classic, death, black, or thrash. i want to hear about your favorite bands and metal genres. here are my favorites:
Slipknot
Gorgoroth
Chthonic
Immortal
Behemoth
Slayer
Dimmu Borgir
Posessed
As I Lay Dying
Lamb of God
Cradle of Filth
Children of Bodom
KataKlystiKysm
Cradle of Filth
Rammstein
Danzig
Type O Negative
…in no particular order.
Hmm, I listen to a lot of metal but I only recognize half the bands on your list. My favourite metal band has to be Slayer, though as a genre I prefer Stoner Metal (despite not being a stoner). I like Monster Magnet, Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, bands like that.
Iced Earth
Saturnus
Morgion
Moonspell
Finntroll
Blind Guardian
Dark Tranquillity, Helmet, In Flames, Machine Head, Pantera, Prong, Rammstein.
I guess I’m “old school”:
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Manowar
Let’s see:
BrainDeadIdjuts
TooStoopidToNoBttr
TinEars
Ternthatcrpdwn
TastlezMorons
TrailerTrash
IncomprehenzibleGarbage
Not in any particular order…
There can be only one.
IRON MAIDEN
Slayer
1980s Metallica
White Zombie
Dethklok
Megadeth
Motorhead
Old Black Sabbath
I don’t listen to much metal these days. I like a bunch of individual newer songs by various artists that are pretty heavy and might or might not be considered metal, but it’s been ages since I bought an album for myself and that wasn’t metal (re-bought Independent Worm Saloon a few years ago because I started singing The Wooden Song as a lullabye and started missing the album).
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Nitzer Ebb
Rammstein
AC / DC (although they’re a little soft)
Disturbed
Black Sabbath
Twisted Sister
KISS
Guns & Roses
Judas Priest
Manowar
almost anything really, although I gravitate towards the more industrial stuff
Motorhead
Slipknot
Disturbed
Iron Maiden
Pantera
Metallica
Rammstein (Oddly enough i just discovered this band,Really impressed.)
If Disturbed is metal, then they’ve made my 2 favorite metal albums of all time. They’re one of the few bands that gets better as time goes on, instead of suffering the typical Metallica factor, where they burn brightly for awhile and then fizzle into mediocrity.
I don’t think Tool is metal, but if they are then I take back everything I said about disturbed, and replace it with Tool. Disturbed would be 2nd place.
If neither are metal, then Iron Maiden would be my first pick.
Tool is usually classified as progressive metal/progrock. Disturbed calls themselves hard rock, but I think they edge over into alternative metal. Both are on that line between metal and hard rock, but I think they’re both a little too hard to be rock. Btw, Disturbed’s fantastic in concert.
Metal is such a large and varied genre that it can be hard to determine what’s ‘really’ metal. Motley Crue were once considered metal back in the '80s, and are still sometimes called metal by VH1 programs and such, but if they came out today they’d be rock. There’s prog metal bands such as Queensrÿche, thrash metal bands like Metallica and Anthrax, and even unholy combinations like doom/gothic/alt metal such as Type O Negative, or folk metal bands that play bodhrans and banjos and bouzoukis and sing about waterfalls and trolls and stuff.
gwar!!!1!!!
Oh geez, where to start…better break it down by category.
Classic/NWOBHM Metal: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Scorpions (up to Love At First Sting, they sucked after that), Motorhead, Saxon, Angel Witch, Samson, Diamond Head, Grim Reaper, many others.
Bay Area Thrash Metal: Megadeth, Slayer (ok so they’re from L.A.), Testament, Exodus, Possessed, Blind Illusion (featuring Les Claypool & Larry Lalonde before Primus!), Death Angel, Dark Angel, Vio-Lence, Forced Entry, etc. Plus the N.Y. scene with Anthrax, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, and S.O.D. Also: Metal Church, Flotsam & Jetsam, Sepultura, Devastation, Laaz Rockit, Assassin, Agent Steel, Steel Prophet, etc. (Metallica may rot in hell for all I care.)
Hardcore/Crossover Punk Metal: Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity, Cryptic Slaughter, D.R.I., Wasted Youth, a few others.
Pop/Glam/“Hair” Metal: yuck, not a lot. Motley Crue started out good, so did Twisted Sister. Dokken, Great White and Skid Row were always more talented and less hairy than most. W.A.S.P. was comical. Quiet Riot, Def Leppard (formerly NWOBHM), even Whitesnake had their moments. I think The Darkness is hilarious. Never could stand KISS.
