Oh and how could I forget one of my favs type o negative! Gothic metal… hate the label cause they are so much more than that, but that's what they're known as. Along with HIM and much of paradise lost.
If you want specific recs of songs or albums of some of these let me know,. A few that I listed have a huge discography and often times it morphs over the decades.
Devin townsend, opeth, paradise lost, Type O, for example. Ten albums or more for some of them.
My only time seeing Maiden was the Powerslave tour in '85. I need to catch them again if possible. Life gets in the way.
I've seen Maiden likely 7 times or more, pretty close to Sammy Hagar (with and without VH) and Tesla for my top live bands as far as number of shows. I last saw them at Legacy of the Beast in the Woodlands and they were still simply amazing with high energy and just a great show overall. Despite Bruce's battle with cancer he is still an excellent front man and vocalist.
I was at this show as well. Absolutely amazing show. They are amazing live. The setlist was fantastic as well
1. Aces high 2. Where Eagles Dare 3. Two Minutes To Midnight 4. The Clansmen 5. The Trooper 6. Revelations 7. For The Greater Good Of God 8. The Wicker Man 9. Sign of the Cross 10. Flight of Icarus 11. Fear of the Dark 12. The Number of the Beast 13. Iron Maiden
Encore
14. The Evil That Men Do 15. Hallow Be Thy Name 16. Run To The Hills
HIM was my jam in high school. Always though Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights was their best album.
And this is just so easy to listen to...
i first heard join me in death around 2002ish. Was pretty hooked, mostly cause it reminded me so much of type o! Got to see them several times, always a solid show. VV is the name of singers solo act.
We went to Ciudad Acuna in the 80's and my older brother went into a music store there and bought Number of the Beast, a Tygers album, and an album by a band named Icon (they were not great). He spent about $9 combined.
I didn't know anybody else new Tygers of Pan Tang!
coincidentally, just came across this interview with hetfield and saw the shirt, thought of this thread again!
I can't say that I really like much from Devin Townsend, but this one is pretty damn good.
im a more recent dtp convert. Saw him open for opeth/Gojira back in '17ish, and dove headfirst into his discography. It took a good year before I really had a handle on it.
Man I think it would be hard to find a metal fan that wouldn't like ANY of his stuff. And then also hard to find non metal fans that wouldn't like of his nonmetal stuff, like the ghost album or the slew of songs sprinkled all over his disco that aren't metal. Even something like ocean machine or synchestra is pretty solid alt rock stuff for the more general rock fan.
As others have said, picking ONE song is WAY too difficult! It would probably be something from Slipknot. The main band my friends in high school used to get me into heavy music. They've grown so much as a band, and their latest album is FULL of good stuff. They also put on such a spectacle of a show! My older kid's first concert was Slipknot in 2019, pre-pandemic times.
If I had to pick something less heard of, probably "Hit the Ground" by 6gig. I heard it on the Ozzfest Summer Sampler I got at Ozzfest 2001, and loved it. Definitely pick that up if you can find it, loads of good music on there!
Hit the Ground
Going off of that jumping point, also heard "What a Day" by Nonpoint on that album. They have also put out a TON of good music, despite multiple lineup changes. And they are always my top recommendation for seeing at a small venue. Elias Soriano has so much energy, and knows how to work a crowd!
Megadeath is the best sounding USA metal act I've yet to sample and Nightwish did them proud IMO.
I love Megadeth and I've seen them a number of times. Got to meet Dave Mustaine circa 1998 after a concert in Houston. According to the Internet, it was April 3, 1998 at the International Ballroom in Houston. Which as I recall looked like it was a recycled supermarket.
I saw Megadeth 7-8 years ago in Sydney and Dave's voice was really struggling. According to the Internet Oct. 18th, 2015. Unfortunately, I had to face the fact that Dave just can't sing anymore.
Type O neg sounds very growly to me, cannot stand that voice.
hmm.. are we talking about the same band?? His voice on this whole album is clean as all get out.. along with every other album. TON is the band I usually try and get my non-metalhead friends into, because the voice is exactly NOT typical metal.
Guy from HIM pretty much ripped of Peter steele lol. I've never heard or read Peter's voice as growly.
He goes low as hell, often.. but his natural register (about an 1-1.5 octaves above his 'showing off' baritone voice) is money.
Type O neg sounds very growly to me, cannot stand that voice.
hmm.. are we talking about the same band?? His voice on this whole album is clean as all get out.. along with every other album. TON is the band I usually try and get my non-metalhead friends into, because the voice is exactly NOT typical metal.
Guy from HIM pretty much ripped of Peter steele lol. I've never heard or read Peter's voice as growly.
He goes low as hell, often.. but his natural register (about an 1-1.5 octaves above his 'showing off' baritone voice) is money.
In Praise of Bacchus just sounds slurred and distorted. Maybe it is the slurred enunciation that bugs me. I just don't see how you can compare that style and sound to something like Dio, Bruce Dickinson, etc. It is a completely different genre of music to me. And the guitar work on that song in particular just sounds like random noise, very grating. Especially the wah wah wah cords during the chorus.
Gotta go see a few patients I'll listen to the others when I can!
ETA: Pyretta Blaze he sounds a bit better but still very distorted and lots of echoes, like he is singing in the bathroom. When it changes pace I actually kind of like it more than the plodding beginning-- then it slows to a plod again and I don't like it. The guitar also sounds very distorted and "dirty". Not sure if that makes sense but I like clean guitars like they sound during the solo, with the background rhythm still sounding dirty. If they cut out the plodding distorted sections of this song I would actually like it.
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Type O neg sounds very growly to me, cannot stand that voice.
hmm.. are we talking about the same band?? His voice on this whole album is clean as all get out.. along with every other album. TON is the band I usually try and get my non-metalhead friends into, because the voice is exactly NOT typical metal.
Guy from HIM pretty much ripped of Peter steele lol. I've never heard or read Peter's voice as growly.
He goes low as hell, often.. but his natural register (about an 1-1.5 octaves above his 'showing off' baritone voice) is money.
In Praise of Bacchus just sounds slurred and distorted. Maybe it is the slurred enunciation that bugs me. I just don't see how you can compare that style and sound to something like Dio, Bruce Dickinson, etc. It is a completely different genre of music to me. And the guitar work on that song in particular just sounds like random noise, very grating. Especially the wah wah wah cords during the chorus.
Gotta go see a few patients I'll listen to the others when I can!
ETA: Pyretta Blaze he sounds a bit better but still very distorted and lots of echoes, like he is singing in the bathroom. When it changes pace I actually kind of like it more than the plodding beginning-- then it slows to a plod again and I don't like it. The guitar also sounds very distorted and "dirty". Not sure if that makes sense but I like clean guitars like they sound during the solo, with the background rhythm still sounding dirty. If they cut out the plodding distorted sections of this song I would actually like it.
ok I'm picking up what you're putting down now. I def. wasn't comparing Peter to Dio/Dickinson.. you said he was completely different than HIM.. which is the same genre of music overall, and very similar sounding singers in the grand scheme of metal singers. Singer of HIM was not secretive about Peter being one of his idols. But, similar to dio or dickinson, peter is singing clean, not harsh vocals/screaming like you say you don't like (which I'm not the biggest fan of either).
TON is definitely distortion heavy.. they tune to B and he often plays distorted bass. The mixes are loaded with with guitar tracks and backing/keys and reverb and delay. They are very soundscape-ish and atmospheric, which had a lot to do with them having a permanent keys player, and only one guitar player.. so world's apart from maiden or the like.
But man.. if you haven't heard much of them, check out their last 5 albums. Sonically speaking they are similar but at the same time do vary a bit, but overall, he was damn good song writer. he got his chops by loving the beatles.
TON is like black sabbath, zeppelin, beatles, pink floyd and morrison mixed in one. They are cheeky, but lyrically very creative and unique, they have ballads as well as faster pace/hardcore influences, they have crazy time and key changes, almost to the point of prog (along with an average song length of probably 7+ minutes), they bust into jams at the end of songs (go back to pyretta blaze and get to the end if you didn't already, that's right out of a Page riff book right there. They also often have a totally different sounding middle section of a song, then phase back into the first part for to finish it off. Almost a song within a song.
Also their guitar player sang increasingly more and more as time went on, and he's a ringer for chris cornell if you are into that singing style.
Some suggested songs; September Sun Green Light An Ode to Locksmiths (full of typo-isms.. joking/banter during the song, weird time/key changes, zeppelin/sabbath main riff, rrrrolling rrrrs, guitar player vocals at the end over another kick ass riff.. almost tom morello ish) ...A Dish Best Served Coldly IYDKMIGTHTKY (Gimme That) [the 2 minute ending here I could listen to on repeat over and over!] Hail and Farewell to Britain The Dream Is Dead (how can the ending of a song titled dream is dead have such a feel good vibe?) Life is killing me. What a kickass middle section.
Ok enough about TON.. just trying to make sure they get a fair chance, they are easily one of the most underrated bands in my mind. Top 5 band for me of all time. Albums 3-7 are front to back listeners for me.
They are so much more than black #1.. their 'big' hit that threw them into mainstream. Can't be mad.. it's when I became a fan after hearing it on houston radio.. but I followed them ever since and always heavily anticipated a new album and purchased physical cd on release date.
I love hard rock/metal and have since being introduced to KISS via Destroyer (on 8 track) when I was a kid, and then when Metal Health came out in 1983. Unbelievable how that album dominated when it came out.
Anyway, someone mentioned the Scorpions. I think everyone needs to watch this video from 1978 just to see what an amazing guitarist Uli Jon Roth was in that band. This song kicks so much ass. I love their whole catalog and saw them in Vegas about 5 or 6 years ago with Queensryche (my favorite all time band). They were amazing live still after nearly 50 years.
Some Queensryche!
And some recent Fates Warning, one of the most unappreciated prog metal bands in history.
And has anyone mentioned Orphaned Land yet? Israeli oriental metal band who really kick ass. They have a mixture of growls and clean vox - this one is all clean.
Anyway, someone mentioned the Scorpions. I think everyone needs to watch this video from 1978 just to see what an amazing guitarist Uli Jon Roth was in that band. This song kicks so much ass. I love their whole catalog and saw them in Vegas about 5 or 6 years ago with Queensryche (my favorite all time band). They were amazing live still after nearly 50 years.
Queensryche was my favorite band back in high school and through college. I saw them twice in concert - Empire and Promised land tours . I haven't listened to any of their music since Chris DeGarmo left. To me he was the heart and soul of the band. I still listen to Operation Mindcrime regularly.
BTW, Chris DeGarmo had a duo w/ his daughter for a while:
