Discouraged with heavy metal....
 

I joined this forums a while ago, and while its an incredible resource for finding new musical areas, and a well of knowledge procured from people who have done much more research than me, there is a massive problem. I can't find any heavy metal worth listening to. Where there is great guitar playing, the song is butchered by a spastic drummer with no concept of rhythm and/or a mindless gorilla trying to strip his vocal chords by screaming nonsense into a mic as loud as possible.

Before anyone flames me, which I may well deserve, this is only my opinion. I am ignorant of heavy metal for the most part, so my real question is, does textbook (or the definition by popular consensus) heavy metal always have the annoying screaming in it? Are there bands that focus more on the actual guitars or have decent vocals? Is there a particular sub-genre of metal for heathens like me who aren't cool enough for real metal?

Thanks in advance, sorry if I offended anyone.

You might really like Opeth. They do have cookie monster vocals in parts, but proper singing elsewhere. Plus, the cookie monstering (for want of a better term) is done well enough. All the instrumental work is excellent.

Oh, and as for in general, metal isn't by rule of thumb something with "annoying screaming" in it. Certain subgenres of metal characteristically contain screaming. Others are completely free from it.

Opeth is actually one of my favorite bands. :D

I sort of like the acoustic work they did on Blackwater Park more than anything else by them. I may as well mention that I love good acoustic guitar songs as well, especially stuff like Opeth.

I'm well aware that not all metal has the screaming in it, I just seem to be having trouble finding it, and not for lack of seeking either. Thanks for the helpful reply.

Listen to Porcupine Tree. Heavy in places, ambient in others and technical in others. Also try:

SACRILEGE-TURN BACK TRILOBITE
AMPLIFIER-S/T

I will come back with plenty more.

Wow. That was dead on.

Porcupine tree anyhow, the other two I'm having a little difficulty finding. Thanks for the advice, reaping the benefits of someone else's labor is a little lame on my part, but I really do appreciate the wonderful advice I've been getting.

Sacrilege started life a crust band in the mid 80's but their last album was really cool heavy ambient metal with long instrumental passages. It is hard to find. I will give you a helping hand finding it ;). Amplifier's debut came out in 2004. I don't really hear them being mentioned a lot which is a shame as they approached metal with a progressive attitude but still remained heavy without sacrificing melody.

The official AMPLIFIER website.

try metallica

Hey man.. there is a marked difference between the genres of "heavy metal" and those that have screaming, double bass and blast beats, and non standard time signatures.

heavy metal would encompass any music with driving, four over four drum beats, soaring, strictly melodic vocals, and rock-esque guitar licks. this music is more similar to classic rock than what most people nowadays would consider metal, at least from a younger musician's perspective.


my advice to you to end all your problems would be to visit pandora dotcom and type in a band that you like.


see what magic ensues!

There are some sections on MASTER OF PUPPETS that deserve a mention (usually involving Cliff Burton), but they are not the be all and end all of metal and their reputation has taken a massive battering the past few years. As an intro to what Leasing is looking for, they are not the best example.

To Leasing. If you can find it, I would like to hear your opinions on the album DIMENSION : HATROSS by VOIVOD. It is over 20 years old but was so far ahead of the game musically.

It is a lot more melodic but try listening to the band KINGS X and specifically the album GRETCHEN GOES TO NEBRASKA. A very underated album full of great hooks and harmonies.

you could try

iron maiden (although this calls for heave metal. some of there stuff is more soft but they are metal)

metallica is a good choice(guitar rifs and all)

ozzy osbourne (old stuff not crappy new stuff)

rob zombie (its rock but its still worth listening to.)