Metal thread of Metalness, or Hawk needs music

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Like the title says; I like metal, and could really do with some new stuff to listen to. My ipod currently has around 1200 songs on it, and after listening to most of them many times over, it's getting a little stale. So I turn to you, peoples of the NPF; help me find some new music!


I already have fairly large collections from bands such as Kamelot, Disturbed, SOAD, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Mudvayne, Pain, Pantera, Static X, Slipknot, Dragonforce, 36 Crazyfists and many others that I can't be bothered to list, so that should give an idea of my general interests.

So yeah, what bands do you guys reccomend I try out next? Note that particular emphasis on the symphonic/power/speed metal genres would be nice, as would any bands with decent, audible lyrics that you can actually understand, but isn't neccesary.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Have you checked out Avantasia already?
I'd particularly recommend The Scarecrow (Recommendations here would be the title track, Devil in The Belfry, Another Angel Down and Lost in Space), their third album. The ones before that are a bit more generic metal and the two after that I've yet to listen to a few times.

Oh yeah, it's a Metal Opera project by Tobias Sammet of Edguy (album-wise my favorites are Rocket Ride, Hellfire Club and Mandrake), which is also a nice band.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Haven't heard of any of those, but I'm giving Scarecrow a listen as I type. It's pretty good. I shall check out the rest of your suggestions in a little while.

EDIT; ok yeah, definately gona download some Avantasia, they're really cool. Not so sure about Edguy, their stuff is ok, but not as great. If I could still get stuff for free (completely illegally of course) then I would, but I'm unable to do so any more, which just leaves me with iTunes. I don't mind paying for Avantasia's stuff, but Edguy, still not sold on.

[rawredy]

If you like metal opera stuff like Avantasia, I'd definitely check out Ayreon. Absolutely any album. Arjen Anthony Lucassen specializes in that kind of thing.
There is no set line-up for the band. The only member is him, however guest musicians/singers are signed on for each album, and each singer plays a certain character.

Another great band would Demons and Wizards, which is a side project between Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch and Iced Earth's John Schaffer.
And if you haven't listened to Blind Guardian or Iced Earth, I'd recommend those, as well.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Demons and Wizards
How could I forget that.

Ayreon is nice as well. More rock-ish than metal. But that shouldn't stop you from liking it.

[rawredy]

Ayreon is nice as well. More rock-ish than metal. But that shouldn't stop you from liking it.

Ayreon is indeed more rock-ish, but still metal enough that I thought it was relevant. Not to mention amazing.

[Nightshine]

Go listen to a ton of post metal and progressive metal.


Avoid Dream Theater like the plague.

[rawredy]

Go listen to a ton of post metal and progressive metal.


Avoid Dream Theater like the plague.

If we're going to get into progressive metal territory, I HIGHLY recommend Seventh Wonder. Their Mercy Falls album is one of my favorite albums.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Go listen to a ton of post metal and progressive metal.

I would, if I knew the names of some to listen to, hence the thread...

Avoid Dream Theater like the plague.

That's a given.

[rawredy]

I just realized, I should probably also recommend Firewind.
They're a pretty good power metal band.

Edit:
And for an interesting twist on metal, you may want to check out Bassinvaders. A power metal side project featuring only bass guitars, drums, and vocals.

For a metal band that only uses bass, drums and vocals, quite honestly I prefer Shrum, but they're death metal, and only produced an EP before they split because the founder died in a car accident.

[Seil]

This. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCxFTh-XDy8)

Some of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8WhAfZphQQ)

Add a dash of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op5c_ZH1EP0)

A tablespoon of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ecPXW9BRNQ)

Maybe a cup of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXZZ9T2_3yQ)

A pinch of this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D22tbx3ffk&feature=PlayList&p=59435A8E804AB46E&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=4)

Dump in half of this bag. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4VCpTZye10)

Top it off with this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEgXDhiayz4)

Now that you have your metal milkshake, chug it on stage in front of a headbanging crowd, slam the glass on the floor and rock out. Or check out some of the other songs done by the above artists. Whatever.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

I just realized, I should probably also recommend Firewind.
They're a pretty good power metal band.

