As you may know, my key area of fascination has never lied in the realm of metal. However, recently I listened to the Dethklok II album and it sparked interest. What are some fine metal bands to hear?

Hrmm... Depends on what you're looking to get out of it, really. Big dumb riffs, guitar weedlyweedly, melody, dissonance, artsy weirdness, glossy, lo-fi, perky like something out of a Japanese game soundtrack, ponderous gothic gloominess, etc. Also depends on your tolerance for vocalists who sound like a grizzly bear, a toilet flushing, etc. Or an opera singer. It's a surprisingly diverse genre, most of which these days is fairly far removed from the rock tradition- very much its own thing at this point.

That being said, if you dig the Dethklok stuff, the older albums (pre-2003 or so) from these guys might have some appeal:




Definitely darker than the above, but from the same scene and a classic record:


I seem to remember I posted some of these guys a few years back and you thought they were pretty alright:




Since yer an industrial fan, I remember this being a decent record:


I always liked this record:


For an artsier thing: perhaps not a proper "metal" record so much (post-metal? post-hardcore?), but fantastic. Few vocals, and mostly buried, at that. About half of it is more gloomy indie rock than metal chugging. Dark, dark record, sometimes beautiful:


If there's anything here that appeals, we can always make more recommendations based off that. Or if you have a more specific thing you're curious about. Lots o' different directions this can go in.

I like a lot of metal, but I doubt you'll like any of it.

Well just here's this:

I thank you gents. I quite responded to the At The Gates you posted, Snaxie. The Dark Tranquility and In Flames was also fine stuffs. I've owned the Panopticon record for a handful of years and I am a big fan of that. That Morbid Angel was also good times. I've usually liked the guitar sounds I've heard from the metal genre, but was put off by the super guttural vocals. I seem to be more open to that these days, however, especially if it can be coupled with some delicious riffs.

What other bands would you recommend similar in style to At The Gates? Also, I would love to hear some artsy weirdness metal and perky like something out of a Japanese game soundtrack musics. Also, any good female fronted bands?

I don't suspect that you would much like the metals i like, as i tend to lean away from proper riffs and towards walls-of-sound and screwed-up chord-based dissonant rhythm playing. It seems you are responding to a more structured, cleaner flavor.

To me, this is one of the absolute finest metal things ever recorded:



As is this:



And this follows finely, in my opinion, in line with such:
(it also occurs to me though, that if you like panopticon, you *might* like some of this take on the flavor)




This is another fine band, in my view, though a bit more 'standard' in its execution(compared to what i normally gravitate towards):




Pretty much all of these forego with traditional riffing though, and pretty much all of them have some pretty heavy reliance on the gutteral vocal element.

So you may very well find nothing in any of them for your own porpoises.

Things I consider to be fantastic:









Granted these things are a little more silly, strange and even sassy than some of the other posts with the exception of that Nails song (which most people would argue is a hardcore band ) but that is how I have liked my metal the past couple years, though I think you may dig it for those reasons.

Well, if you're getting on with the At The Gates record, this is a similar genre classic:


Sonically, the best available version thereof, too; Earache records started reissuing "Full Dynamic Range" versions of their back catalog a few years back, new masters from the original 2-track tapes that haven't been brickwalled to oblivion. IMO, this mix is superior to the CD version I have. You still can't hear the bass, but that's par for the course with a lot of this stuff. Bigass guitar sound, though!

One of their guitarists on that record went on to found another band, who released a few records fronted by a bellowing Viking, then picked up a ladyvocalist and did this, which is rather Dethklok-esque:


...though not exactly what you usually think of when you think "female singer". Unless you're very, very strange.

I actually got into Isis through these guys, so if ten minute songs with no chorus and distinctly non-metal sections work:


Arguably their definitive album, that. Their most recent records have been straight-up '70s style prog rock with nary a hint of metal in the modern sense. (I actually like their later records, lotsa people do not.) Interesting guitar-wise as they're tuned to standard E and often eschew chugging on the low strings for complex chords. Also, lots of textural guitar on this one as it's before they had a keyboardist.

On the arty odd side, Chris posted one of their albums above, and I thought the most recent one was solidly weird:


If there aren't influences from 20th century orchestral music in there, I'll eat my hat. Well, I would if I was wearing a hat. Which I'm not. Chris posted a good bunch of stuff from Decapitated, who I like on the odd side of metal as well. They seem to approach it from almost a noise rock angle. Very abrasive band.

I know there's a few of you here into power metal who could recommend those sort of bands? Anyhow, some of my gamer friends are fans of these guys, and this certainly sounds like there's dragonslaying involved:

This thread has been very eye opening. To begin I have ordered some At The Gates, Carcass, Dark Tranquility, Decapitated, Gorguts, and Opeth albums.

This thread may live on as the heavy thread of heaviness AKA The Fountain of Br00tz.

Or perhaps the Ornate Sink of Br00tz?

That's fine sounding. Damn fine.

Excellent choices, all. While I don't really follow the genre these days or listen to the same amount of it as I did, say, ten or fifteen years ago, those records still hold up. There's some creative writing and guitaring going on there.

Are these the vinyl sort of records?

Donkyshave.

I just went cd. I haven't played any vinyl in a great many years and as good as it sounds, I just don't really care to go back down that road.

Good choice in title. Highly approved. I am finding I am enjoying some of this flavor of muzix