There are legions of metalheads that would be marching to your door with pitchforks and torches if they read your assessment of "true metal." I've found that most metal with only clean singing is pretty lacking in the instrumental department. Learn to cope with some extreme vocals and you'll find some really great music. I once thought the same way about the cookie monster vocals -- that it was ridiculous and had no place in music. That stigma is still there to an extent, and there's still a good deal of metal I can't listen to because the vocals are just too horrible, but don't automatically rule out a band just because they don't use traditional vocals. Opeth, early Ulver, Agalloch, and Novembre are a few of these bands that I think everyone can appreciate in some way -- and all use clean singing in addition to extreme vocals.
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