Best metal?
 

I just discovered Mastodon, and they are great. What is all your favorite metal bands?

As with all good music, it absolutely depends on my mood. I can go from Prog with Dream Theater, to the melodic Sonata Arctica or the heavier edged Dimmu Borgir, then swap over to Carcass and Naglfar.

I don't usually let my mood change my music lol, its weird, but I listen to whatever and it changes my mood, heh...but yeah Dream Theater and Dimmu Borgir are incredible, the rest I am going to have to check out.

Anthrax, Black Label Society, Black Sabbath, Damageplan, Machine Head, Megadeth, Metallica, Motorhead, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Powerman 5000, Rob Zombie, Slipknot, Tool, Van Halen, White Zombie.

Thrash metal is my favorite type, obviously. :D

Right now it's Cryptopsy - "Once Was Not" is flawless.

"Thine ancient Gods in their pantheons
will cease to be
utterly
and the stars in thy Firmament:
all will die:
and thy prayers for deliverance:
all will die.
and be One in a nucleon
...Reductio ad Absurdum..."

I absolutely agree with this. I've been listening to almost nothing but Cryptopsy in the last two months or so.

wow for once Opeth hasn't entered the conversation.. thankfully.

Most of the bands I was going to list have already been hit by Spec. with the exception of Fear Factory and Lamb Of God :)

I've been listening to them lately too. I like that they don't do the extreme cookie monster vocals. Most of the bands spectre listed are great as well. I agree that thrash is where it's at.

All time favorite is Opeth

Lately I've been listening to Disillusion, Unearth, Look What I Did, Into Eternity, Fall of Troy, and Katatonia...

At least that's what's on my work computer .__.

I like a lot of thrash (of course!) and lots of death metal.
It's impossible for me to pick favourites though, I could go on forever naming bands. Lately though I've been listening to a lot of the band Death, Chuck was a genious. Lot's of Testament too since I just saw them on friday and it was an awesome show.

ahhh Testament. Brings me back...... Great band.

I've been getting back into Arch Enemy lately. Awesome.

I can't really get into the extremely heavy stuff, but I like a lot of female-fronted metal bands, like Nightwish, After Forever, Elis, Within Temptation, and Leave's Eyes. I also like Dream Theatre and Metallica.

My tastes run more to the progressive. I like Porcupine Tree a lot, but I don't think they could ever be considered metal, juust prog-rock.

between the buried and me, Necrophagist, fall of troy, Megadeth, Pantera, gorguts, 3 inches of blood and sepultura. Oh yea and in flames is a new discovery for me.

White Zombie, Nine Inch Nails, TOOL, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, some Anthrax, Godsmack and Slipknot are among my top metal favorites.

sweetpea

What? No Black Label Society? ;)

BLS baby. Zakk is the man.

Corrosion of Conformity

I'm not big into metal...but I do like
Parkway Drive
Converge
Zao
Holy Molar

Some bands mentioned here aren't even metal.

So..then.... add some that are.

Tool
Chaimaira
Lamb of God
System of a Down
Slipknot

Iron Maiden for me hands down for great metal guitar solos.

I never thought of Nine Inch Nails as metal though :confused:

There are a lot of metal subgenres, I've always felt that they've fit into Industrial Metal.

I've been listening to old Carcass today. Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious is such a crazy album.

Old school... some of my favorite metal bands with my favorite three albums from each band:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, We Sold our Souls for Rock and Roll
Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny, British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance
Motorhead - Ace of Spades, Iron Fist, Orgasmatron
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave
Slayer - Reign in Blood, Seasons in the Abyss, South of Heaven
Metallica - Kill 'em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Peace Sells, So Far So Good So What, Rust in Peace
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, Far Beyond Driven

I wish I had time to listen to and get aquainted with some newer stuff... it sounds like there's a lot of good, heavy tunage out there nowadays. Having survived the onslaught of hair metal in the 80's and 90's, almost all of today's heavy chit sounds pretty G'damn good to me.

agalloch, opeth, dark tranquillity, arsis, amon amarth, omnium gatherum

those are my favorites

For "vanilla" metal, I prefer

Green Carnation (although their 60-minute epic Light of Day, Day of Darkness must be counted as prog)
Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden

If you're going for prog, make sure to check out Pain of Salvation, top-notch Swedish metal :)

disturbed rules

I can't pick one. Here are my must have albums.

Megadeth--Rust in Peace
Metallica--Master of Puppets
Testament--New Order
Tool--Undertow
Anthrax--Among the Living
Pantera--Vulgar Display of Power
Slayer--South of Heaven
Skid Row--Slave to the Grind
Iron Maiden--Peace of Mind
Tesla--Mechanical Resonance

Other Bands include Black Sabbath, Black Label Society, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Motley Crue, Ratt, Extreme, Queensryche, Dokken, Van Halen, Sevendust, Disturbed, Godsmack, WASP, Dangerous Toys, Faith No More, and Judas Priest.

And did I miss it or did anyone mention KISS? "You wanted the best? You got the best!"

maybe they arent as popular as i thought or its just an illinois thing but my personal favorite metal band is Mudvayne, some of my other favorites are
Slipknot
Ill Niño
Disturbed
Bloodsimple.
40 Below Summer

Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Kalmah and Summoning are my top faves. They're mostly categorized Folk/Black metal.

How could I forget Mudvayne?!? I am an idiot!!! I met those guys before they were big. I have played Peoria, IL many times.

right you are.

TOD

* german for death

I can't believe only two people mentioned Slayer:eek:

Otherwise, here's my list off the top of my head:

Slayer
Rammstein
Bolt Thrower
Lamb of God
Carcass
Impaled Nazarene

I seem to have this eclectic taste in music and anybody who overhears my collection on shuffle will attest: it goes something like Slayer, Bjork, Rammstein, Eminem, Goldfrapp, Offspring, Prodigy, Slayer, Bolt Thrower, 311, Nitzer Ebb, Bauhaus, NIN, Frank Zappa, Blink 182, Snoop Dogg and so on.:)

Protest the Hero
Everytime I Die

Both are more "metalcore", but the metal influence is obvious in both (Albums Keziaand Gutter Phenomena respectively).


Really, all you need is slayer.

I don't listen to metal, but eh, a couple friends are into the more experimental stuff [ i don't know if it's still metal, but it sounded like it) listens to this:

Sunn 0)))
Boris
Foetus
nerosis

and some others that i forget...

Hope that guides into more experimental stuff, if you're looking for that.

cya,
keyshawn

I like a little of everything in my music styles and metal has a special place, I'm a huge fan of Down, Pantera, DamagePlan, COC, Crowbar, Probot, Eyehategod, Soilent Green, that's about it metal wise I guess, oh yeah In Flames is another great band. I really enjoy the NOLA sludgemetal sound.

Devildriver is my absolute favorite band.

I love Scar Symmetry, Soilwork, Graveworm, Nightwish, Dimmu Borgir, Lamb of God, Alll That Remains, Bury Your Dead, Children of Bodom, Slayer, Fear Factory, Heaven Shall Burn, In Flames, Pantera, Manowar, Hatebreed, Mnemic, Sonic Syndicate, Strapping Young Lad, The Agony Scene, Threat Signal, Arch Enemy... and so many more.

Sorry that list was terribly long.

I have a resilient love for Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, though mostly for its nostalgic value. Usually when I’m in the mood for metal I’ll go for something more extreme; At The Gates, Cadaver, Cryptopsy, Blood Red Throne (not the most innovative of bands, just pure awesomeness), Nasum, Pig Destroyer, and Suffocation for metal in the vein of death metal/grindcore, and when tending more towards black metal I might put on 1349, Anorexia Nervosa (I don’t have a liking for the symphonic style, as it’s most often superficial and cheesy, but I think they did a good job on New Obscurantis Order), Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor (the last four bands: of course), Shining, Thorns and Watain.