Firewind is not a band I like very much, but they have one song that just establishes superiority by rocking out with their cocks out. Seeing Kill To Live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atxbx3qpDNM&feature=PlayList&p=65300E43A96C6F1E&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=20) live is something every decent metal listener should do once in his life.

Also: Primal Fear. Pretty much straight up heavy. Though they get labeled as power metal by some.
EDIT s'more: My favorite Primal Fear track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6x2SQbc-CU)

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Listening to Ayreon right now. Not really feeling it to be honest. Duno why, it's just not doing it for me.

But now Crimson King by D&W is more like it! Especially seeing as Dark Tower is one of my favourite books, closely followed now by the Silmarillion (which brings me to Blind Guardian who I discovered a few days ago, again thanks to the NPF). EDIT; Unfortunately Crimson King isn't appearing on iTunes :( Damn. But some of their other stuff is good. Downloading now.

Seventh Wonder seem pretty good too. I shall check them out in the morning, cos it's like 1.AM here now.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far though guys, keep em coming!

[Hanuman]

I'll make you a grooveshark list.

[Hanuman]

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/DreamTheater/28569756
It's not all compiled yet, but it's a dynamic link so I can work on it.
I used to listen to these guys for about a year and a half constantly... the albums are meant to be listened to in entirety at a time.
There's an emotional and lyrical synergy that I really liked back then, the lyrics all have 2-3 layers of subtext along with the emotional undertones of the music.

Lately I've been into more mind expansive music, less conceptual analyzing and more flow.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Avoid Dream Theater like the plague.

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/DreamTheater/28569756

Hahahaha, Wow....
Seriously, though. Dream Theater are okay.
And Grooveshark is pretty good for free streaming, just throwing that out there.
It's what I use to check out particular songs and artists ever since Last.fm abandoned fully streamable tracks so they can show me more flash ads (which I don't see anyway).

[rawredy]

I have a small list of bands I liked when I was listening to Pandora on my computer, so I'll list the power metal bands off of those, as well.

Serenity
Steel Attack
Thunderstone
Nocturnal Rites
Black Majesty
Dark Moor
Axenstar
Primal Fear
Kotipelto

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Lev is that the same Grooveshark that gave my computer a virus the last time I clicked on one of the links you posted on the NPF? I think it is, so I dare not click it to be honest. Is it all just Dream Theater anyway?

Rawredy; Thank you. Firewind are great. I just downloaded like 2 full albums straight away. Good stuff.

And I think I shall look into Primal Fear next, once I get through the rest of you suggestions of course. So many bands in this thread now it's taking a while to give them all a decent listen to decide whether I like them or not. But that's a good thing; so far this thread has given me an extra 70+ songs and I'm still not finished yet.

Seil; Some good stuff there, though I already know Lost Prophets and Hollywood Undead. You did make me realise that Lacuna Coil aren't as gothy as I had previously thought though, so I've added them to my list of bands I need to try.

[Nightshine]

http://www.progarchives.com/


There's subsections of progressive metal here, and recommended albums by a bunch of supremely pretentious hacks.

It's good to discover bands here, but don't trust their ratings.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Nice find Nightshine, although there seems to be such a massive amount of stuff on each page there that it lagged out my pc. Maybe once I stop downloading stuff I might be able to check it out in more detail.

Just finished checking out all the bands suggestied so far. Avantasia, Firewind, Demons and Wizards, Thunderstone, Serenity, Steel Attack, Axenstar and Primal Fear have all been downloaded, Thunderstone in their entirety. Also added Blind Guardian and Leaves Eyes, because I forgot about them until now. Kotipelto and Nocturnal Rites both sounded ok, but there's a hell of a lot of albums for each so I don't even know where to start with either of those. Care to narrow it down to a couple of the better albums for me?

I think I'll look into Seils suggestion of Skillet next, though I'll wait until the 50 or so remaining songs have finished downloading first. I'm at like, 200 downloads now.

[Hanuman]

Is it all just Dream Theater anywayIt's Images and Words leading into Awake leading into Train of Thought, in that order.

