OT Metal Thread

I was thinking this thread could be same format as the The OT music Lounge but specific to Metal music.

I visit The OT music Lounge thread a lot and every time I find myself skipping past music I'm not interested in to find a metal recommendations. Metal music is quite popular among gamers, metalheads have a tendency to shun other music genres (not all but some) I'm certainly one of them.

So a metal thread like this would help anyone like me who is always on the lookout to discover new metal music.

Below is the post from the The OT music Lounge thread by @Storm_Marine

I'll go first, had spotify premium for last few months as a part of my Vodafone contract. Its really good for discovering new music.

Currently listening to a metal band called "Anvil" I didn't even know they existed until I seen it appear under my recommendations in spotify. There a thrash metal band that have been around as long as Metallica. This tune is from there debut album "Metal on Metal" its the title track "Metal on Metal"

Its a an odd song, the versus are Heavy Metal, almost Death Metal sounding, then a truly catchy rock n roll style chorus.

yeah that didn't last long

Anyway here's one of my all time favorites. It's just...hypnotic even.

please include links, not videos, so we don't clutter up and bog down the thread.

With that said, I really dig the fuzzy, crunchy stoner metal stuff. The songs are long as hell, but have enough variation in them to be worth it. Some of my recent favorites include:

Earthless it's like one long eargasm for 40+ minutes (link is whole album)

Truckfighters love the drums in this one (it's not particularly good drums, just consistent and heavy), and the part at 4:25 or so is pretty badass.

Witch

Kyuss from the very second this album starts, it just rocks. From the early 90s, you can see how a lot of modern rockers got their sound inspired by them

Fu Manchu oh no, there goes toke-ee-oh! GODZILLA! Love this cover, pretty much a crash-course in the subgenre; slowed down, fuzzy, metal and awesome.

Dozer whole album, start to finish, just rocks.

UFOmammut pretty much an instrumental, this specific song Lacrimosa is just a trip through time and space. Fuzzy, heavy, with changing themes within the song. For some reason this song causes me to experience little doses of adrenaline, not sure why lol

@mrbojangles25: links, good idea thread easier on eyes and loads quicker, its late now but I'll look at your posted links when I've had some sleep

I noticed, I tried to make an effort on each of the posts I made on that thread, I at least said something about the band to attempt to spark discussion or recommendation.

Kamelot - When the Lights Are Down

I've just mainly been listening to Joe Stump for the last couple of months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEWbmBB5AXI

I just learned of Gojira.

lol

@MlauTheDaft: takes a while to get going, song is growing on me though

nice shredding on this \m/

Loved Truckfighters, not heard them before took an instant liking to them. I was already a fan of Kyuss. The other stuff wasnt my thing, I normally want fast paced paced metal, however all depends on the mood im in.

One of my favourite albums of 2015 and a band I'm really starting to like "Five Finger Death Punch, a song from their latest album "Got your Six" really gets me pumped up before playing football or going the gym.

The song is called "Jeckyll & Hyde"

I'm an Enshine fanboy but I recently found Daylight Dies, Ghost Brigade and Swallow The Sun and they're pretty good. Some samples:
A Final Vestige - Daylight Dies

**** this bbcode or whatever gs is using so I'm gonna just post links:
Cathedral Walls by Swallow the Sun : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6W5ScOEv2c
Concealed Revulsions by Ghost brigade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwwLNvkaUi0

I put 'atmosphere' above all in songs.

I like this kind of stuff as well, have you heard of Earthride? Give this a listen, reminds me of old-school Sabbath even though it came out in 2010.

Anyways, has anyone else heard the new Intronaut album The Last Direction of Things? Its a great prog-metal album that gets super jazzy/groovy, i'll link the first song

@MlauTheDaft - I saw these guys Live a couple years ago when they were touring after that album, one of the best metal performances I've ever seen. They have a new album coming out in 2016 which I'm greatly looking forward to

You should check out the whole Post-Metal genre, its very much built around atmosphere.

Neurosis are probably the best known group: Watchfire, To the Wind - quality is slightly rough on those copies, all I could find on youtube

Cult of Luna are my personal favorite: Back to Chapel Town, Vicarious Redemption (this is a 19 minute beast, the first 7 mins are all pretty much atmosphere building)

@thehig1: He's probably become one of my favourite guitarists over that time.

His shredding can get a bit mindless at times, so you really got to listen to several of his albums a number of times.

Does do some nice progressions though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAbUybZ6XTg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNmWdnYAloc

Khomaniac—Artillery

The best thrash song from the best thrash metal album.

wooo, love these guys and this album in particular. Doesn't get nearly enough love

Much of my favorite metal came from a number of (mostly) forgotten Swedish bands from the 90s. They tended to exemplify a certain kind of melodic death (pre-Gothenburg sound) and/or melodic black metal. Bands like Eucharist, Sacramentum, Unanimated, Ceremonial Oath, Vinterland, etc. A few of the more well-known bands created similar music in their earlier days as well, like At the Gates, Dissection, and Dark Tranquillity. I could mention quite a few others, but you'll get the idea if you check any of those links out.

