with a place for metal torrents, and good strong metal bands. I consider the following to be the essence of metal, bear in mind ;

Dragonforce - "Fury Of The Storm"
Metallica - "Creeping Death"
Megadeath - "Tornado Of Souls"
Dream Theater - "The Glass Prison"
Iron Maiden - "Hallowed be Thy Name"
Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"
Pantera - "Floods"
Blind Guardian - "Time Stands Still"
Angra - "Carry On"
Danzig - "Mother"
Mercyful Fate - "Curse Of The Pharoahs"
Monster Magnet - "Powertrip"
Meshuggah - "Closed Eye Visuals"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Astronomy"
Diamond Head - "Its Electric"
Budgie - "Breadfan"
Judas Priest - "The Green Manalishi"

Ugh. Mashugga's seriously the worst opening band I've ever had to suffer through.

if they arent your type, you'll hate them. If not they have a terrific chug

Mastodon
Liquid Tension Experament (Dream Theater without the terrible vocals)
I dont know if you'd call it metal, but Dillinger Escape Plan is fucking intense.

agreed. and i had to suffer twice (saw them open for Tool and System of a Down)

early sabbath

Well I don't know about the worst...that belongs to another metal band, Neurosis, for me. But Meshuggah was pretty bad when I saw them open for Tool. And I do like a lot of metal music.

If your tastes are any heavier, I can recommend tons of band but Power Metal is not my bag. Let me know if you want to check out some heavier stuff.

Kerrazy for torrents

That's funny. The only reason I went to System of a Down was to see Meshuggah. I sat down and tried to have a nap while my g/f watched the rest of the show. It's easy to see how they were not well recieved. They are certainly out of their element playing with those kinds of bands. I missed them when they opened for Tool and that was really the main reason I was going so I didn't enjoy Tool's set as much as I should have.

Where did you see Neurosis? I've never had the chance to check them out but I would go in a heartbeat. Did they use video projectors in their setup? They usually try to incorporate a trippy visual aspect to their show.

This is a truly great site for the metal torrents: http://www.kerrazy-torrents.com/index.php?showforum=14

In the past while I've downloaded off there the entire Iced Earth discography, all of Finntroll's stuff, the whole Stratovarius discography, some Slavland album, etc.. also you can request stuff, which is nice.

Early Queen (keep yourself alive, stone cold crazy, bohemian rhapsody)

-Sunny

Neurosis was a long time ago, opening up for Pantera with Biohazard, back in 96 I believe. They did have the video screens going, and I thought that was a cool aspect of their performance. The problem I had with them was that they used way too much looping and sampling in their show and it didn't even seem like it was live. I was in the front row and I could hear guitar chords being played that no one seemed to be playing and vocals coming through the PA that the singer didn't seem to be singing. Again, this was a long time ago but I just thought that was pretty lame.

As for Meshuggah, I think the vocals just didn't do it for me. The crazy time signatures and general insanity of their music was ok.

I really can't stand Meshuggah at all, I donno why. They're Swedish right? Sweden has way too many overrated metal bands, that either were half-good in the beginning and then sold out later (aka. In Flames) or they were just mediocre to begin with. Which is a sad state of affairs because there are some truly great bands from Sweden, and their reputations get ruined by the thousands of shitty "Gotthenburg" bands.

SEPULTURA

You raise a valid point. I am not a Meshuggah fan anymore. Up until Chaosphere, I loved them but None was a steaming pile of dog doo. There are some Sweedish bands that have gotten shittier, especially In Flames, but the overall quality of the musicianship is far better than what we get in North America. Pound for pound, Sweeden churns out much better metal than most countries. Check out a band named Scarve. Their last album Irradiant is incredible.
I would rather hear a shitty Sweedish thrash band than most of what passes for metal in North America. Emo kids need to stop.

Yeah same here seen them in noblesville with Tool


YOukan

Here is a very short list of some of my recommendations to anyone interested in metal(I'll try to break it off into country and style) also I realize I missed like dozens of bands and a good number of countries, so I'll update it when I have time and make it it's own topic.


Germany:

Blind Guardian (early albums thrash, the later stuff symphonic Power Metal)

Gamma Ray (straight up Power Metal)

Helloween (first 3 albums only, as they're the best, very first one is more speed, the next two are more Power Metal)

Edguy (great straight up Power Metal)

Pink Cream 69 (traditional Power Metal, very melodic and catchy)

Kreator (classic German Thrash Metal band)

Suidakra (Black/Death Metal with medieval/folk influences)

Subway To Sally (Traditional with some folk elements in it, lyrics all are sung in German)


Poland:

Graveland (early stuff straight Black Metal, later stuff epic "pagan" Black Metal)

Thor's Hammer (raw Black Metal)

Slavland (Folk/Black Metal, all lyrics in Polish)

Lord Wind (ambient/folk project that Rob from Graveland did)

Veles (raw Black Metal)


Ukraine:

Nokturnal Mortum (raw Black Metal with a nice amount of folk and even symphonic elements woven in)


Norway:

Darkthrone (really the only raw Black Metal you'll ever need)

Burzum (from the first albums in this order: raw Black Metal, more epic long pieces of spacey Black Metal, eventually landing on all-synth/keyboard neo-classical stuff)

Commuic (Progressive Metal band with only a demo out, look out for them, they'll take the world by storm sometime soon)

Isengard (Folk Metal project from Fenriz of Darkthrone fame)

Enslaved (Black Metal with folk/ambient aspects)