DT for metal is pretty far off the mark of other metal as it doesn't grant immediate comfort within the aggressive sunken male energy vibe... instead it takes like 2-3 hours to describe the emotional flow of an entire story with many more levels of expression than most art forms dream of expressing through their pieces.

The main problem with DT is that because of this almost ridiculous undertaking it makes their music and message a bit cumbersome =/


BUT, if you actually have the time//attention span I suggest listening to those 3 albums in 1 sitting.

[Mondt]

It's Images and Words leading into Awake leading into Train of Thought, in that order.

DT for metal is pretty far off the mark of other metal as it doesn't grant immediate comfort within the aggressive sunken male energy vibe... instead it takes like 2-3 hours to describe the emotional flow of an entire story with many more levels of expression than most art forms dream of expressing through their pieces.

The main problem with DT is that because of this almost ridiculous undertaking it makes their music and message a bit cumbersome =/


BUT, if you actually have the time//attention span I suggest listening to those 3 albums in 1 sitting.See, my beef with Dream Theater is, while they may have been progressive a sixty years ago when they all had hair, they are getting old. Given, I haven't listened to their old stuff and very limited with newer stuff but this is what I get out of it:


The vocalist oozes pretentiousness out of every orifice and pore of his body. I mean, his voice alone makes him sound like an ultimate douche. This is not someone I want to listen to.
Petrucci is fantastic, but some of the guitar work is so unnecessary. Complication for the sake of complication without breaking ground is just boring. Unless you're going to surprise me with what you do next, you shouldn't be trying to force your music to be interesting.
Myung is a god. He can do his wankery all day. I don't care. Seriously. Strip DT of everyone but Myung and it would STILL be beautiful. God I love that guy.
I hate their drummer. He thinks he's Neil Peart when really he just sits on his hi-hat all day. More pretentiousness. Yeah, he's really good, but his Mountain of Cymabls(tm) is stupid.


All that and I just find their stuff incredibly uninteresting in the first place. At this point (again, in my limited experience), it just sounds like power metal wankery.

[Hanuman]

Well, a big reason people have such different musical tastes is why and how they listen to music... your points of course are valid-- from a technical and entertainment standpoint, I don't personally agree that I can pick out any pretentiousness, though it may just be that I'm not looking hard enough for them, or that you're looking too hard for them.

Personally I just listen to the albums I posted as if they were an experience instead of actively picking apart the music-- perhaps because I'm not interested in any of their instruments and can't play anything hooked up to an amp.


Edit-- OOPS! Some grooveshark weirdness there, Honor Thy Father was from a different band or something, fix'd.

[MuMu]

I'm not a big listener in general but Mondt reccomended me Protest The Hero once and I gotta say it was pretty sweet, even though I have no idea what Metal it is supposed to be.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Not sure if they count as metal, but A Day to Remember kicks ass.

[Mondt]

Personally I just listen to the albums I posted as if they were an experience instead of actively picking apart the music-- perhaps because I'm not interested in any of their instruments and can't play anything hooked up to an amp.=D I get this a lot, and it really makes me not a good person to talk to about music. I've gotten better about it, but mostly I end up insulting people's intelligence. I pick stuff apart, I like knowing what makes it up. *shrug*

I'm in no way saying that you shouldn't listen to it though. To each their own!

Edit: MuMu is correct in that PTH is the coolest thing to happen to metal in forever.

Also, if you had to categorize them, they would probably be a sort of mathcore (Frequent time signature changes and tempo changes, they have breakdowns here and there) with a heavy punk influence. =D

[Rejected Again]

Devil Driver, All that Remains, The Agonist, Arch-Enemy, Shadows Fall, Murderdolls (Gothy), Lamb of God, and Coal Chamber.

Too lazy to link them. Deal with it

Edit: Lev, too bad you live so far away. I do lessons for Guitar and Bass

[Mondt]

All That Remains' Oli Herbert is a god at mini-solos. He will melt your face in the 5 seconds between the melodic instrumental bridge and the final chorus.

