I need some super ridiculously specific metal music

Arts & Media Music
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(this has been edited now that I've tested some stuff and re-evaluated how to explain a couple things)

Hi guys, I have a dilemma. Metal is a genre that I... have a complicated relationship with. I desperately want more from this genre, but there are precious few bands that I know of that I actually like. Digging through other threads made it obvious I need to start my own because those who have asked for suggestions before are simply too dis-similar to my tastes. As the thread title suggested, I'm very picky with this genre... don't get offended if you suggest something and I can't stand it; you've been warned.

Now, what exactly do I want? Simply put, I like the more... dark, artistic, melodic side of the metal genre. For example, I like bands that use a lot of layered sounds and atypical instruments (lots of piano, violin for example instead of just guitar/drums/etc) that beautifully mix in a well thought-out way. The kind of music where you don't notice every intricate detail the first listen-through. In contrast, I can't stand "white noise" instrumentals (where instruments are played so quickly, loudly, or without variation of notes that it comes across as... white noise). And screaming/growling I am so picky about I almost can't describe it; in general, just think of that as being a no-go for me unless it's something very, very... articulate?

So, some examples of what I DON'T like:

  • Judas Priest -basically anything that has that high-pitched, 80/90's vibe hair metal feel to it I'm 99.9% garunteed to not like :'(
  • Motionless in White - The song "America" I actually really, REALLY like, but most of their other stuff is too... new age/screamo/not melodic enough for my taste
  • Icon for Hire - Too happy/"teenager" vibed, if that makes any sense. Also, far too close to what I consider white noise
  • Semblant - Their vocals; this one is weird because I feel like with different vocals I would have loved their instruments
  • Gothminister - a lot of you might not even know what this stereotype-from-hell is, but I bring him up to say I don't like the... upbeat, theatrical style? I don't know how to explain this band, honestly
  • Metallica - Most of their stuff isn't my style at all. But they have a few songs such as Until It Sleeps that are just pure bliss to me
  • Nightwish - I honestly can't explain why I don't like them. Some of their instrument work I like, but it's as if it doesn't... come together just right, so to speak. And the vocalist I also don't like
  • Kamelot - No one reason in particular. I suppose this style would fall under what I would consider something that... takes itself too seriously, if that makes any sense. I can't really explain it; it has a very heroic, be-as-energized-as-possible vibe to it that clashes with my musical taste quite harshly.

Some examples of what I ALMOST or PARTIALLY like:

  • Opeth - Their song Harvest is a great example of what I love (on the slow end of things of course) but their growling is outside of my taste (and their stuff that is heavier than Harvest involves it)
  • Otep (referring to their earlier stuff, ofc) - I love their dark/melancholic style, but... something just... eh, I dunno. Getting closer though. For example, the beginning of Ghostflowers... chills of goodness, then the song gets heavy and ruins it for me
  • Graveworm - old band that just kept going; very hit or miss with me depending on the album. They have two slow songs I absolutely love (Memories and Threnody) and three heavies from a more recent album that I like (Circused of the Damned, Diabolical Figures, and Architects of Hate)
  • Flyleaf - bet you didn't see that one coming. Actually, (since Flyleaf can't even be considered metal) the reason I include this is just to give an example of what kind of female voice I like. Some of her songs I really like, such as All Around Me, other songs I can't stand to listen to, either because she tries (and fails, imo) to growl or the instrumental work is different.
  • Louna - I like the vocalist/don't like the instruments
  • Abigail Williams - Sometimes I get in a mood for a few of their songs, such as Like Carrion Birds... beyond that, not really my style (amazing drummer though).
  • Demon Hunter - There's about 3 or so songs from each album I really like, such as My Throat is an Open Grave, Blood in the Tears, Our Faces Fall Apart, Deteriorate, and The Tide Began to Rise.

Basically there's a lot of bands that I know of that I really, REALLY like 2-3 songs from and then the other ## number of songs they've produced I don't like at all.

Things I actually DO like:

  • Theatre of Tragedy (only their 3rd album, Aegis; their first two albums are a bore imo, their 4th wasn't even metal, and 5+ is just... let's not talk about it... BUT THEIR 3rd ALBUM ON MY GOD) - A-fucking-mazing instruments, pleasant female lead voice, growling only being used for backing singing is a nice touch... so much goodness
  • Black Veil Brides - hold up, don't roast me, I'll explain... their FIRST album. That first album scratched an itch that nobody else was... and then the band as a whole went to hell... RIP.
  • Anders Manga - Not even metal but I know there's plenty of metal bands that have the same psychedelic, gothic vibes as he does. P.S. I love Anders' vocals. Check out Shiver, The Source, or You Don't Wanna if you don't know who this guy is.
  • Agalloch (this was suggested to me below. I've listened to and completely fallen in love with this band's sound)
  • A few bands that are more rock oriented rather than typical metal would be Eisbrecher, Oomph!, and Lord of the Lost (only select songs from LotL do I like).
  • Deathklock - DO YOU FOLKS LIKE COFFEE??? (my taste for Deathklock is mostly fueled by my sense of humor. Don't let Deathklock's style influence you too much in regards to what kind of style I like listening to. It's complicated)

Well then, you're probably reeling from the somewhat mixed signals. If you dare to take on the challenge of finding a band that I'd like, I only have one thing to say... GOOD LUCK! I believe I'll update this original post as I remember more details to add. It's 2:30 in the morning so... not thinking very clearly.

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That sounds like folk metal to me... Power metal has some of this as well. I'd go digging through @Alamar's metal monthly thread to find some bands from these genres.

One band I will recommend is Angra (because I always recommend them... they're my second favorite). Listen to a song like "newborn me" that might? be something you enjoy. They play power/progressive with a lot of speed though... not sure if that's something you'd like. I guess I'd have to listen to some of these bands you like to get a better understanding and be able to recommend you something.

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THIS is what I immediately recalled from my metal library when you talked about

Also I suggest to listen to some Dream Theater (if you don't do that already), Between Buried and Me and Haken.

P.S. I was forgetting about Steve Vai (looks like you might like it) and Polyphia. A second choice of artists you might like is: Angel Vivaldi, Heavy Metal Ninjas, Plini, Intervals and God is an Astronaut.

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This. You may also enjoy Sabaton:

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OMG I totally forgot about those guys existence. Thanks for reminding me...
Now dark artistic weird metal music for me describes "Cruelty and the beast" by Cradle of Filth.
Try Time1 by Wintersun... It's really complex detailed sound wall that really got me listening for years.
If you are fine with really heavy black metal try Emperor. Try stuff like Prometeus, IX Equilibrium, Anthemns... Or if you don't like that heavy sound - try the Ihsahn stuff. They are layers complex and lighter than Emperor.
PS on second thought - Emperor is just pure black with no keyboards or Symphony or whatever... But it's still nice.

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Melodic, complex, violin plays a strong roll in most of their songs... Best fit for what you described IMO

My daily drivers are more on the melodic side than the technical side however I will include a few samples maybe something will catch you? if you like one tell me I'll point you more into that direction.



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If you're looking for multinstrumental stuff then look at Ayreon. The music he makes simply blows my mind. It's truly progressive, switching between various styles as each song progresses. All of his albums are concept albums (at least under the 'Ayreon' label)

This is the first part of the Human Equation. This is one of my favourite albums of all team, featuring James LaBrie from Dream Theater, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth and Devin Townsend, along with some others. His Universal Migrator albums are great too.

Melodeath has always been my favourite genre, and I love it when they bridge a gap into other realms. You've got a nice bit of In Flames, but Dark Tranquillity delve deeper into the gothic gap (although you may not like the vocals).

Woods of Ypres were such a damn fastastic band. I can see similarities between them and Agalloch, but the driving force is in David Gold's voice.

And I'll throw in some others for fun

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Hmm. Well if you like intricate musicality then you should be looking at progressive bands. However, since you like violin and keys, etc that would tend to point more towards gothic, symphonic, folk varieties.

You mentioned that you don't like the old school high-pitched (more classical) vocal styling which makes this a bit more difficult because the genres that will likely give you want you want instrumentally usually employ classical metal/rock vocals since those go with the vibe better than growls and dirty vocals.