A lengthy list, I know. And yet there is more!

I can’t forget to mention the folksy Finntroll, and the more progressively inclined Arcturus and Atheist. Used to love Meshuggah, but can’t seem to get into it these days. Behold… The Arctopus and Dodheimsgard are both fun to listen to. And finally Kreator, Celtic Frost, Bathory and Slayer will always be favourites should a craving for thrash/speed metal come over me.

Very manyawesome bands here i can just add a few;
Killswitch Engage, Cradle of Filth, As I Lay Dying, DragonForce, Opteh, Otep, Winter Solstice, Job for a Cowboy................and yet still more,

i'm very picky about metal

i don't like "cookie monster" vocals
i also don't like falsetto, trilly vocals (a la Maiden, Judas Priest, etc.)
i require melody, not just rhythm
i require musicianship

so, yeah, that pretty much reduces me to liking Metallica, System of a Down, Ministry, um......

ok. have you tried like dream evil or kamelot. but it sounds like u'r more into rock then metal, a big part of metal is the "cookie monster" vocals.

C'mon guys, dig a bit deeper!

Neuraxis
Cryptopsy
Quo Vadis
Neurosis
Isis
Cult of Luna
Behemoth
Vader
Arcturus
Borknagar
Ulver
Gorguts
Augury
Negativa
and, dare I say it... 3 Inches of Blood

Killswitch Engage, Kamelot, Dragon Force and Metallica.

If you can get into Ministry then the 'cookie monster' stuff isn't that far away.

Since this is the metal thread, has anyone else been able to check out the new albums by Down and Arch Enemy? Wow. Both of them really kick ass.

After a long absence, Down did not disappoint. A lot of the interviews talked about how different this album was but I didn't see it. IMO, it was classic Down.

well
 

Damageplan, Machine Head, Megadeth
I love all of them

-Boris (in their more metal/doom albums, a la Amplifier Worship, Feedbacker, Absolutego)

-Earth. Again, the doom thing. I love twenty plus minute songs.

-Fuck...I'm Dead. Unlike the vast majority of posters here, I quite enjoy 'cookie monster' vocals, particularly within the gore metal/gore grind subgenres.

-Dystopia. Not the most 'metal', but still fucking incredible.

-Anal Cunt. Not for musicianship, but just for being one of the most hilarious, over-the-top offensive bands in the history of the universe.

-Marduk. Panzer Division Marduk is one of my favorite non-stop blastbeat albums of all time.


I could probably go on for ages, so I'll just leave it at that.

I saw a couple posts with some of my favorites at the moment posted already: Tool, Parkway Drive, DragonForce, Lamb of God etc.

A couple I'd recommend
-As I Lay Dying
-Dark Tranquillity
-In Flames

and maybe Nightwish

intellijence, if you like melodic metal you should definitely check out Quo Vadis and Neuraxis. They're more "extreme" than the ones you mentioned but give them a try anyway.

i guess the difference with Ministry is that the music part of it is more original and melodic than most other metal with that style of vocals. Ministry also doesn't use that style of vocals on all their songs (esp. on "Mind" and "Psalm 69")

- MAIDEN! MAIDEN!
- Led Zeppelin. What? They were metal! Sometimes!
- Black Sabbath, obvious choice here.
- Pantera


...I'm one of the only people ever not to like KISS...

Ministry isn't really that heavy. If you want heavy + melodic look at Derwood's suggestions (especially Dark Tranquility.) The best "gateway" band to cookie monster vocals is probably Opeth.

willravel, they're all pretty obvious choices :D I can see why people stick to the classics but it's never been for me.

Between the Buried and Me is another band I'd like to add to the pile.

Go to an Iron Maiden concert.

Ministry isn't heavy? Ever heard "Thieves" or "TV II"?

