Metal Reviews

Well now I'm happy to say I'm over Trivium after flogging ascendancy to death but they are a good band even tho' they ARE admittedly metalcore ( quick! save their guitarist!) and i need something a little less, what is the word-------- formulaic and mainstream-oriented (MachineHead r still great IMO). ive listened to some good bands like dark tranquility, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Astriaal, Sepultura and i need some similar bands to start getting into. I might sound like a mallcore kid, but im not a huge fan of bands that are just brutality (altho' im willing to make exceptions) so please no grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rifff blastbeat x10 bands, and no generic "[ ] coast hardcore'' or any power metal. For some reason i hate power metal except Iron Maiden and Hammerfall. so please any suggestions would be appreciated.

Exceptions? OK, make an exception of Cryptopsy. Pick up None So Vile.

And check out Dissection. You'll probably like them a lot. Storm of the Light's Bane.

A last recommendation... try Red Harvest. They balance a lot of brutality with electronics and what-have-you. The Cold Dark Matter album is their best... or maybe Sick Transit Gloria Mundi. Well, get whichever of those you can find.

Enjoy.

Emperor (!!!)
Edge of Sanity
Arcturus
Borknagar
Vintersorg
Ephel Duath

Just close enough to the bands you listed for you to enjoy it, but still far enough away for something new.

Bloodbath
The Duskfall ("Frailty" or "Source," don't start with their new one)
Imperanon
Arch Enemy
Sentenced
Finntroll (polka metal owns)

On black and thrash there are already a couple of threads here where you cand find a lot of bands. As far as melodeath goes, just go with the classics: Carcass' and At The Gates' last 2 albums, In Flames' and Arch Enemy's first 3-4 albums, and Dissection, like DM said. Along with Dark Tranquility's entire discography, these are the most important albums in the genre.

Afterwards, you may want to try some death metal that isn't really melodeath, but has, in places at least, a lot of melody. Anything by God Dethroned, Amon Amarth, Hypocrisy or Necrophobic. And you could also try the last Kataklysm album, Serenity in fire, I find it unbelievably melodic in some parts.

for thrash, get some sodom, thatll set you on your way to elitism

but seriously, it kicks ass-agent orange.

Metalhead is quite correct. Agent Orange is awesome. I'd post a bunch of other thrash albums to get, but the "Favourite Thrash Albums" thread is something like 5 threads down, so just go there.

Arsis - A Diamond for Disease (EP)

GET IT NOW!!!

some other's are Soilwork's first 4 albums, The Absence's new album (not great but good, especially for an american band), Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy is OK, early In Flames if guitar harmonies give you an erection, Darkane, and of course At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul.

thx for the pointers guys, you're helping me become just that little bit less of a don't-know-shit-metalcore-kid every time i visit the site. 'Expanding Senses' is a fucking awesome album and IMO a bit better than 'Layers of Lies'.

If you're a Darkane fan now, get Rusted Angel. It's their best.

Definitely check it out, amazing album.

I'll steer clear of melodeath, everyone knows my thoughts on it, but as you like the aggressive side of things, Coroner and Sadus are very clever, technical thrash bands that can keep the pace quick, and Leviathan, Taake and Ildjarn can do quick, riffy songs without doing much blasting. someone else should probably be suggesting the aggressive BM as I prefer the forest, suicidal and industrial varieties, as I'm a wimp..