I'd suggest doing an advanced band search on encyclopedia metallum for genre combinations that include progressive (i.e. 'progressive folk' or 'progressive symphonic'). Then just go through the results and try to find the latest album on youtube, soundcloud or bandcamp. This method takes time and effort, but is one of the only ways that you can find something new that you truly like when you've developed your metal tastes over ~16 years and are super picky like me.

Luckily for you, symphonic, progressive, melodic, folk, gothic, power stuff is as popular as ever, so you should be able to find most of the search results online. If you were looking for some really obscure death/thrash band from 1989 a lot of times it can be much more difficult, especially when trying to hunt down a CD or download.

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Do you like Jazz music? Or at least the idea of Jazz music? If so try Diablo Swing Orchestra. I recommend, A Tap Dancer's Dilemma, Balrog boogie, and Lucy fears the Morningstar.
You might also like In Legend's album Ballad's and Bullets. Listen to Pandemonium and Stardust. It's a piano based band.
Maybe give Powerwolf a try. Not sure if you will dig that one as much because it much simpler besides the badass organ. But none the less a darker band featuring a traditionally trained opera singer.
As far as more prog like stuff I recommend Luca Turrili's Rhapsody. It's a little over the top in fantasy theme but the music is very complex and features many classical components.
I think you will like Dark Moor as well. Get back to me on what you thought of these ones and I can point you in the right direction. It sounds like you have similar metal tastes to me and I have plenty of other recomendations.

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I second this.

And this

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Tyrant of death -nuclear nanosecond

Pelican -australasia

Behold... The arctopus

Mick gordon

The body

OM

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Whew, ok guys, lots of music to dig through! I tried to sample what everybody posted as quickly as possible without failing to give each suggestion a fair shot. So I've gone to YouTube and tried at least 2 different songs each, making sure they were from different albums. Some of my replies to you will seem very repetitive (ie need to explore this or that band more because I can't tell if I like it). Thanks for the suggestions so far!

@ThatBootsGuy I checked out Angra. I like how clean and precise they are, but the particular vibes/energy of their music isn't what I'm looking for. Similar thing can be said for Sabaton - too much of a "heroic" vibe to Sabaton as well.

@MetalizeYourBrain Sean Ashe wasn't at all what I was looking for, but I do like it! It's not something I would listen to on a daily basis, but when I get in the mood for it it'll be a good find. Do you know Rob Scallon on YouTube? I like a lot of his more melodic stuff for certain moods (Theater Girl, Torque Soul, Tamara for example) and Sean Ashe has a similar vibe.

Dream Theater & Between the Buried and Me I see I wouldn't like, but Haken is... I'll need to listen to more to tell. This is quite different.

I'm skipping through an album by Polyphia right now... they don't use lyrics at all? I do like this. Again, it might not be a daily listen to kind of thing but Polyphia might just be something I keep around. In fact, it seems everything in that list is that way: Angel Vivaldi, Heavy Metal Ninjas, Plini, etc. Not something I'd listen to as often as my daily-driver bands, but I'll keep digging through these because it seems like something I might really love for atmospheric use. I have a lot of trance/soft industrial/melodic EBM/EDM(whatever) music for when I study, clean, or work on an art project. These suggestions seem like they'll be used for the same thing, but from a different genre. Interesting.

@psycho_666 I have a love/hate relationship with Cradle of Filth. Thanks for reminding me of them, I've been meaning to dig through their discography and get a copy of the songs I do like from them for ages. I'd say I'm 50/50 on their songs as far as those I like and those I don't like. For example I like Nymphetamine Fix but don't like Temptation.

Wintersun - O.o That "heroic" vibe isn't so bad when it has a more melodic approach to it lol I'll look into this.

Emperor - Yeah, the really heavy stuff I'm not a fan of.

@Baz Svartsot... I've heard a few bands similar to this before... I can't immediately decide if I'll like them or not, I'd need to spend some time on them. But I will say that when it comes to growling, I really like this guy's sound. I don't find it at all cringy.

Turmion Kätilöt - hahaha! These guys make me think of Agonoize, but from a more metal meets pop vibe if that makes any sense. Again, I'd have to spend time with this one. Usually I don't like anything too "party vibed" but there's something... strange about these guys that I like.

Battle Beast - nope :(

@SoulFallen I saw Ne Obliviscaris on a thread where Logan was talking about "metal is beautiful." That was the first time I ever heard them and yes, you are correct. I absolutely love a lot of what these guys do. I couldn't describe how much I'll get into them because, well, just heard of them duh, but I imagine that if their music sticks close to this song that you linked... I'd listen to these guys quite regularly. (in fact I should have put them in my "currently trying" section)

In Flames is sort of close to what I'd like. I don't like their vocals but some of what I've heard of their instrumental work I really enjoy. If anything, they'd probably fall into that category of bands where I like a handful of songs and don't care for the rest.

Edge of Sanity - Can't tell; I'd need time to explore this one.

Kalmah - Hmm, kind of similar to what I think of Edge of Sanity.

@b3ans Ayreon is going to be very hit and miss with me. I skipped around enough to know I might like something one moment and dislike it the next. I've had a few bands before that did stuff like that. I'll spend some time on it at some point.

Dark Tranquillity - hmm... it's scratching an itch. Well, that second song was. The first I didn't care for. I'll need to see more from these guys when I have the time.

Woods of Ypres - ERMEGERD WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS

Katatonia - Ohh.... I'll need to listen to more of these guys to tell for sure if I like them.

Amorphis - Hmm, from the two songs I heard I like their instruments but their vocals are hit or miss, depending on the song. Yet again, I'll have to do more digging to tell.

Paradise Lost - Nope :/

@Alamar Yup, like I said, super picky tastes end in difficulty finding stuff. I'll check out that website sometime for that search.

@monsterhats No, jazz is one of the few genres that I don't listen to at all (rap and country being two others, except a very precious few exceptions). Stuff like Powerwolf has too much of that "heroic" theme to it for me. Dark Moor is the same way. Kinda hard for me to describe what I mean by that, though.

@hvm_kim Tyrant of Death - very hit and miss. The problem I have with stuff like ToD is that even the stuff I do like I don't have a... setting/purpose to listen to. I mean I might like a song from them but I have no mood or atmospheric use for that particular theme.

Pelican - Might look into this for atmospheric stuff like what I've mentioned in previous replies in this comment.

Behold... - same thing as Tyrant of Death.

Mick Gordon - seems like an alter ego of Rob Scallon. I would have the same problem with this as I do with ToD and Behold, but Mick's stuff seems interesting enough that I'd listen to it simply for the sake of itself, rather than music to supplement what I'm doing.

Well, there went a couple hours out of my day! Thanks to everyone who has replied so far.... shit, I have 20 youtube tabs open...

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If you like ToT then I would suggest fellow Norwegians, The 3rd and the Mortal - All of their albums contrast differently from each previous album, mainly due to changes in the Scando/Euro scene over the years as you'd understand if you've been into metal for any decent amount of time,. Their album "Memoirs" and "In this Room" have similar elements to Aegis, in the sense that it's more targeted for a Euro crowd.

Another lesser know avantgarde band from Norge is Atrox, who share similar styles to that of TATM and ToT. An even lesser known band from with one of the xTATM singers is, "Tactile Gemma".

As a Norwegian I will leave you with these thoughts;

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Try out Orden Ogan, might still be a little too heroic for you.
Also maybe Kontrust, although it's a little more hard rock than metal.

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The solution is obviously Sunn O)))

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Well that was my interpretation of your words about what music you might like. Since I was following what I thought you might like I listed you bands that give, in general, the same vibe. I hope you're going to find that music genre that picks the strings you want!

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Yeah I can see why someone wouldn't be so keen on Ayreon. The stories woven in his albums are incredible though. His songs are difficult to listen to as a stand alone I find sometimes.

Woods of Ypres are incredible, but mostly have roots in Black Metal (especially as you go further back). They have some truely bone chilling songs, if you fancy them. Check out 'Kiss My Ashes' and 'Travelling Alone'

Katatonia are always such a satisifying band. Other songs to check out are 'Unfurl' and 'Evidence'.

After you've gone through everyone's suggestions it'd be interesting to see what you settle on!

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If this stuff doesnt appeal to you... Then it might be because im fucking tired and unfocused but i think you may like this

Or this (though i cant find a fucking studio Version on youtube)