Edit: I AM LEARNING SONGS ON DA BASS LOLOLOL I just replaced my bass strings and I don't like the ones I got =( really tinny and metallic sounding. I just thought I would mention this because of above edit. =D

[Rejected Again]

I use Ernie Ball stings on everything I own. Give a great clean tone that works well with metal distortion. Only around 5 bucks a set at your local Guitar Center for the cheap set.

[rawredy]

Kotipelto and Nocturnal Rites both sounded ok, but there's a hell of a lot of albums for each so I don't even know where to start with either of those. Care to narrow it down to a couple of the better albums for me?

Glad to have helped, though while I like both bands, I haven't gotten around to sitting down and having a session of listening through their albums, so I'm not much help in that department, I'm afraid.

I'd add more bands for you to check out, but I can't think of many more power or progressive metal bands I'd recommend at the moment.
Though, if you don't mind some symphonic metal, try out Amberian Dawn, Angtoria, and Gwyllion.
I'd give more of a list, but I think I've volunteered enough bands already, though there could always be more. That, and most of the bands I'm rather into lately have been bands that feature harsher vocals like death/black metal. Though avant-garde metal has recently reared its head and I'm getting quite attached to that genre.
If I had to recommend a band out of that genre, I'm not sure where I'd start. So many great bands.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

@Lev; I actually saw Dream Theater at Download last year. If they didn't do it for me then, I doubt they're gona do it for me now if I have to listen to 3 albums back to back before they get good. Just sayin'.

@MuMu and Mondt; PTH is a bit too.. chaotic, if that's the right word, for me. I'm sure it's all very difficult stuff, but it doesn't particularly sound all that great.

@Gunslinger; I gave them a listen. Sounded a bit too pop-musicy really. Maybe I picked the wrong songs to listen to, but yeah, not feeling it.

@Rejected; I know and like Devil Driver, saw them live last year too. Can't stand Lamb though and most of those others are that whole, "incomprehensible screamo" style that I mentioned that I dislike in the OP. Coal Chamber sound too much like Static X, only not as good. All that Remains are cool though, I shall give them a go I think.

@Raredy; Ah no problem then dude, you've given me plenty of new stuff to listen to already, so I'll add those to my list to check out in the future, along with Gwyllion and Amberian Dawn there, cos they both sound cool too.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Maybe you'd like Luca Turilli. Side project buy the guy who makes Rhapsody of... wait for it... Fire. Right.
I can't say I particularly like either of those but Luca Turilli is definitely the one my humble self thinks is better.

Also: It's beyond me how I could forget Dream Evil, with great songs such as "H.M.J. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmtQaZng98I)", "Heavy Metal In The Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kea6suUaWjQ)", M.O.M. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSKw57aNrE0)" and "The Book of Heavy Metal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgzFMPPH340)".
One of those nice bands that don't take themselves too seriously.

EDIT: Let's not forget "Made of Metal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPBPsTa5sdU)".

[Mondt]

@Gunslinger; I gave them a listen. Sounded a bit too pop-musicy really. Maybe I picked the wrong songs to listen to, but yeah, not feeling it.ADTR typically combines some classic hardcore breakdown stuff with pop-y new-punk stuff. *shrug* They were supposedly like the pioneers of the style, all those Devil Wears Prada and whatnot bands came after.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Nice one there IG, I'm downloading some Dream Evil right now and Luca I'm considering.

Oh and it also turns out now, I shall be going to Download again this year. I was a bit unsure about it until now, what with one friend not speaking to me any more and another not being interested, then suddenly he is again, and there were only like, 3 or 4 bands I really wanted to see. But I've been listening to some of the bands on the lineup that I didn't know and I'm a little more psyched to be going now, so that should offer up some new sounds to check out.

As of now though, I think this thread has mostly served its purpose. I have a ton of new songs, and about 15 more bands I need to look more into and god knows how many songs all told that I'll probably eventually get, so unless anyone has anyone in particular they feel I should definately check out, I'm gona call a close on this one for now.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys, been a massive help. I may call upon you again in the future.

[Magni]

Scar Symmetry, preferably with their original singer. The newest album with the dual singers isn't bad, though.

Mors Principium Est.

