I'm having problems finding heavy metal I like. I know there are threads that have recommendations regarding metal, but what I want is somewhat specific, and I need your help.
My foray into intensive music listening in general began with two albums: Metallica's
Metallica and Danzig's
Thrall: Demonsweatlive. I first listened to these and thought,
okay, I like this music. It was mine. I didn't care what others thought about it, so I listened to it over and over. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that Metallica was actually much better before they recorded
Metallica, so I ate up the likes of
Ride the Lightning, ...And Justice for All, and
Master of Puppets, the latter of which I still maintain is their best work, followed closely by
...And Justice for All.
Much of that fed what was to come. It wasn't long before the grunge scene swept me up and I was listening to Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and, eventually, Smashing Pumpkins (who became my favourite contemporary band up until they were dethroned by Radiohead around eight years ago).
Then Cobain committed suicide.
I wandered between various alternative acts, and I eventually discovered a band that grew on me quite quickly. It was my first return to heavy metal since listening to Metallica (which, really, was the only heavy metal I had listened to). They were a band that a couple of friends were raving about, one of whom I looked at as the most intelligent and creative guy I knew. So I took that immediately as a recommendation. The album was
Blind by Corrosion of Conformity (COC), and it blew me away. Besides The Smashing Pumpkins'
Siamese Dream (which I still maintain is the band's masterpiece and one of the best rock albums of all time), there isn't another album I listened to over and over again from track one to end.
What I admire about
Blind is a number of elements: the musicianship, the lyrics, the blended sounds, the intensity....there was something about it that set it apart from my view of what metal was: a genre of loud, aggressive thrashing and hoarse screaming. It was something I enjoyed immensely. It was political, it had activism and social criticism. It simply sounded
good.
Deliverance arrived after a bit of a lineup change. It was good, but the band took a turn to a more straightforward sound and set of lyrics. Not quite infused with social commentary, but they were poetic enough. Fine. But that was the end of it for me as I didn't have anything else similar to this band to listen to. I put all of my attention into alternative, where I eventually landed up on Radiohead as my favourite contemporary band.
I also enjoy jazz, classical, and a few pop songs. I'm a huge Beatlemaniac, to boot. But I want more heavy metal. Please help me! There are websites good at showing you artists similar to the ones you like, but there are so many, and it's often difficult to weed through to the sound you're looking for. Answers.com describes the genre mix of Corrosion of Conformity as "Heavy metal, Sludge metal, Stoner metal, Crossover thrash," whatever the hell that means. Are there others doing anything remotely similar? Am I asking too much from the genre?
Some sample songs by Corrosion of Conformity that I really like:
Blind:
Deliverance: