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[Giant Robot]

Probably 10-15 essential metal albums.

i'll play too with my 2 favorite genres:

Death Metal:
Carcass- Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious
Carcass- Symphonies of Sickness (grind/death)
Carcass- Heartwork
Carnage- Dark Recollections (Godfathers of Stockholm Swedish death metal)
Entombed- Clandestine (Godfathers of Stockholm Swedish death metal)
Entombed- Left Hand Path (Godfathers of Stockholm Swedish death metal)
Dismember- Like An Ever Flowing Stream (Godfathers of Stockholm Swedish death metal)
Death- Leprosy
Death- Human
Autopsy- Mental Funeral (this is absolutely fucking essential)
Autopsy- Severed Survival
Pestilence- Consvming Impvlse
Asphyx- The Rack
Obituary- Cause of Death (their best compliments of James Murphy, everything else fucking sucks)
Morbid Angel- Altars Of Madness

Thrash Metal:
Vio-Lence- Eternal Nightmare (Bay Area thrash!)
Megadeth- Rust In Peace
Slayer- Haunting The Chapel ep
Slayer- Hell Awaits
Forbidden- Forbidden Evil (Bay Area thrash!)
Testament- The Legacy (Bay Area thrash!)
Sadus- Chemical Illusions (Bay Area thrash!)
Exodus- Bonded By Blood (Bay Area thrash!)
Kreator- Pleasure To Kill (German thrash!)
Kreator- Extreme Aggression (German thrash!)
Sodom- Agent Orange (German thrash!)
Sodom- Persecution Mania (German thrash!)
Sabbat (from the UK)- Dreamweaver (British thrash!)
Onslaught- Power From Hell (British thrash!)
Razor- Violent Restitution (Canadian thrash!)
Overkill- Feel The Fire
Atrophy- Violent By Nature
Voivod (very very out there and not typical, but usually falls within)- Killing Technology

 

[SaggyMonkey]

For the "top"albums, i'll have to give it some more thought and come back later...

But just to answer the "bands sorta like Opeth" question, you should check out Adytum http://www.myspace.com/adytumband and Novembers Doom http://www.myspace.com/novembersdoom

And for good measure (even though different), check out Agalloch http://www.myspace.com/agalloch

 

[SaggyMonkey]

Wolves dropped out of the tour, unfortunately. Clouds, Nachtmystium and Lair of the Minotaur are taking over -- naturally, the one I'm least interested in (Nachtmystium) is tagging along for the Montreal show I'll probably be at. Argh! I'd have loved to see LotM, who come on the week after, or even Clouds, who are pretty kickass.

Nachtmystium puts on a pretty good live show, actually. You could be surprised.

 

[soakrates]

Death, black and thrash have already been covered, so here are some great prog and power metal albums for you to check out.

Prog:
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Dream Theater - Awake
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Still Life
Symphony-X - Twilight in Olympus
Sieges Even - Sophisticated
Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic : Calling
Zero Hour - The Towers of Avarice
Zero Hour - Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element Part I (even though I don't really consider them metal)
Hammers of Misfortune - The Locust Years (sounds like prog-metal circa 1983, and it rules)

Power:
Angra - Holy Land
Angra - Rebirth
Angra - Temple of Shadows
Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Gamma Ray - Land of the Free
Gamma Ray - Somewhere Out in Space
Kamelot - The Black Halo
Kamelot - Karma
Kamelot - Epica
Slough Feg - Traveller
Slough Feg - Down Among the Deadmen

Other recommendations I can't be bothered to categorize:
Devin Townsend - Terria (probably my favorite album of all time)
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech
Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
Arcturus - La Masquerde Infernale (quite bizarre, however...would recommend checking out Sham Mirrors first)

erp, looks like power was already kinda covered, but oh well

 

[Flynn]

fuck.
same could be said for Sunn O))) Soooo amazing on record, snoozefest at shows.
i would be bored to fuck at an Earth or Sunn O))) show.

I was totally transfixed by Sun O))) -- I totally got lost in my head. They performed a bunch of songs from Altar with Boris, so maybe that helped make the show more fun. The theater they played in was super dark too -- so it felt like their amps were on the edge of an abyss. I put this show down as one of my most interesting music experiences.

 

[OmegaDragon]

Thanks for the list Phobophile, I'll try to locate Demiurg and Torche.

