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Hard Rock/Metal Music Recommendations

Xephyr

Xephyr

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Parasoul Filia Eliza
Hey everyone, so my friend recently roped me into doing a radio show for my college so I've been trying to extend my music library. Spotify has been a blessing but there are probably WAY more obscure bands that I don't even know about and are really good. So in any case, here's the kind of music I enjoy!
-TOOL
-Rush
-Avantasia
-Porcupine Tree
-Dream Theater
-Edguy
-Jorn Lande
-Symphony X
-Nightwish
-Chevelle
-Buckethead
-Opeth
Just to name a few. I guess I like either heavy progressive metal, power metal, or symphonic metal to put it into perspective. Too much growling/screaming and random instrument hitting like most "hardcore" bands REALLY puts me off. Like I can't handle stuff like The Faceless, look them up and within 5 seconds you'll get what I mean.
Any recommendations are appreciated, I really need to extend my knowledge and library if I'm gonna go through with this whole radio thing, thanks guys!
 
Just to name a few:

Halestorm, Five Finger Death Punch (they can get growly but their slower symphonic stuff is really good), Foo Fighters (duh), Muse (if you're really into progressive rock), Silversun Pickups, just a few I listen to a lot. I'm sure people more versed in music than me can answer this better.
 
I gotta say I don't like Five Finger, tried em before since my friends are into bands like that...(Atreyu, August Burns Red, ect.). Have the rest except for Hailstorm, kinda looked over them, they're even from around my area haha
 
Might be a strange recommendation as they're not "really" heavy metal, but try Thin Lizzy if you'd be interested in some really oldschool early proto-metal type rock that needs more love. Iron Maiden sighted them as a heavy influence (oh yeah, listen to Iron Maiden if you haven't already).

The cool thing about the band is that they tend to be all over the place with style. From classic rock and roll, to light melodies, to some stuff that just smokes of oldschool pre-metal.


^^^ Good example of the more heavy metal-ish type stuff.


A more lighter sound.

If you like power metal, definitely listen to Dio. Everything on Holy Diver is awesome, and I'm one of the few who vastly prefers him to Ozzy in Black Sabbath.
 
Emerald is one I haven't heard of before, obviously have tons of Iron Maiden and yes Dio is a god among men. Thin Lizzy is obviously very good as well, I know most of the mainstream stuff =D
 
Just generally it seems you have more prog and experimental tastes. Try some Mastodon particularly every album after Crack the Skye and Crack the Skye itself. Also Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad. Maybe High on Fire.
 
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I see Opeth in your list. Try Augury or Atheist. Both are from the same genre. And if you only want to listen a similar voice to Akerfeldt's, Bloodbath is your choice

Also, listen to Ayreon. There is a lot of monsters in that project

And try to listen Devil Doll, if you're going deeper into the dark progressive rock. This is a really rare band with unique music that touches the gothic style

But if you don't feel like it, look for iamthemorning. It's a new progressive rock band, but their work is beautiful
 
I'll second Mastodon, they're pretty good. Also good on you for actually liking Porcupine Tree, I've gone through their whole discography several times and still can't get into them...oh well, guess they're not really my thing :P

Anyways, I'll try making a few suggestions. Arch Enemy is a melodic death metal band that I really like. Not sure how you feel about death metal in general, but their instrumentation is really solid and their vocals are good as well. Not many metal bands have such strong leading female vocalists. I'd also suggest DevilDriver. I like them because not only are their songs well composed and distinctly memorable (unlike a lot of generic-as-hell metal), but I think a lot of their lyrics are actually really good.

Also, I suppose you could give Baroness a try. I know you said you don't really like random screaming and instrumentation and neither do I, which is why I personally don't like Baroness. Even still, I know some people that like them and the group has a few songs that I enjoy along with some interesting qualities to their music, so I feel it's worth at least giving them a quick listen.
 
Cynic, Ensiferum, Slough Feg, Arcturus, In flames

e/ links:






 
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Okay so time to sift through all these, thanks to all:
Humdinger:
New Mastodon - Thanks man, I only ever listened to their old stuff and didn't like it. Cheers.
Devin Townsend - Skipped over him, thanks for telling me not to.
Strapping Young Lad - I'll have to listen to a full album, I like them but I wanna see if they're REALLY good.

/V/ice~:
Augury is a bit heavy for my taste, can't handle the drums. It's a shame because I enjoy some parts but not all of it. Atheist is a bit closer, I'll have to listen to an album. Opeth is a weird taste of mine since they are really the only "growl band" that I can stand normally.
Already heard of Ayeron, they're great.
iamthemorning is gonna be some studying music, I feel like I'll like it.

Skullmageddon:
Arch Enemy - Very on the fence. Like you said, not a fan of the singing right off the bat but the instrumental composition is pretty top notch on some songs. I'll have to listen to more if I can deal with the singing.
I'll have to listen to Baroness closer, since every song I got from them had no screaming, kinda dug the progressive instrumental feel.