THIEVES



TV II

Yes, I have. Heaviness is relative and means different things to different people. Ministry is less heavy than a lot of bands out there, though they aren't necessarily worse for it. This is why I don't like people clinging to the big names too tightly; they hear Pantera, Slipknot, Ministry, etc. and assume that the borders these bands established have not been pushed. They have. Listen to Concealed, the first album by Augury, and tell me that they haven't moved well beyond their early influences.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't enjoy those bands, I'm saying that their work laid the foundation for newer bands who have built on those early conventions and have now moved above and beyond their influences.

I think someone mentioned them already but you really should check out ISIS. Go for their older stuff first.

Other then that... I'm always down with the Deftones.

Isis is incredible! Do you have a favorite Isis album?

I was 2/3 of the way through the thread, and I was starting to hope that nobody had said Dragonforce, but I guess you can't mention metal anymore without someone bringing them up.

A lot of what I like has been said, but the big metal and hardcore ones I'd recommend are Death, The Acacia Strain, Lamb of God, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Suffocation, Deicide, the old thrash classics like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Kreator, Unearth, Chimaira, Symphony X, Yngvie Malmsteen, and I'll come up with more later.

Sea of Red.

Mastodon are fucking awesome! What do you think of their new album? Incidentally, whoever mentioned The Arctopus has good taste, and strapping young lad are absolutely hilarious live, not seen them personally, but Devin Townsend is a god of metal.

By the way, for everyone who likes Opeth, check out 'Burst' and their album 'Origo'. i saw them supporting Opeth in London and they blew me away!

WK, I think you meant The Red Sea and yes, that's definitely one of their best.

Mastodon is, as far as I'm concerned, at the front of the NWOAHM pack. I think that Blood Mountain is as good as Leviathan, but no better.

Burst seems pretty good. I listened to a few of the songs on their Myspace... will have to find some more.

wow you guys are bringing up some real heavy bands. I used to be into death metal aswell...as a kid.. I liked venom wasp ozzy judas ect. then went to hair band like ratt motley..ect but ratt is my alltime fav. They sing about girls and love and positive and inspirational stuff which makes you all happy and feeling great.

Yep... I was kind of drunk when I posted that.

What's wrong with DForce? Solid over-the-top powermetal band that don't take themselves seriously (at least in the interview I read). Fun to listen to imo.

The new Dark Tranquillity album "Character" is really good...I just got it over the weekend and it has impressed me quite a bit.

Challah, what would you recommend by Quo Vadis and Neuraxis?

Datalife2, a lot of "real heavy" bands have a positive message. Pelican, for example, play uplifting and monstrously heavy music. Mabool by Orphaned Land has a message of unity between the Abrahamic religions, though it ends on a sad note. Many of Neuraxis' lyrics deal with spirituality. Positive metal does exist.

It's called wankery. Their music is ridiculously fun to listen to but has almost no substance. Depending on what want from music, they're either great or absolutely unbearable. They really are a band you either love or hate.

Character is quite good. It's a little too similar to their last few releases for my liking but it's constructed well and doesn't have any major flaws.

Neuraxis' best release is certainly their newest - Trilateral Progression. Their earlier material is excellent but doesn't have the unique flair of Trilateral Progression. Quo Vadis is more difficult. Their best songs are On the Shores of Ithaka and Silence Calls the Storm, from Day into Night and Defiant Imagination, respectively. Listen to both, see which one you prefer and go with the album it belongs to. They also have a DVD out. It's easily one of the best metal DVDs I've seen and is especially good if you're a drummer, as you have the option of watching the entire concert through cameras that focus exclusively on the drummer.

i go kinda old skool-y with anthrax, iron maiden, dio, slayer, overkill, venom, metallica and megadeath...

If you like Slayer, listen to some Martyr.

http://www.myspace.com/martyrcanada

The vocals are similar in many places but the musicianship is, in my opinion, much better.

Try Testament and Symphony X, both of them have amazing vocalists, though Testament have experimented with a lot of vocal styles (try the classic "Practice What You Preach").

I'm into all types of metal, to name a few favorites rather than make a huge list (including grindcore as a type of metal)
Death
Deicide
Krisiun
Mayhem
Morbid Angel
Napalm Death
Nasum
Testament
The Acacia Strain (though they're hardcore, they fit in well with extreme metal and metalcore)
Yngwie Malmsteen

Martyr are an amazing band, I first heard "Hopeless Hopes" from Napster when it was their only album. They've done so much more since then, worth a listen for sure.

The only Martyr album I've heard is Feeding the Abscess. The first time I heard it, I actually sat, dumbfounded, for the entire duration. Incredible stuff. *Dreams of studying in Montreal and experiencing its incredible metal.*

Cheesy and unoriginal. Herman Li is a mediocre guitarist who makes up for his lack of technical skill by playing fast and drowning his tone in effects. There's nothing particularly special about the music and once it gets old (very quickly,) it's annoying.

gwar. i forgot gwar. gwar fuckin rocks....

I'm not a huge fan of the actual music Gwar makes, but I will admit they put on a kickass show!

I've got 2 "Gwar Bras" to prove that. I love it!

i'm actually in one of their videos. i was at a show at the 9:30 club in washington dc when they were taping a video. i crowdserfed to the stage and got in a shot.

When I think of the best metal ever... I think of WINGER!

...

(waits for vegetables to be thrown at him)

No, seriously... I miss Megadeth. Dave Mustaine is a weird dude, but admirable.

I have to second Between the Buried and Me, their new album "Colors" just came out and is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Nice!

FYI, Megadeth has a new album out . United Abominations

How do you all like Queensryche? I'm listening to the live version of Operation Mindcrime right now, it's pretty good.

Queensryche is good. I haven't listened to Operation: Mindcrime in a while, but I remember liking it. Can't think of anything similar to suggest, so I'll add a few more bands to the general pile (and add album suggestions to boot):

Protest the Hero (Kezia) - Technical metal with a well-articulated punk flair.
Converge (Jane Doe) - Metalcore pioneers. Ooze raw intensity.
Riverside (Second Life Syndrome) - Polish prog metal, great for fans of Porcupine Tree.

I'm really getting into Stone Sour lately. The band has Jim Root and Corey Taylor from Slipknot, and both the harder and softer songs are just incredible.

for the harder, "30/30 150"


for the softer, "Bother"

Dissection, Venom, Slayer, and Cradle of Filth

Four very different bands.
A few recommendations based on each:

Dissection are (blackened) melodic death metal - Atheist, Death, Detonation, Martyr
Venom are thrash with the additions that led to black and death metal - Destruction, Kreator, Sodom
Slayer are straight thrash - Dark Angel, Exodus, Overkill, Testament
Cradle of Filth are a goth rock take on black metal, but they don't really work well as either. A few recommendations of straight black metal - Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor, Gorgoroth, Mayhem,

I like Nightwish (with the former vocalist more, I'm just listening to the new CD just released), Within Temptation (Mother Earth, they've gone mainstream since), Swallow The Sun, Poisonblack, Iron Maiden, AC/DC (maybe not heavy enough to be listed here but one of my fave bands), David Lee Roth, Type O Negative, Mötley Crüe - ok it's not that heavy - Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Drowning Pool, Ozzy, Mercenary, Helloween, Paradise Lost, Deep Purple, Soundgarden to name just a few...:):thumbsup:

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Those are definitely the main ones, but you could also try Agalloch, Pagan Hellfire, early Ulver, Arcturus and Borknagar.

Try Sonata Artica, great band!

You need to dig deeper into their stuff man! Try some of Bruce Dickinson's solo stuff, for example Accident of Birth. The song "Man of Sorrows" is simply haunting, and shows that Bruce has an opera quality voice. Along that line, try "Navigating the seas of the sun" off of A tyranny of souls. Also check out the Bruce Dickinson/Rob Halford single "The one you love to hate". The two metal gods going at it voice to voice is amazing!


Well, well. Mr. Ravel and myself appear to have a common interest. :thumbsup:

So as it sits....