Ljå (raw Black Metal with some very nice ambient styles in there somewhere)

Borknagar (Black Metal doesn't really do this band justice, as there is so much progressive / folk / symphonic styles in their music it really takes on a life of it's own, Vintersorg sings on their later albums)

Einherjer (Viking Metal)


Finland:

Finntroll (Folk Metal, specially the Finnish style of polka called "humppa", all the lyrics are in Swedish)

Moonsorrow (another band Trollhorn from Finntroll is in, great epic "Pagan" Metal, the lyrics are all sung in Finnish)

Battlelore (another great epic Finn band, they combine elements of Black Metal, Folk Metal, and even tastes of Power Metal into the mix)

Korpiklaani (Folk Metal)

Stratovarius (melodic Power Metal with an amazing guitarist and singer)

Sonata Arctica (again melodic Power Metal, very much like Stratovarius)


Denmark:

King Diamond (legendary traditional Thrashy/Power band with the amazing singer of the same name)

Mercyful Fate (one of the originators of the first wave of Black Metal, King Diamond sang for them)


Sweden:

Amon Amarth (amazing "Death" Metal band, who incorporate Viking themes, very beautiful slow, melodic pounding music, Their album VS The World is maybe the greatest album to ever come out of Swedish soil)

Vintersorg (Black/Folk Metal, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of the same name writes some mind bending lyrics, it's amazing that English isn't his first language because he could probably talk circles around most university professors, a lot of the lyrics have to do with astrology and philosophy)

Bathory (first wave Black Metal band that inspired uncountable numbers of bands, the first albums are raw Black Metal, then Bathory proceeded to invent Viking Metal!)

Thyrfing (Viking Metal)


Switzerland:

Hellhammer (Black Metal, one of the first wave Black Metal bands, tons of Black Metal bands try to copy them)

Celtic Frost (Thrash Metal, bred out of Hellhammer, another classic Swiss band)


UK:

Skyclad (Thrash -- Folk Metal with the best lyrics you'll ever hear in your life)

Danelaw (formally called Asatru) (epic Viking Metal, they only have a demo out but they will one day take the metal world by storm)

Venom (classic Thrash/Black Metal band)

Forefather (raw Black Metal with some very folky and epic themes to the music)


Ireland:

Cruachan (Folk Metal with some Black Metal influences, very Celtic sounding)

Waylander (Black Metal with some Folk Metal influences, not as Celtic sounding as Cruachan but still very solid music)


Italy:

Rhapsody (very symphonic Power Metal, an acquired taste some may say, amazing guitar work though no one can deny)

Elvenking (Folk Metal, their first albums is in my personal opinion the single greatest Folk Metal album to ever be recorded, that's why it hurt so much when their singer Damnagoras quit, and they found a new vocalist and made a {especially when considered to their first album} very sub-par album, but Damna is back with them and they're recording a new one with him!)

Leprechaun (Folk Metal, when Damnagoras left Elvenking he formed this great band, who only have a demo out at the moment)


Holland:

Ayreon (Progressive Metal with much "space synth" work and folk influence, one man band of multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen)

Star One (a more straight up "Space Metal" outfit that Arjen did)


Iceland:

Falkenbach (Epic Folk Metal with all themes taken from the ancient North Heathen religion)


Faroe Islands:

Týr (Epic Progress Metal with Nordic themes)


Japan:

Sigh (Black Metal with a lot of ambient influences, a lot of the themes and lyrics have to do with Japanese occultic things and the mythology)

Fatima Hill (traditional Power Metal band)


Israel:

Orphaned Land (their earlier albums are more in the Doom/Death Metal vein, but their newest {masterpiece!} Mabool is much more Progressive Metal with Folk Metal thrown in {Middles Eastern folk mind you})


Portugal:

Moonspell (Black Metal with some doom, folk and "gothic" influences, pretty melodic when they want to be too)


USA:

Morbid Angel (amazing Death Metal band)

Nile (another Death Metal band, but they use Egyptian themes in their music and lyrics)

Cannibal Corpse (yet ANOTHER Death Metal band, probably the most brutal one out there, also Alex Webster is one of the most talented bassists in the world, and a hell of a nice guy to talk to)

Down (depressive Southern Doom/"Sludge" Metal, members of Pantera, COC, and Crowbar are in there)

Dream Theater (probably the best Progressive Metal band ever, a lot of people know of them, best albums are Awake and Images & Words)

Fates Warning (Progressive Metal, been around a lot longer than Dream Theater, yet has not even a tenth of the fan base, equally talented)

Iced Earth (Power/Thrash Metal band with some of the best rhythm guitar in the world)

Demons & Wizards [USA/Germany] (Power Metal, a side project from Jon of Iced Earth and Hansi of Blind Guardian, very very good)

Kamelot [USA/Norway] (Power Metal, very solid Power Metal with a singer from Norway)


Canada:

Annihilator (Thrash/Speed Metal)

Cryptopsy (Death Metal, amazing drummer, their best song is actually called "Drum Solo")

Thanks for posting this geg I've been looking for some more metal bands and I think Im gonna check out some of these. Echoes you might also wanna check out Opeth and Dark Tranquility aswell.

Opeth... I rather not get into the Swedish conversation again! hoven droven! >_<

Anyywayyys yes, this fucking list thing is truly taking on a life of it's own, great planning and hours of anal fixation on perfection of the list(s) is foreseen in my near future... also it made me remember my idea for a metal atlas, which sounds crazy but I'll be the one laughing when I make my dozens of dollars, muahahahaha.

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime