Trying to get into metal

[funkalicious101]

Lately I have realized that I, for the most part, like metal music when I hear it. As of right now the only metal band I listen to is Dream Theater.

I have checked out some melodic death metal/technical death metal/black metal/prog metal ect. and realized that I am mostly liking this giant genre for the instrumental elements of songs and that I cannot stand music that doesnt have clean vocals (grew up on Rush, Zeppelin and Cream). I also find the metal culture (especially Scandinavian) very interesting.

So can anyone reccomend any metal bands/sub-genres that I should check out that have: good melodic instrumental elements and clean vocals (so no screaming, cookie monster ect). progressive stuff would be nice too.

thanks

[morf]

Try some Enslaved

[funkalicious101]

ok, I checked a couple songs..... and I dont want to sound like a perfectionist or a jerk..... But is that really what passes for clean vocals?

[Mike Money]

Check out Lamb of God... Very technical, and despite that its just a scream, the vocals are great.

Ankla, particularly the tune "Sinking". They take Sambas, and just break it down. It is beautiful.

Hatebreed is great for just straight-forward, in your face, chugging-8ths metal. No solos, no BS.... they just say what they have to say and call it good.

Black Sabbath (They invented it, after all.)

Dragonforce

System of a Down has a really cool twist on metal...

Avenged Sevenfold

Indorphine

Slayer

Anthrax

Tool

Motorhead

Gwar

An*l C*nt (grindcore, gore)

Cannibal Corpse

Metallica
Megadeth

Coheed and Cambria

Burn The Priest (Lamb of God, different name. Lamb of God is their "Screw it, lets get rich" band.)

I Killed the Prophet

I Killed the Prom Queen

Death

Iron Maiden

Korn

Sum41 (the album "Chuck" great variety of hatebreed-style breakdowns, and metallica style thrash)

Brujeria (Mexican metal band, in all spanish. Its really good, but since its in spanish it makes me giggle.)

The list goes on forever and a day...


In the words of tenacious D.... You cannot kill the metal. The Metal will live on.

[funkalicious101]

ok, i'll check out some of those. but im pretty stuck on clean vocals... and i've heard stuff by most of these bands and its not exactly what i would consider clean vocals.

Originally Posted by funkalicious101

ok, I checked a couple songs..... and I dont want to sound like a perfectionist or a jerk..... But is that really what passes for clean vocals?

Yes, take the heat or get out of the kitchen.


















...okay, joking.

Actually, check out any Opeth album. Groovy playing, great clean vocals, and the Mikael Akerfeldt's death growls are more than tolerable.

[funkalicious101]

well i checked out opeth (just bits of a couple of songs on youtube) and they are substancially better than most of the other stuff i have heard. thanks for the tip.

[ROON]

Try some power metal, Edguy, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Wintersun, Helloween. Most power metal has clean vocals.

[Nappa]

Originally Posted by ROON

Try some power metal, Edguy, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Wintersun, Helloween. Most power metal has clean vocals.

Yep, though the range of their voices scares me.

I still haven't heard a good Power Metal band with a good bassist.

[ROON]

Originally Posted by Nappa

I still haven't heard a good Power Metal band with a good bassist.

Hehe, yeah the bass is always lost in the mix somewhere.

[Nappa]

Originally Posted by ROON

Hehe, yeah the bass is always lost in the mix somewhere.

I would think so with the 5 minutes solos and the high-pitched vocals.

[funkalicious101]

what about any other progressive metal bands?

i seem to like them much more than the other subgenres.

There's an Italian power metal band called Skylark, with a singer that looks like a hotter version of Brittney Spears, and actually sings like a less apathetic version thereof. They have some songs on Myspace, and the basslines are extremely roomy and creative. Check 'em out if you wish.

[Baryonyx]

Forget clean vocals, buy "Remission" by Mastodon, put "Ol'e Nessie" on and cracnk the volume. I pretty much hate metal and even I love Mastodon!