Aside from that style, I'm also a big fan of doom metal, sludge metal, and blackened death metal. If this thread sticks around I'll post more of my favorites randomly.

My Favorite since gamespot is videogames.com

It doesn't help that the album has not had a non-limited re-issue in over a decade.

That's easily my number one problem with metal. Albums go out of print constantly.

Never heard any of this bands material before, only vaguely new the name as they were on of the active metal bands in the 80s when thrash metal was in, listened to a few songs from that album I like so far. I love "Dont Believe"

I can see why you like it, the riffs are really good, as good as anything out there at the time.

Behind thrash metal, Swedish melodic death is one of my Favourite genres, The Gallery by Dark Tranquillity is one of my favourite albums ever. I'll give those other bands you mentioned a listen.

I hope you like them. Some of them lean a little more towards straight death metal, and some of them are hard to like at first because of their low fi sounding recordings, but other than that I think they're quality melodeath. I'm also a big fan of The Gallery, as well as The Mind's I.

I like Eucharist so far, dissolving is really catchy and the shit gets real with double bass in some of the songs, like "Mirrorworlds"

I like "The Minds I" too, I actually like "insanity's Crescendo" the contrast of vocals worked for me.

My second favourite Dark Tranquillity album is probably "Projector" I've not listened to any of their newer albums though

@lensflare15: Also, check this video out, is a misheard lyrics for "Punish My Heaven" the guy got them spot on and it really does sound like it, really funny.

Punish My Heaven

Lol, that was good. "Here's some pervert tea." "We All Want to Play Fowl!" The way he says both is hilarious. Some of the corresponding pictures made it funnier. It's a cool video, especially since Mikael Stanne does pronounce some of his words strangely, and this guy's guesses do sound spot on.

I liked Cult of Luna. Many thanks. Considering that, are you familiar with Ne Obliviscaris? because I think you should.

I never knew you liked Cult of Luna. Definitely one of my favorites too. I'm angry at myself because I was about to see them live but mistook the date they played by one day :(

As for stuff I've been listening to lately... (band link includes sample)

Abysmal Torment - Italian brutal death metal band that sounds really influenced by bands like Disgorge, Human Mincer, Ulcerate, etc. - manages to still maintain a unique sound. Fast, heavy, catch riffs, sick vocals - has everything a good death metal band needs.

Diapsiquir - Crazy french industrial/black punk or metal...I don't really know how to classify these guys. It's like a melting pot of influences. There's even some rap in there. Band reminds me of Peste Noire but this band is a lot more batshit crazy. I'd put up the trailer for their most recent album but it's extremely NSFW with pornographic content and usage of hard drugs - but it captures the atmosphere of their music perfectly. Worth checking out the first track on the album if you haven't heard them.

Circle of Ouroborus - Experimental black metal...has a very shoegazey sound. Lots of neofolk too. Very rich in atmosphere and feeling. Accomplishes sounding absolutely nothing like any other black metal band I'm aware of. Tons of albums... tons of great music...very prolific artists. Been listening to these guys nonstop for years - since their split with Urfaust. I'm going to link a couple songs because the band has a couple of distinct different styles. First song is neofolk and second link is a whole album but I want to link the first song from it so it works all the same.

With Gorguts, Defeated Sanity, and Wormed coming out with albums early next year - should be an amazing year for metal. And I've been expanding my play list with new bands every day. I've got a million phenomenal bands I could recommend, but most are from extreme genres that aren't the most popular here.

Anyone going to any metal concerts any time soon? I'm going to See "Motorhead" at the Manchester Apollo on the 26th January, and I'll be seeing Exodus on the 2nd March at Liverpool academy.

That's unfortunate, they probably don't tour NA very often either.

I mostly avoid black/death metal these days since I mostly listen to music while driving to/from work and I need to remain calm in traffic but Circle of Ourbororus sound pretty refreshing, I'm always amazed at how not-metal sounding some of the albums on that YT channel are.

There are enough shoegaze/black metal bands that its kinda a genre now - blackgaze (the genre name that should never be said out loud). I think Deafheaven is kinda responsible for that since they somehow managed to get mainstream attention, even Rolling Stone review their stuff!

Is this like nu metal or something. Mmm, wonder where the heavy weights of the genre have gone.

Wormphlegm One of my personal favorite doom bands that are no longer around. This song is my favorite of theirs. Be warned it's 29+ minutes long but killer all the way through.

Tesseract - Not sure if this would be considered too weak of metal for some but I have been a long time Tool, Opeth, & Katatonia fan and the new Tesseract album has been pretty enjoyable (not as good as Altered States but still good), I can hear elements of all three of them in it, great driving music right here!

Yes. Lost Paradise, Dopethrone, Rampton, Stream From the Heavens, Earth 2, Psalm 9, Catharsis, and Pentagram, are all in my top 50 albums. I don't like Candlemass, Reverend Bizarre, or Cathedral though.

@doozie78: I'm a fan of Tool, Opeth, and Katatonia. Never heard Tesseract before but I'll check them out.

Also going to see overkill next year in April, they are playing in a venue that holds 400 people?

Had thrash metal really gotten that unpopular outside the big 4.

I mean wow, that's a small show for a band that have been pretty big before.

Yea, it's like not like every day bands from Sweden end up playing here in Seattle. I'll probably be lucky if they ever come back.

Also, if you don't like black or death metal, that's cool and I respect that- but I think it's a bit of a cop-out to say it has anything to do with remaining calm. It really frames music as something that people listen to coincide with moods - which is a bit of shallow way to view music IMO. Reminds me of people thinking that playing violent videogames or watching violent content makes people violent. Listening to black or death metal shouldn't make anybody angry or tense. No more than Cult of Luna, that's for sure. A better way to frame it is that it's an acquired taste that greatly rewards patience and open mindedness - like a huge amount of art out there. Some people want to put in the time to acquire the taste and others do not. I'm the opposite of an angry, aggressive person so it's not like I started listening to metal because I want to be angry or aggressive, which is why I resent any statements alluding to that correlation.

I still find it hard to believe that there are still a decent amount of metal fans that aren't into black or death metal because that's where most of the action is in metal these days. Sort of like an iceberg, the extreme side of metal would be the submerged portion while the more accessible side would be the tip of that iceberg sticking out of the water. The amount of noteworthy extreme metal bands compared to the non-extreme is staggering. Ignoring all those bands is ignoring what makes metal a truly interesting genre. Of course, not everyone has to like the same music (because that'd get boring fast) but I think most weathered metal fans out there lean towards the heavier stuff because that's where the experimentation and musical progression has been occurring for the last couple decades (while "thrash" and regular "heavy metal" bands mostly sound identical to as they did 20+ years ago). The heavy stuff has been getting so good that I believe the group of traditional metal fans are turning into a relatively smaller minority.

As for Deafheaven...the only thing they're responsible for is making black metal more hipster than it needs to be. Concerning shoegazing black metal, Deafheaven isn't the first to do it nor do they even sport that much of a shoegaze sound. I don't think they're a bad band, I listen to them. I applaud that they managed to keep a real(ish) black metal sound while somehow scratching upon the mainstream. But as far as shoegaze elements go they're no Alcest, An Autumn for Crippled Children, or Circle of Ouroborus. If any band is "responsible" for the movement - it's Alcest.

If anyone hasn't listened to Alcest, I recommend checking out this song. It's pretty much as easy-listening, calm, and soothing as black metal gets. I'd even go as far as to say it's more for women than men.

Also, Lantlos Melting Sun is phenomenal shoegaze-infuenced metal. This song is very good and accessible. It's almost as if metal is coming full-circle with releases like this (taking what they learned from black metal and applying it to rock...creating post-rock).

@KHAndAnime: I'm one of those metal fans that isn't really into to black or death, I still can't get enough thrash or heavy metal.

I will listen to some black or death metal but I'm far more picky with those subgenres.

I like graveworm do they count as black metal? and for death metal I like death(obviously they were awesome) and early opeth and sweedish melodic death metal from the 90s.

What would you recommend I try from death and black metal genres who are new and simularish to those bands

There's a couple of Polish bands I came across recently when I was just checking some death metal bands (which I generally don't like much) on YouTube, Vader and Behemoth ("Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer" and "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" from the album The Satanist). These two bands are not really typical, and they hit the spot for me. Vader are kind of death/thrash metal, and Behemoth started out as black metal, evolved over time and are now referred to as "blackened death metal".

One of my all time favourites are My Dying Bride, a very artistic and unique doom metal band. They have a lot variety in their albums, and the vocals are sometimes clean and sometimes death metal style. Mostly clean.

Paradise Lost ("Beneath Broken Earth" from the album The Plague Within) have been described as doom metal too. They've gone into some different styles with some of their albums. I like them all except two - Host and Believe in Nothing. The vocalist even admitted that they didn't know where they were going at the time of those two, and in a dilemma.

Cathedral I find to be a bit boring, and I don't like the vocals for Reverend Bizarre and Candlemass.

Metal was the first genre that really got me into music, my taste is quite diverse now but there are still a few metal bands that I still listen to fairly regularly, with the most prominent being Pavor and Esoteric

Some of my favorite bands are Black Sabbath, White Zombie, Fear Factory (older material), Machine Head (mostly the first 2 albums), Slayer, Testament, Napalm Death, Septic Flesh, Autopsy, Chimaira, Lamb of God, DevilDriver, Gojira, Saxon, Judas Priest, Black Death, Symphony X, Vio-Lence, Aspid, Evile, Down, Crowbar, Mastodon, Black Tusk, Enslaved, (old) Metallica, Megadeth, Crackdust, Demilich, Municipal Waste, etc.

Ah, sweet memories - Motorhead, Metallica, Iron Maiden...late 80s and early 90s, high school... =)