Dag:
Have Cynic, they're awesome.
Ensiferum? You may have found another folk influenced power metal group I actually enjoy. There aren't many.
Slough Feg sounds freaking awesome. Any band that has a 10+ minute song on any of their albums deserves my attention most of the time.
Arcturus...hopefully I can get past the guy's singing. It's absolutely awesome otherwise. It grates on me for some reason.

Yes, I did actually listen to parts of all these bands, by the way.
 
Baroness is a heavily instrumental band so I'm not too surprised that you weren't put off from the vocals. It's that heavy progressive side of them that I actually like, which is why I still listen to them occasionally. I basically just skip all of the songs that have a lot of vocals :)

Dagwood suggested In Flames, which is another band that I would personally second. I haven't listened to them in a while, but I used to listen to them a decent bit back in the day.
 
Skullmageddon said:
Dagwood suggested In Flames, which is another band that I would personally second. I haven't listened to them in a while, but I used to listen to them a decent bit back in the day.

Looks like they went soft in their latest release and people hate them now. It sounds kinda boring and generic so I can see that. They might be a biiit too hardcore genre for me, sorry if that isn't actually right I'm terrible with the genres of metal since they're all mixed up and intertwined. They're not bad but they're not exactly my style.
 
I'd suggest: Megadeth, Angra, Nevermore, Rage, Lamb of God.
And this is one of my favourite intros ever

If you like also Instrumental Rock/Metal, check Kiko Lourerio, Jeff Loomis, Malmsteen, Viktor Smolski, Animal As Leader.

Edit: I've just remembered a good prog project, it's called Star One
 
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Kuro Val Enix said:
I'd suggest: Megadeth, Angra, Nevermore, Rage, Lamb of God.
Already have quite a bit of Megadeth, it's hit or miss for me. Good call on Angra. Rage sounds a bit generic to me I'll have to listen to more. Nevermore is pretty sick I'll have to find some tracks I like, I like what I hear so far though. Lamb of God was always a little bit to yelly and hardcore for me but going back to them they're not TOO bad. I guess I just like more laid back metal rather than the aggressive AAAAAA all the time, since I love Tool so much.

Those instrumentals though? Great. Just great. Already had Animal As Leader, thanks for Lourerio and Loomis. Star One is a bit TOO prog for me I think XD
 
Xephyr said:
Already have quite a bit of Megadeth, it's hit or miss for me. Good call on Angra. Rage sounds a bit generic to me I'll have to listen to more. Nevermore is pretty sick I'll have to find some tracks I like, I like what I hear so far though. Lamb of God was always a little bit to yelly and hardcore for me but going back to them they're not TOO bad. I guess I just like more laid back metal rather than the aggressive AAAAAA all the time, since I love Tool so much.

Those instrumentals though? Great. Just great. Already had Animal As Leader, thanks for Lourerio and Loomis. Star One is a bit TOO prog for me I think XD

Try also these if you don't know them: Galneryus (The Awakening is a nice song), Sonata Arctica (I assume you know them already, if you don't go check 'em). Some other random names could be Impellitteri, Michael Angelo Batio, Vinnie Moore, Warrel Dane (Nevermore Singer in his solo project), Conquering Dystopia (Jeff Loomis on another project).

Also Trans Siberian Orchestra makes nice things
 
Xephyr said:
Looks like they went soft in their latest release and people hate them now. It sounds kinda boring and generic so I can see that. They might be a biiit too hardcore genre for me, sorry if that isn't actually right I'm terrible with the genres of metal since they're all mixed up and intertwined. They're not bad but they're not exactly my style.

Yea they kinda sold out with their new style, but have great old stuff




as for the "not liking the harsh vocals thing" we've all been there, brother. I used to only listen to metal like tool, metallica, dream theater etc, and I hated growl vocals, but still loved the guitar work of said bands. No one likes the vocals at first, it's an acquired taste.
I used to think stuff like Black metal/Death metal was horrid and me and my friends joked and made fun of it all the time, but now it's pretty much all I listen to. So id say give it a chance.
 
Beuzer0 said:
This is good Heavy Metal shit: Jason Newsted
Damn, that IS some pretty good shit.

Dagwood said:
So id say give it a chance.
I really do give it a chance, like I stumbled upon Gojira when I first started this radio thing and I actually really liked them through the vocals. There are bands I like with the black/death metal vocals, but it's very hit and miss. I think most of the time it's just that the guttural screaming is twice as loud as ANYTHING else, it just doesn't have balance in my opinion. Bands like Opeth and Gojira have their vocals balanced so it's more smooth and in the background.
 