Regarding Opeth-like bands, most Opeth fans I know also like the following:

Katatonia - Brave Murder Day and Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Anathema - Eternity, Alternative 4 and Judgement
Novembre if you like Novembers Doom
Ghost Brigade if you like Katatonia and Anathema

Black Metal:
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
Summoning - Oath Bound
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

That's a really nice list, though I prefer Summoning's Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame or Dol Guldur.

Some more:
Agalloch - The Mantle (doomy folk)
Bathory - Blood Fire Death (black)
Borknagar - Empiricism (proggish black)
Death - The Sound of Perseverance (prog)
Enslaved - Below the Lights (proggish black)
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (doom)
Ensiferum - Ensiferum (pagan/viking/whatever they call it)
Evergrey - Recreation Day (prog/power)
My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World (doom)
Primordial - To The Nameless Dead (doom/folk)

 

[Green Shinobi]

Well, I got started on the list.

Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is amazing. It's so over the top and bombastic, but I love it.

Also, Opeth's "Deliverance" might just be the greatest album of the 21st century. What are some other albums that I would like if I love this album?

 

[muntersaur]

Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (doom)

I highly recommend Candlemass. If you like them also check out:

Trouble - The Skull
Solitude Aeturnus - Beyond the Crimson Horizon
Pentagram - Turn to Stone
Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre
Saint Vitus - V
Goatsnake - Flowers of Disease
Isole - Forevermore

 

[Green Shinobi]

What exactly is doom? I think I've gotten a handle on thrash, prog, black, death and power. How does doom differ from other subgenres?

 

[muntersaur]

Doom is basically Black Sabbath style metal. Slow tempo + groove/stoner based. I have recommended you trad/epic doom metal with clean vocals but you can get doom metal with death metal style vocals.

 

[Giant Robot]

I highly recommend Candlemass. If you like them also check out:

Trouble - The Skull
Solitude Aeturnus - Beyond the Crimson Horizon
Pentagram - Turn to Stone
Cathedral - The Carnival Bizarre
Saint Vitus - V
Goatsnake - Flowers of Disease
Isole - Forevermore

bows down.

 

[Phobophile]

Doom is basically Black Sabbath style metal. Slow tempo + groove/stoner based. I have recommended you trad/epic doom metal with clean vocals but you can get doom metal with death metal style vocals.

Death doom isn't just doom with death vox. It's instrumentally a hybrid of death metal and doom. Remember, vocals don't define a genre, just characterize them.

 

[twilitesparklemotion]

Hatebreeder. Hatebreeder? Why yes, Hatebreeder. Here's a picture to drive home the point.

Hatebreeder!

 

[Des0lar]

Well, I got started on the list.

Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is amazing. It's so over the top and bombastic, but I love it.

Also, Opeth's "Deliverance" might just be the greatest album of the 21st century. What are some other albums that I would like if I love this album?

If you like Blind Guardian, get their "Imaginations from the other side" album asap!
Also try Demons and Wizards since it's basically Iced Earth + Blind Guardian

 

[Ravager61]

Well, I got started on the list.

Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is amazing. It's so over the top and bombastic, but I love it.

Also, Opeth's "Deliverance" might just be the greatest album of the 21st century. What are some other albums that I would like if I love this album?

If you like Blind Guardian, get their "Imaginations from the other side" album asap!

Yes, Imaginations from the Other Side is also amazing. I highly recommend it if you enjoy NiME. As for releases similar to Deliverence, Im gonna recommend you check out Death's Symbolic album. It doesnt sound all that similar to Opeth but it is progressive death metal that is awesome and easy to get into. I think you'll like it.

 

[muntersaur]

Death doom isn't just doom with death vox. It's instrumentally a hybrid of death metal and doom. Remember, vocals don't define a genre, just characterize them.

I was not talking about death doom specifically (eg. funeral doom); I was making a distinction between doom metal with clean vocals and doom metal with growls.

 

[yacobod]

i'm going to disagree with the recommendations Nightfall in Middle Earth and Imaginations

i prefer older BG, i think overall Tales from the Twilight World is my favorite

Traveler in Time
Welcome to Dying
Lost in the Twilight Hall
The Last Candle
Run for the Night

just an epic speed/power metal album

Blind Guardian prior to Imaginations is a very different band, much better imo, should check it out

 

[Giant Robot]

just received the new Billboard magazine at work today:

40 fucking pages dedicated to Iron Maiden. thats right fuckers. hopefully gonna go see them next week.
UP THE IRONS!