[morf]

Originally Posted by funkalicious101

ok, I checked a couple songs..... and I dont want to sound like a perfectionist or a jerk..... But is that really what passes for clean vocals?

I was more thinking of the long instrumentals without vocals rather than the few songs with vocals.

[ROON]

Ok, clean vocals....

Iced Earth: Dunno what genre you would put them in, I see them as just plain ol' heavy metal. They've got some very different musicial styles. Some tracks sound heavily Roman (see 'Damien' and 'Angels Holocaust'), and others are just plain heavy (see 'Burnt Offerings' and 'Pure Evil').

Edguy: Great power metal band, very popular in their homeland of Germany. High pitched vocals of course, but good! The bass IS there, but it's subtle and not "in yer face". Some good songs to check out are "Frozen Candle" (there is an old, slow pace one which isn't that good, but there is a kickass newer one which is really fast), and "Holy Water".

Down: "Southern Metal"??? I dunno what you'd wanna call them, but they're great. Ex bassist and vocalist of Pantera are in the band. Very 'hate it or love it' type music, as is all metal that comes from NOLA IMO. My fav songs are "Stone the Crow", "Ghosts along the Mississippi" and "Swan Song".

Candlemass: DOOM METAL!!! You've gotta check out these guys. They're really great. Very slow, very heavy, strange gothic/mythical type themes. My fav song is "Bewitched", closely followed by "Solitude".

Type O Negative: Often seen as "not metal", but forget about that, seems only the poser type metalheads say that. They are apparently gothic metal, but they really have their own style. Lots of keyboards, heavy distorted bass and guitar. Most of it is pretty laid back and groovy, check out "Love you to Death" and "Everything Dies".



Let me know if you want any more. I could go on for ages.

[Yngwie 4String]

Lately I have realized that I, for the most part, like metal music when I hear it. As of right now the only metal band I listen to is Dream Theater.

DREAM THEATRE IS PROGRESSIVE HARD ROCK THEY ARE NOT A METAL BAND. WHOEVER TOLD YOU THAT DREAM THEATRE WAS METAL WAS FULL OF IT!! TAKE IT FROM A DUDE WHO LIVES BREATHES AND SLEEPS METAL.

I have checked out some melodic death metal/technical death metal/black metal/prog metal ect. and realized that I am mostly liking this giant genre for the instrumental elements of songs and that I cannot stand music that doesnt have clean vocals (grew up on Rush, Zeppelin and Cream). I also find the metal culture (especially Scandinavian) very interesting.

Try bands in the genre of Melodic Black Metal and you can occasionally get clean vocals or mixed vocals. The Growl is a trademark of Death metal you wont find real death metal without the growl. Embrace the growl.

So can anyone reccomend any metal bands/sub-genres that I should check out that have: good melodic instrumental elements and clean vocals (so no screaming, cookie monster ect). progressive stuff would be nice too.

Metal Genres with Clean Vocals:

Anything termed as operatic/symophonic/or melodic has a chance at clean vocals or a mixture of clean and Screech/Growl vocals-Nightwish w/Tarja Turunen, Cradle of Filth w/ Sarah Jezebel Deva, Paradise Lost, ect

Classic Metal-Sabbath, Deep Purple, and the rest of the old dudes.

NWOBHM (NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL)- Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, ect

Power Metal-Dio, Manowar, Dragonforce, and anyone else who played D&D too much

Doom Metal-Candlemass (I dont listen to much doom metal)

There is more and when I get my Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal out of my car my answers will be a lot better. This will take a while though because my car has a transmission problem and it is at the shop till at least monday. You should consider purchasing this book:

[Yngwie 4String]

Sum41 (the album "Chuck" great variety of hatebreed-style breakdowns, and metallica style thrash)

WHEN IN THE BLUE SKY DID SUM41 BECOME A METAL BAND?!?!

...and to think, back in the day, there was good music and bad music. You simply picked what you liked, listened to it, and called it a day. Now...

[Yngwie 4String]

And now Nightwish, back when they had Tarja Turunen on vocals. This girl can sing yall check it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKf1gTx7qM