/noisecore/grindcore/deathcore thrown in.
If you like the noisecore/math metal/grindcore aspect of Gojira give a listen to bands like Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Architects (the UK band), Architect (the US band) (but not The Architects, which is a US punk band), Neurosis, Botch, Coalesce, Converge are all in this category.
*** I highly suggest the aforementioned Architects. So far their album Hollow Crown is the best thing I’ve heard all year. ***
If you like progressive metal, or progressive death metal, you want to look for bands like Sepultura, Mastodon, Amon Amarth, or Opeth (although Opeth are far more melodic than any other PDM band out there). Rage is another good band, although they tend more to symphonic metal than to the long winding songs typical of prog metal.
If the OP can clarify a bit more, I can talk about this stuff all day. 
See, I knew this would happen…
I have a hard time clarifying because I guess I don’t totally know what I want. If I had to make a guess I would say that I am leaning towards the death metal genre. I don’t care about lyrics or anything (hell you can’t understand em anyway…) but a good hard driving sound. Probably lots of double bass drum, cool guitar would help…but driving I think is a good word to describe it.
Does that help at all?
Also: I LOVE Deathklok and didn’t know they actually toured. This is awesome.
Those bands aren’t fucking heavy metal douche bag. RATM is hard rock. Soundgarden (although considered heavy metal, they are more grunge), and Godsmack… well lets not get into that.
Tool is nothing like Opeth. Tool is “Okay” if you like kinda boring music with not much to it. Opeth actually does something and their dynamic changes are good sounding.
Obviously no one understands Metal hear. It isn’t called Scream-o.
You can’t just say Metallica and Iron maiden when someone brings up metal, that only shows you aren’t into Heavy metal or any genre of metal.
If you want to hear an INCREDIBLE Progressive/Technical Death metal band, that has the best album (IMO) of the 21st century, buy/download Augury’s Fragmentary Evidence. Everything is great about that album, I can’t describe it.
P.S. Amon Amarth is folk/viking metal.
Try In Flames then, perhaps - kinda screamy vocals but with decent melodies, Swedish band, death metal pioneers.
Well, that’s why I gave you links to stuff. Listen to those songs, see what you like, then come back and let us know. Then I (and everyone else) can give you more recommendations based on what you liked and didn’t like from the examples. This way we have some common ground to work with as a base, eh.