 

[Phobophile]

Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters

American Black Metal (the only good bm band to come from the us)

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. You clearly haven't heard Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, Absu, (some) Xasthur, Averse Sefira, Weakling (the band WITTR ripped off of), Grand Belial's Key, Negative Plane, and more.

Also, I finally checked out Witchfinder General's first LP, Death Penalty, after having it on my to do list for the longest time. This shit is rocking my face off and is the type of doom/heavy metal I've been in the mood for the past several weeks.

 

[Daddy'sGun]

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. You clearly haven't heard Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, Absu, (some) Xasthur, Averse Sefira, Weakling (the band WITTR ripped off of), Grand Belial's Key, Negative Plane, and more.

Also, I finally checked out Witchfinder General's first LP, Death Penalty, after having it on my to do list for the longest time. This shit is rocking my face off and is the type of doom/heavy metal I've been in the mood for the past several weeks.

very fair. Lurker of chalice, Leviathan, Absu, Xasthur, and GBK are all really good bands. and yes i've heard them. Now thag i think about it Nachtmystium and Velvet Cacoon are sick ABM bands as well. WITTR is awesome though and highly reccomended from myself

 

[Giant Robot]

just got some Bongripper albums:

:lol

such a fucking awesome band. Sludge/Stoner/Doom/Drone and gets a little experimental-post metal at times. Soooooooooooooooo good.

http://www.myspace.com/bongripper

 

[perryfarrell]

I just watched a recent documentary called 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'. It is well done, I recommend it! Lots of interviews, live footage of some huge German metal festival, good stuff.

 

[Ceres]

I just watched a recent documentary called 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'. It is well done, I recommend it! Lots of interviews, live footage of some huge German metal festival, good stuff.

I bought the DVD long ago and still have yet to watch it. I'm really bad about buying concert DVDs and never even taking them out of the shink wrap, too.

 

[Korranator]

Wow, lot's of bands to catch up on that I missed over the years.

A few I picked up already thanks to this thread:


Misery Index - Discordia - loving it. Pure adrenaline

Solefald - various songs from their last 4 albums -amazing, can hear lots of influence from bands like King Crimson, Peter Murphy, and Christan Death style vocals. Lots of creativity. great stuff highly recomended

Symphony-X - Twilight in Olympus - clean and catchy sounds with high tech symphonic sounds. addictive

Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors - easily the best of the bunch. Nothing else like it.

Amon Amarth - With Odin on our Side - simply rocking.

 

[Xater]

Well went out totday and bought some new stuff:

The Watershed special edition is nice. 3 bonus tracks and the whole album in 5.1. FUCK YEAH!

 

[Giant Robot]

wow, I am still in awe and came my pants that I just saw Iron Maiden last night in Concord, CA. Been almost 8 years or so when Bruce/Adrian came back into the band for the Brave New World tour. Was all the way up front, floor level, about 1 person between me and the rest of the band. SO AWESOME! Their energy, the crowd energy, the setlist, the stage props, everything was so well done. My ears are still ringing, i got kicked in the face, and im still starstruck that i was 5 feet away from Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, and Dave Murray. Man, its either you dont know/like Maiden or you are DIE HARD about them, and that was the vibe from the floor. Friggin die hard Maiden fans. Loved every minute of it

the setlist was just like what was posted in the same order:
(Churchill intro)
Aces High
Two Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
Number of the Beast
Can I Play with Madness
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name

crappy cell phone pic:

 

[Xater]

iron maiden stuff

I hate you!

They are only playing at Wacken in Germany

 

[Ravager61]

I hate you!

They are only playing at Wacken in Germany

Yeah but... you can go to Wacken which would be amazing. Americans don't get to go to these awesome metal festivals. All we get in the summer his Hot Topic tours and Ozzfest.

 

[Baker]

Concerning the Chimaira/Dethklok tour next month:

Does anybody know if more dates are going to be added? It's a pain in the ass to get to Chicago...

 

[Xater]

Yeah but... you can go to Wacken which would be amazing. Americans don't get to go to these awesome metal festivals. All we get in the summer his Hot Topic tours and Ozzfest.