German/European Speed Metal (aka “Power Metal”): Helloween, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Kreator, Destruction, Running Wild, Evergrey, Pagan’s Mind, lots and lots of others. (DragonForce is just silly IMO.)
Black Metal: Nothing can beat the unholy triumvirate of Bathory, Venom, and Celtic Frost/Hellhammer. (Mercyful Fate too, but they were more progressive thrash.) Never really liked what it became, but some of the freaky bands from Norway (Mayhem, Burzum, Dimmu Borgir, etc.) had some crazy stuff.
Florida Death Metal: Death (R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner), Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Deicide…never got into this genre much.
Grindcore: Napalm Death, Carcass and Bolt Thrower was as far as I got.
Scandinavian Melodic/Death Metal (aka “Gothenberg” sound): Edge of Sanity, In Flames, Opeth, At The Gates, Katatonia (before they went goth), Tiamat (ditto), Dark Tranquility, Soilwork, Anathema, Amorphis, Dawn…I think I mixed a few other countries in there.
Progressive Metal: Dream Theater (currently my favorite band), Queensryche (until they sucked), Ayreon, Fates Warning, Symphony X, VoiVod, Savatage (the brainchild behind Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Pain of Salvation, many others.
Technical Metal: Not my favorite genre but I like Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, Helstar, Watchtower, and a few others. Machine Head and Fear Factory kinda sorta fit in here.
Doom/Stoner Metal: Saint Vitus, Trouble, Candlemass, Kyuss (more rock than metal), Pentagram, Sleep, Sheavy, etc.
Viking/Pagan Metal: Bathory (again!), Moonsorrow, Finntroll, Amon Amarth, and a whole bunch of bands whose names I can’t spell. 
Nu-Metal/New American Metal: Ugh. Hate this sound. System of a Down was okay. I kinda like Trivium, too. That’s about it.
The line between metal and rock is very vague, but I’m really starting to think that, more than any other single factor, the distortion on the guitars is what defines it. I saw Alice Cooper a few years back, when he was touring in support of his then-latest album, Dirty Diamonds. He played a few songs off Brutal Planet and Dragontown, which are very much metal albums, but as the tour was primarily for a more rock-oriented album, the sound was set up to sound more like your standard rock band. It completely changed the sound of the songs, to the point where I think you’d have a little trouble identifying those songs as metal if you didn’t already know about them.
Indeed. Back when I had a lot more time and energy to devote to these sorts of things, I identified about 30 different subgenres (some of which weren’t very radically different from each other, but still far enough off to reasonably be considered separate). I think, though, that you can largely sort everyone into five supergenres, and identify those by a few representative bands. To wit:
[ol]
[li]Traditional metal: Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Helloween, Stratovarius.[/li][li]Fast metal: Metallica, Napalm Death, D.R.I., Ministry[/li][li]Slow[sup]1[/sup] metal: Candlemass, Kyuss, Thergothon, Orange Goblin[/li][li]European/symphonic[sup]2[/sup] metal: Bathory (both in their black and more folkish/viking periods), Emperor, Skyclad, Cradle of Filth[/li][li]Alternative metal: Korn, Disturbed, Marilyn Manson, Biohazard, Vision of Disorder, Killswitch Engage[/li][/ol]
Obviously, not every band out there belongs to exactly one of these categories, but most of them are much closer to one or two than they are all five. And of course I’m not accounting for similar genres like hardcore/crust punk, industrial, various other forms of electronic music, and all the incarnations of hard rock.
These days I seem to be off listening to other things, but some of my favorite metal or metal-ish bands are Alice Cooper, Therion, Lacrimosa, Opeth, Dream Theater, Ulver, Arcturus, Tool, Clutch, Emperor, Tyr, Sentenced, Anathema and Dethklok.
[sup]1[/sup]: Obviously, slow here is a relative term.
[sup]2[/sup]: I’m using European/symphonic as terms to describe the influences and structure of songs here rather than describing where the bands are from or what sorts of instruments they use. A band from the US with nothing but guitars and drums is more than capable of playing this sort of music.
I don’t know if these bands count as metal or not but I listen to
Clutch
Tool
Mastodon
Kyuss/QotSA
Hidden Hand/Spirit Caravan/Obssesed/Place of Skulls
Also classic stuff like Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Iron Maiden.
I think I have a bad case of arrested development
I don’t like a lot of bands that call themselves metal nowdays. Most of them are just noise, people screaming and beating the shit out of their instruments, with no melody or harmony whatsoever. I do listen to a lot of European style metal, mostly fantasy/sci-fi metal.
Older “classic” metal bands:
Iron Maiden Favorite album: Number of the Beast
Black Sabbath Favorite albums: Master of Reality, Heaven and Hell
Manowar
Metal Church Favorite album: Metal Church
**Ozzy ** Favorite album: Blizzard of Oz, Diary of a Madman
Dio Favorite Album: Holy Diver
Euro style fantasy metal:
Blind Guardian ** Lord of the Rings + german speed metal = awesomeness. The last few albums have been fantasy but not LOTR, must’ve gotten a cease and desist from the Tolkien estate lawyers. Nightfall in Middle Earth is one of my favorite albums of all time.
Rhapsody From Italy with some Italian lyrics, mostly in English though. Pretty much the kings of epic symphonic fantasy metal. The first 4 albums are pure awesome, the newer ones still pretty good. Note: Christopher Lee (yes, the actor) does some narrating on the last few cd’s. Favorites: Symphony of Enchanted Lands I, Power of the Dragonflame.
Dragonland I forget where they’re from, but they’re one of the heavier bands on this list. Favorite: Holy War
Freternia melodic power metal from Spain. Favorites: Warchants and Fairytales, A Nightmare Story
Legend Maker - from Columbia of all places. Can’t find their second album ANYWHERE, absolutely loved the first one (Path to Glory). Power metal reminiscent of 80’s bands like Overkill.
Hammerfall another German band, more melodic but still rocks. Heavy on the cheese, but I like them anyway. Favorites: Renegade, Legacy of Kings
Kamelot Love this band, going to try to get all their cd’s at some point. I’ve heard the older stuff isn’t quite as good though. Favorites: Seige Perilous, Karma, Epica
Labyrinth The lead singer from Rhapsody was on a cd or two. Favorite: Return to Heaven Denied
Luca Turilli solo work from Rhapsody guitarist. This guy can shred! Did a couple fantasy albums and a couple futuristic ones. Nice variety of themes and styles. Not as symphonic as Rhapsody, but good stuff. Favorite: Prophet of the Last Eclipse
Symphony X Euro style metal from New Jersey, a lot of Greek mythology rather than the standard D&D style fantasy. A few people have said this band reminds them of Metallica, I don’t hear that much of a resemblance. Of course I do hate Metallica (F* YOU LARS YOU A**HOLE!!! Sorry, had to get that off my chest). Favorite: The Odyssey
Stratovarius I only have a couple albums, keep meaning to pick up more but never got around to it. Not particularily fantasy from what I’ve heard but fast and heavy.
with Female singers:
Nightwish with the old singer Tarja, who had the most amazing operatic style voice. The new singer is ok, but I wish they’d have gotten someone else. Anette Olzon sounds like a pop singer that decided to try metal for a change. Favorites: Wishmaster, Once
Epica German goth metal. Singer’s voice is reminiscent of Tarja from Nightwish. Favorite: The Phantom Agony
Within Temptation From Holland. This is one of my favorite bands. Sharon’s voice gets better with every cd. Favorite: The Silent Force
After Forever Finnish (I think), with a singer named Floor who has an amazing voice. They’ve also got a male “growler”. I hate growlers, they sound like the cookie monster. Favorite: Invisible Circles, although the storyline is very depressing.
The Gathering Don’t know much about them, but I do like the one cd I have (Mandylion).
Not really metal but I’m listing it anyway:
Ayreon Not really a band, but more of a musical project with dozens of guest singers and musicians. Mostly elaborate sci-fi storylines involving aliens and such, with music ranging from acoustic, to electronic, to old school rock, to metal. A lot of singers from the other bands I’ve listed have made appearances on his cd’s. Into the Electric Castle is one of the greatest modern rock/metal albums ever made. It features 8 guest singers, each one portraying a different character in the story. A diverse group of people are plucked from different times and places in history and taken to a mysterious and dangerous place called the Electric Castle. Why are they there? Who or what is this “voice” guiding them? What’s going on? Listen and find out!
I am 35 years old and stuck in the era so I guess you can call me old school as well:
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction is the best metal album ever recorded. I don’t care if it is considered light rock today by those pushing the envelope today but it is definitely metal and the only one at the time you could find almost any type of person listening to.
Metallica still has the best old school traditional metal. Enter Sandman and the song One are great and bleak but very listenable to a wide audience.
Motley Crue gets the nod for best hair metal. They pushed Satanism into the mix quite well and their lifestyle was infamous. I was a preppie but they were a closet teenage male heavy metal lover’s dream. One of the hottest girls I ever knew asked me to take her to a Motley Crue concert in high-school. She knew I was a closet fan. A lot of their songs sound cheezy now but I still listen to them.