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the fact that no one has said Volbeat yet makes me sad

 
alexpi said:
the fact that no one has said Volbeat yet makes me sad
I feel like I've heard this song somewhere before. This particular song is a bit too poppy for me to REALLY dig it but it's really good nonetheless. I'd just get bored of it really fast I think. Checking their other songs though they have potential for me.
 
Xephyr said:
/V/ice~:
Augury is a bit heavy for my taste, can't handle the drums. It's a shame because I enjoy some parts but not all of it. Atheist is a bit closer, I'll have to listen to an album. Opeth is a weird taste of mine since they are really the only "growl band" that I can stand normally.
Already heard of Ayeron, they're great.
iamthemorning is gonna be some studying music, I feel like I'll like it.

Oh, ok, but did you listen to Devil Doll too? I would love some input on that

Also, I forgot to mention you the other projects where Dream Theater members had been, like Chroma Key, O.S.I., Liquid Tension Experiment, Transatlantic or Planet X

And if you're going for Transatlantic, try Neal Morse's solo music too

Now, if you're going for really odd music, check Mr. Bungle

Check out Within Temptation if you haven't yet. I didn't see Nightwish on your list until today. If you're going for more stuff like this, Stratovarious and Sonata Arctica are good, but I like more Cain's Offering, even though they have only one album
 
/V/ice~ said:
Oh, ok, but did you listen to Devil Doll too? I would love some input on that
It's definitely not what I expected. I got put off by the little bit that I listened to, but I'm going back and listening to more now. They do have a nice style and the woman's voice is pretty dang good. Going off of their most recent album, I dig tracks like "The One Who Got Away", "Man In Black". "The Curse" is a blatant ripoff of an Elvis Presley song haha...I dunno if they tried that or not but yeah. I didn't get a lot out of the rest of the tracks. I think the first album is a LOT better than this one, The Return of Eve seems to have a lot of country influences which I can't get behind. If you meant the first album then what they do is very solid.

I've listened to most of DT's side projects, they're okay at best for me, can't really get into them.

Within Temptation...I have problems liking other Symphonic Metal Bands other than Nightwish for some reason. There are very few that I can stand, they have ticks for me. They're either too over the top, the male singer can't sing to save his life, or the composition just doesn't work for me compared to Nightwish, I find most of it boring. And yeah I have some Straovarious, they're okay, Sonata Arctica are solid, and I think I have that Cain's Offering album lying around somewhere in Itunes/Spotify, I'll have to go and check it out.
 

The etid song i chose has a bit of singing but most of their stuff is pretty hard rock


one thing i particularly like about this band is that every song sounds pretty different



Also if you really enjoy tool, might i suggest a perfect circle and purcifer and i'm trying to remember all my other stuff, but it's really nice to see someone like porcupine tree
 
agent13 said:
one thing i particularly like about this band is that every song sounds pretty different
This is WAY too all over the place for me. I'm obviously not attacking your tastes, but this song is the reason why I don't like most "modern hardcore" music or whatever you classify it as. It seems so random, so all over the place, I don't get a "rush" from it being aggressive and in your face like some people do. Very interesting when it slowed down towards the end though, I dug that.

Other than that Every Time I Die sounds a bit similar to other stuff I have and I prefer that stuff over this, like Clutch or Chevelle. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

Other than that I'll have to look into Mars Volta a bit more, I've heard of them before but never checked them out. From that track alone I'm on the fence.

And yup already have all of my Perfect Circle and Puscifer covered =D
 
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Xephyr said:
Damn, that IS some pretty good shit.


I really do give it a chance, like I stumbled upon Gojira when I first started this radio thing and I actually really liked them through the vocals. There are bands I like with the black/death metal vocals, but it's very hit and miss. I think most of the time it's just that the guttural screaming is twice as loud as ANYTHING else, it just doesn't have balance in my opinion. Bands like Opeth and Gojira have their vocals balanced so it's more smooth and in the background.

personally I think Opeth is mediocre aside from a few songs.. I like Bloodbath much more than opeth. So if you like Mikael Akerfeldt's vocals go check them out.
 
Dagwood said:
personally I think Opeth is mediocre aside from a few songs..
I just like the melodic and dark minors I guess, I can easily listen to almost any Opeth album through and through. Listening to Bloodbath again though they'll probably grow on me, thanks.
 
Have you tried Agalloch? Very good prog metal with some black vocal. I'd recommend their albums Ashes Against The Grain and Marrow of the Spirit. The Mantle is also very good but not very metal-y. Haven't listen to their new album very thoroughly yet so I can't recommend it yet.
 
I recommend trying Devin Townsend's solo work. He has a ton of albums, and they're usually not too similar, so there's plenty to choose from and appreciate. Try "Juular", "Earth Day" and "Universe in a Ball!" for a decent sample of his more aggressive stuff.

And Mastodon is great.
 