Also, this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZF9MMx-skc) Which I just found out thanks to youtube is Christian Death Metal, which confuses my brain a bit.

[rawredy]

Scar Symmetry, preferably with their original singer. The newest album with the dual singers isn't bad, though.

Mors Principium Est.

Also, this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZF9MMx-skc) Which I just found out thanks to youtube is Christian Death Metal, which confuses my brain a bit.

Scar Symmetry are great, and I keep getting friends who aren't in to death metal to like them.

Though, I think Mors is a bit too harsh for what Hawk is looking for in particular, though they have some great songs.

And I hate finding out a band is a Christian band when I've already established a liking for them, because then it gets to the point where I have trouble listening to them, because then their songs get some kind of double meaning and it confuses the hell out of me.

Oh, and you're welcome for the bands and stuff, Hawk.
I definitely would have told you more bands to check out, but I think I gave plenty.

[Nightshine]

http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/0/7/6/107618.jpg

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Scar Symmetry

Ok, I'll bite.

*CHOMP*

Hmm... not bad. *Takes note* Not so much with Mors Principium Est and Miseration though. Goes back into similar territory as Lamb of God and such.

Nights; ... Meh, sorry, too slow for me, from the few songs I sampled.

[Magni]

You can follow up Scar Symmetry with Solution .45: The original singers new band which is in for all intents and purposes just Scar Symmetry.

Disarmonia Mundi might be up your alley. If you like Soilwork you'll like them. And if you don't have Soilwork you should start there, but avoid the Sworn to a Great Divide album.


Also, for finding music use Last.fm. It's responsible for me forgetting about at least 4 bands I've had on my hard drive for at least 3 months. Sign up, grab the scrobbler, and put on the My Recommendations station. You'll find so much new music you won't be able to find time to listen to it.

[Hanuman]

Lev, too bad you live so far away. I do lessons for Guitar and Bass
Aw shucks, we could trade music for fire lessons =]

saw Dream Theater at Download last year
Pretty groady live band IMO, kind of like watching a bad sequel.

I'm not saying DT is a good band, I'm just saying that if it's humanly possibly to enjoy a 2 hour music piece that doesn't make any sense unless you hear it front to back, that it can be enjoyed, even if they did just fluke it.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Also, for finding music use Last.fm. It's responsible for me forgetting about at least 4 bands I've had on my hard drive for at least 3 months. Sign up, grab the scrobbler, and put on the My Recommendations station. You'll find so much new music you won't be able to find time to listen to it.
Which only works for free if you're from the US, UK or Germany. Screw the rest of the world.
I preferred clicking my way through artist pages to listen to the streamable tracks, which doesn't work anymore due to Last.fm's new policy regarding streamable tracks. I still spend way too much time there.

EDIT: www.last.fm (http://www.last.fm)
Since it's a pretty neat site I'll just put that URL there. Basically a site that keeps track of what music you're listening to. Also a radio playing recommended artists, everything tagged with some specified tag, user specific stations and some more.
I'm pretty sure there were several Last.fm threads here already but they all got ignored.

[Magni]

Oh yeah. Don't forget Alestorm. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-8Uo1j0AiA) You can't not love pirate metal.

[Rejected Again]

Well lets try these then:

Sepultra (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j8OF4cZnjg)
Soulfly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCc_jLctZkA&feature=related)
Cannibal Corpse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Hv0tsvpyU)
^^^^
These are a little hard with nearly incomprehensible lyrics at most times.


Unsun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LapknbGS7Os)(More like Lacuna Coil(There from Poland, isn't that weird)(not exactly what I call metal though)(parentheses))

Kivimets?n Druidi(Ye Olde Metal...in Finnish)


@Lev....Yeah Me+fire= bad things..... Lets just say my eyebrows grew back nicely.

[rawredy]

Oh yeah. Don't forget Alestorm. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-8Uo1j0AiA) You can't not love pirate metal.

Ohjeez. HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THESE GUYS?!

[Mondt]

I could recommend The Human Abstract's first album I guess.

http://www.myspace.com/thehumanabstract

Everything but A Violent Strike is from Nocturne, the thumbs up super win album. =D