But Wacken is already sold out and kinda expensive for me.

 

[PrinceAdam]

Bonded by blood's new album comes out tomorrow and venom's on Tuesday

 

[Phobophile]

Yeah but... you can go to Wacken which would be amazing. Americans don't get to go to these awesome metal festivals. All we get in the summer his Hot Topic tours and Ozzfest.

Fuck Wacken and fuck music festivals in general.

 

[Giant Robot]

Fuck Wacken and fuck music festivals in general.

true, buck fucking Maiden and Carcass together!!!

fuuuuuuuuuck.

 

[NameGenerated]

Saw Maiden 2 nights ago in Maryland. The show was fucking incredible, they still have after almost 30 years. I don't have any pictures right now because my phone's camera is a piece of crap but my friend took some. Best show ever. Best band ever.

 

[Laguna X]

Saw Maiden 2 nights ago in Maryland. The show was fucking incredible, they still have after almost 30 years. I don't have any pictures right now because my phone's camera is a piece of crap but my friend took some. Best show ever. Best band ever.

It's amazing that Iron Maiden can still kick ass these days. Bruce will be turning fifty in August and he's the youngest guy in the group. UP THE IRONS!

 

[Ravager61]

Bumping this thread to mention this amazing album

Warning - Watching From A Distance

By far my favorite doom metal album. The second half of the song Footprints is the best thing ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=774GvRN2yKk

 

[I_D]

hopefully gonna go see them next week.
UP THE IRONS!

Did you ever go to see them?

I saw them in 2005 and it was an AMAZING show.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

while this thread is here

I'm listening to the new Iced Earth album and it's very solid. Like the last one it took a few listens to grow on me, but I think it's a little better than it. Barlow sounds in top form here unsurprisingly, and he alone pretty much makes this album superior.
Very epic sounding as expected.

That being said, I kind of hope they drop this storyline thing for their next album. I want a return to the days of Burnt Offerings, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Two other albums I listened to are: Machine Head - The Blackening, and DevilDriver - The Last Kind Words

The Blackening is... amazing. I really love it.

Devildriver's album is pretty good too. A lot of it kind of blurs together, but a few tracks stand out. IE: Head on to Heartache (Let Them Rot), Clouds Over California, and These Fighting Words

 

[Ravager61]

Two other albums I listened to are: Machine Head - The Blackening, and DevilDriver - The Last Kind Words

The Blackening is... amazing. I really love it.

Devildriver's album is pretty good too. A lot of it kind of blurs together, but a few tracks stand out. IE: Head on to Heartache (Let Them Rot), Clouds Over California, and These Fighting Words

The Blackening is solid. Not the best album ever but its a good release. Devil Driver on the other hand.... lets just say I have no love for this band at all.

 

[NameGenerated]

I've gotten quite a few albums this past month soo yeah....

Children of Bodom-Stockholm Knockout Live: What is there to say. It's Bodom, one of my favorite bands, and it's live. Great album for fans. Also I'm going to see them the 12th with Between the Buried and Me. Should be awesome.

Korpiklaani-Korven Kuningas: I kind of bought this on a whim from Best Buy (surprised to see it there) after hearing a couple of their other songs. It's definitely a different kind of sound than anything else in my collection, I like it, going to listen to it again pretty soon.

Death-Human: Death is another one of my favorite bands and this CD is great, definitely very different from Symbolic an Sound of Perseverance but still awesome.

Baroness-Red Album: Awesome album, reminds of Mastodon mixed with The Sword.

Dimmu Borgir-Stormblast MMV: Like Korpiklaani I had only heard a couple of Dimmu Borgir's songs and so far I like this album, gotta listen to it again though.

Meshuggah-Catch ThirtyThree: I love Meshuggah and this CD makes me love them even more, I just wish this giant song wasn't split up on the CD, makes shuffle mode on my iPod useless for it.

Meshuggah-Chaosphere: Just got this earlier today and I haven't listened to it yet but I will soon. Hope it's good

 

[fistfulofmetal]

Devil Driver on the other hand.... lets just say I have no love for this band at all.

Have you listened to their newest album? I've read that it's their first album to incorporate death metal influences and is fairly different than their previous work. I haven't actually listened to those older albums, so I can't confirm it, though.