Chrono_Tata said:
Have you tried Agalloch?
I actually have listened to most of Marrow of the Spirit, I don't think I could quite get through the whole thing at the time, something turned me off.

Yallus said:
Devin Townsend's solo work
Some guy already suggested this and his stuff is great. I somehow had an album of The Devin Townsend Project but not any of his solo albums, dunno how that works.
 
It all counts. The Devin Townsend Band, the Devin Townsend Project and just Devin Townsend are all artist names where he does most of the music (not the drums) and then just has his pals play it with him live.
 
Xephyr said:
I actually have listened to most of Marrow of the Spirit, I don't think I could quite get through the whole thing at the time, something turned me off.
Oh that's a shame. Marrow of the Spirit is a pretty slow-burning album so that might be why. If you ever feel like giving them another go maybe try Ashes Against The Grain. It's a bit of a faster and more engaging album.

Another good band to recommend off the top of my head is Alcest. Apparently it's "shoegaze metal" but I have absolutely no idea what that term means. They sound good though. :p
 
Chrono_Tata said:
Another good band to recommend off the top of my head is Alcest.
Would you suggest Les Voyages de L'ame over Shelter? Shelter seems kinda dull compared to Les Voyages from me listening for about a minute.

And yeah I'll probably give Agalloch another shot at some point. Have to be in the right mood.
 
Xephyr said:
Would you suggest Les Voyages de L'ame over Shelter? Shelter seems kinda dull compared to Les Voyages from me listening for about a minute.

And yeah I'll probably give Agalloch another shot at some point. Have to be in the right mood.
Hmm, again Shelter is relatively new so I haven't had much of a chance to listen to it thoroughly enough to compare it properly to Les Voyage (ever since I started work I haven't had as much time to sit down and listen to whole albums like I did when I was in school), but I can definitely highly recommend Les Voyage.
 
Alcest is such a mediocre band, though, especially compared to French contemporaries like Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega. Very poor representation of black metal, if it can even be called that.

And Marrow Of The Spirit is by far Agalloch's weakest album; if you want a good representation of the band, try The Mantle or Ashes Against The Grain.

Aside from that, try something from the new wave of thrash metal:

 
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Witchfinder said:
Aside from that, try something from the new wave of thrash metal:
After listening to all of em, can't call me a fan. I'm really glad people are posting stuff like this, I always wanna expand my tastes even though it takes a while for me. I dig Lazarus and Vektor, everything else sounds kinda same-y to me, didn't hold my interest. I'm just finding that I like a solid, laid back riff instead of thrash/speed guitars/drumming, I just can't get into it if it all this sound is just coming at me at once with no real and distinct harmony and layering.

Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega miiiight be 2hardcore5me for right now but I'm definitely giving them a chance in the future. I dig Deathspell Omega more than Blut right now. Thanks for the deep cuts though man, appreciate it.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't call Alcest a black metal band. They do have some black influence but that's about it. (From a quick Google apparently they used to play black metal in the early days? Never listened to their early stuff though.) Admittedly I'm not very well-versed in the French metal scene (I think Gojira and Alcest are the only ones I am familiar with) so I'll definitely check out those 2 bands myself when I get home.
 
(Just want to point out that nothing that has been mentioned in this thread or posted could even remotely be described as hardcore in any way shape or form in any universe. Hardcore is a genre of punk music, not rock or metal. Yes, I am aware that pointing this out makes me look like a douche lolol)

Not sure if you'd like much of the metal that I listen to since I mostly listen to metal with harsh vocals. You might like some Doom Metal, since if I'm not mistaken you said that you don't like faster tempo stuff and a lot of Doom Metal has really long songs (especially the genre Funeral Doom.) But other than early Doom Metal which isn't my personal cup of tea, most of it has harsh vocals; at least what I listen to.

Here's two of my favorite bands, they're both Goth/Doom Metal (most Goth/Doom Metal has growled vocals though):




Just a quick edit: I should've specified more specifically that Type O Negative is my favorite band of all time. Hands down. Not JUST one of my favorites
 
Icky said:
Here's two of my favorite bands
Don't worry about being a douche, I'm terrible with music classifications and I admit it. My friends listen to a lot of "hardcore" but after a while it starts sounding the same as other stuff yadayada. It gets rough haha. I'm getting better at it though.

As for this stuff...Listened to both of em the entire way through...Gonna have to listen to an album of Type-O-Negative. I'm a big fan of Jorn/Russell Allen vocal styles, so this is basically right up my alley.
Definitely prefer them over Woods of Ypres but I enjoyed them as well. I have a strange taste where I love slower stuff as in very riff focused, slow headbanging, chilling out style like the bands I listed in the first post, but I also like stuff to HAPPEN, not just chug along like I've heard other Doom Metal do. These two tracks are pretty damn good though, exceeded my expectations.
 
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