Iron Maiden. Way, way up there!
Solo Bruce Dickinson. Also way up there.
Newer Black Sabbath, from Dio on.
And speaking of Dio, his first couple of solos were great.
Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers. "Wasted Sunsets" is sooooo underrated that it's criminal.
Killer Dwarves.
Old (as in the first album only) Great White.
Dokken, particularly Tooth and Nail and Under Lock and Key.
Yngwie. First three albums.

I'm sure there's others, but I'm too tired to look them up right now....

my definition of metal is quite broad, so my list will be, too.
Dragonforce
Iced Earth
Metallica
Lordi
Black Sabbath
Soil
Avenged Sevenfold
Anthrax
Trivium
Dream Evil
Iron Maiden
Motorhead
Disturbed
Pantera

Nobody has mentioned Sleep yet, as far as I can see. This is a crime.

Sleep, OM, High on Fire, Neurosis, Acid King, Clutch, UFOmammut, Pelican, Baroness, Earth, Bongripper, Electric Wizard, Isis, Boris, Eternal Elysium, Earthride, Grand Magus, Zoroaster ... the heavier it is, the more I like it.

I don't know how many true metalheads would classify Monster Magnet, Orange Goblin, Kyuss, Colour Haze, The Atomic Bitchwax, Bardo Pond, Dead Meadow, Earthless, The Flower Travellin' Band, Acid Mothers Temple, Mammatus, Thumlock, and other bands that I think are best described as "heavy psychedelic rock" as metal ... but they're all fucking awesome.

Amon Amarth
Amorphis
Arch Enemy
Arcturus
At The Gates
Atheist
Bathory
Bloodbath
Burzum
Carcass
Celtic Frost
Children Of Bodom
Dark Tranquillity
Death
Dimmu Borgir
Dismember
Dissection
Dream Theater
Edge of Sanity
Eluveitie
Emperor
Ensiferum
Eternal Tears of Sorrow
Falkenbach
Finntroll
Gorgoroth
Gorguts
Hypocrisy
Immortal
In Flames
Insomnium
Kalmah
Kampfar
Korpiklaani
Martyr
Meshuggah
Mors Principium Est
Naglfar
Necrophagist
Necrophobic
Neuraxis
Norther
Old Man`s Child
Opeth
Quo Vadis
Satyricon
Slayer
Testament
Therion
Thyrfing
Ulver
UneXpect
Unleashed
Vintersorg
Windir
Wintersun


~~

I like a lot of Finnish metal.

Holy fuck I just listened to "Havoc" streaming on their myspace site and goddamn...I just got that exact feeling of dumbfounded.

These guys have talent no doubt.

--jaded

i dont recognize about 90% of those bands
i got away from metal after seeing Spinal Tap then seeing the Scorpions a few weeks later. couldnt take it seriously as a genre anymore.

Check out the album "Prominence and Demise" by a band called Winds.

VERY good Neo-classical metal. Vocals are clean (for the most part).

Did anyone hear the new Metallica song today? They are soooo back.

Sooo bad is more like it.

Agalloch, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Amon Amarth,Tool,Metallica(oldies, not the newer crap),Sonata Artica, Blind Guardian to name a few.

Not a "true metal head" (thanks god) but some bands to my liking are: Opeth (probably one of my fav bands of all time) Strapping Young Lad, Kill Switch Engage, Protest the hero, Dillinger Escape Plan, Cog..

Nice, I've been listening to a lot of Dillinger and Protest the Hero. Mostly Ire Works and Kezia.

Some suggestions...

Dysrhythmia - Barriers and Passages Energetic instrumental rock/metal. Quite technical, lots of time signature changes, but still very listenable.

Om - Pilgrimage Experimental metal band. Their music is based on Tibetan chanting. They use only drums, bass and vocals. Their lyrics are... out there.

Rosetta - Wake/Lift Incredibly atmospheric post-metal. Their first album is also great, but it's actually two discs (one heavy and one ambient) that are meant to be played together. Thanks to this silly trick, finding a decent combined version can be difficult.

Children of Bodom.