Korpiklaani-Korven Kuningas: I kind of bought this on a whim from Best Buy (surprised to see it there) after hearing a couple of their other songs. It's definitely a different kind of sound than anything else in my collection, I like it, going to listen to it again pretty soon.

Go listen to Tales Along This Road, it's really great.
Really, all their music is great.

and I just found out that Falconer is releasing a new album later this month, awesome.

 

[Ravager61]

Have you listened to their newest album? I've read that it's their first album to incorporate death metal influences and is fairly different than their previous work. I haven't actually listened to those older albums, so I can't confirm it, though.

Im pretty sure ive heard some stuff off their newest album. Everything ive heard from them just seems kind of bland and uninteresting.

 

[Giant Robot]

Did you ever go to see them?

I saw them in 2005 and it was an AMAZING show.

yes i did. I saw them quite a few times years ago, but this was by far my favorite. Mostly because of the setlist and being a few feet away from the stage. In fact, a few posts above you i gave a mini review and their setlist :lol


been listening to a lot of Unleashed and new Cult of Luna lately.

also drove 800 miles, 2 shows, 2 different venues, in 24 hours to see Boris/Torche a couple weeks ago!

 

[Woffls]

Really into my metal at the moment, but I'm always looking for new stuff to listen to, vaguely along the lines of the following. And I know I should listen to Tool

Power Metal
DragonForce
Sonata Arctica
Firewind
Dark Moor
Stratovarius

Death Metal
Children of Bodom

Thrash Metal
Pantera
Anthrax
Slayer
Raintime

Prog Metal
Dream Theater
Opeth
Liquid Tension Experiment

Heavy Metal
Metallica
Megadeth
Helloween

'Nu Metal'
In Flames
Disturbed
Avenged Sevenfold
Bullet For My Valentine

Metal
Black Sabbath
Judas Priest
Saxon
Dio
Iron Maiden
Ozzy Osbourne

RAWR!

 

[Powerslave]

just received the new Billboard magazine at work today:

40 fucking pages dedicated to Iron Maiden. thats right fuckers. hopefully gonna go see them next week.
UP THE IRONS!

40 pages.. hmm I'm gonna try to find this magazine here in Holland.

 

[JimiNutz]

Bumping this thread to mention this amazing album

Warning - Watching From A Distance

By far my favorite doom metal album. The second half of the song Footprints is the best thing ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=774GvRN2yKk

I'm not what I'd consider a 'metal head' but this song is awesome. Is the rest of the album like this?

 

[OmegaDragon]

@Wollfs: This is not meant to be picky on genres (genre debates are stupid 99% of the time), but Children of Bodom isn't really death metal. If you're searching for death metal, you'll find bands with very different sound that might not suit you. That said, you should explore the genre called melodic death.

I'm going to use this post to pimp my current 2008 favourite. It's called The Monolith Deathcult - Trivmvirate and I don't think a lot of you have heard it. I think this album/band deserves some more attention, because I think it's very good and a bit unique. A disclaimer: TMDC has death metal as it's basis, so if that style/extreme metal in general doesn't suit you, you can ignore the rest

The Monolith Deathcult - Trivmvirate

As I said, the basis of this album is death metal, mostly the more brutal, Nile-esque variant. What really caught my attention at first were the symphonic and electronic touches. They fit really well with the usual metal ingredients (where the emphasis is on), mostly giving it a more epic feeling. The combination sounds great and really clear. Brutal, epic and atmospheric, I recommend it greatly.

Some links:
http://www.myspace.com/themonolithdeathcult - First four tracks are from the new album
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Monolith+Deathcult - Has the full opening track

 

[Phobophile]

I'm not what I'd consider a 'metal head' but this song is awesome. Is the rest of the album like this?

Yes. That album is doom metal perfection.

 

[Powerslave]

It's amazing that Iron Maiden can still kick ass these days. Bruce will be turning fifty in August and he's the youngest guy in the group. UP THE IRONS!

They kick ass but they seriously lack in volume outdoors. I saw Kiss 2 months ago and they were very loud. The bass was trembling. Maiden's sound outdoors feels like mono.

Also, they should get rid of those old songs for a long while and focus on their songs from their last 4-5 albums. I want to hear The Nomad and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate.

 

[D3RANG3D]

Just picked these up today

Electric Wizard: Witchcult Today

Warning: Watching from a distance