I'm developing some pretty odd taste in music...
I REALLY like metal, but REALLY dislike the screamy-yelly bits, which I acknowledge is kind of contradictory.
I think I just don't like vocals, period, metal or otherwise. Anyway...
The symphonic stuff especially, like Blind Guardian (Wheel of Time, Orchestral is probably my all time favorite song!), Nightwish, and Therion, are fuckin amazing; but even within that subset the vocals are kinda overbearing for my taste - a lot of them have operatics, which I also file under the "eh, I'd rather not" category. Fortunately they have some instrumental versions of their songs, AND I LOVE THEM!
...but I keep plugging them into services like Pandora, Spotify, and Youtube Music, and I get either 1) "Oh you like any type of metal? Here's a playlist of 16 hours of dudes ejecting the entire contents of their lungs into a microphone! BWAAAAAAAAAA---" or, 2) "Oh, you like symphonic metal? Here's the same 10 songs over, and over, and over again!
No amount of thumbs up/down-ing on the results appears to have any impact on the algorithm. Youtube music even gives this snarky little popup when I thumbs a song down "Okay, we'll adjust your playlists" and then later plays THAT SAME FUCKING SONG again - not even a different version, but the same URL, which is still actively marked with a thumbs down.
Side question: is there a streaming service that isn't shit for finding new metal? That actually takes into account the different types of metal?
Anywho, looking for recommendations for songs/albums. Bonus points if it has symphonic elements, but any sub-genre is golden, so long as the specimen in question has no vocals, or just -soft- vocals that don't yank the spotlight away from the instrumentals.
Alright, class is wrapping up, I can start knocking these out. Gonna log my progress here, with a rating out of 10 and any comments (all 100% subjective to my personal taste - not looking to bash anyone here!):
Cloudkicker* - 7 - only complaint is some parts get overly repetitive
Animals as leaders* - 8 - ^same
Mestis - 8
Conquering Dystopia - 9 - Ooh, really like this one!
Polyphia - 7 - Great for ambience
Dysrhythmia - 6 - ^same, but liked Polyphia just a touch more
Scale The Summit - 9
Chon - 5 - Heavy on the higher pitches, and kinda repetitive - I'd have to be in a specific mood for this one.
Tigran Hamasyan* - 5 - Didn't really care for this specific song, but thumbing through his others and am digging it.
Protest The Hero - 9 - Great energy, great variation!
The Ocean* - 9
Periphery - 8
Tesseract - 9
Porcupine Tree* - 7
Calligulas Horse* - 8
Leprous - 6 - Really liked the instrumentals; REALLY disliked the singer's voice, lol
Tesseract - 7 - Vocals not terrible, but still really prefer the instrumental version.
Sleep Token* - 7
Cynic* - 7
Haken* - 8 - bro wtf did I just listen to rofl. Bonus point for weird shit!
Katatonia piano covers vol 1, 2 - 5 - Not the metally music I was looking for, but this is going on my studying playlist.
In Flames piano covers - 5 - Same^
Dark Tranquility Piano Covers - 5 - Same^
Between The Buried And Me - Colors - 6 - This one's hit and miss for me. The hits hit hard though!
Clayman - 8 - Not a fan of the vocals, but there are instrumental versions of this that kick ass!
Whoracle - 8
Colony - 7
Mr Bungle's California - 6 - Simultaneously not really my cup of tea, and also catchy as fuck.
Baroness Red, Blue, and Yellow; Green
No vocals? I got you fam:
Cloudkicker*
Animals as leaders*
Mestis
Conquering Dystopia
Polyphia
Dysrhythmia
I guess Scale The Summit, but fuuuuck Chris Letchford.
Chon
Tigran Hamasyan*
Optional instrumental versions? Got you fam:
Protest The Hero
The Ocean*
Periphery
Tesseract
Clean vocals? Got you fam:
Porcupine Tree*
Calligulas Horse*
Leprous
Tesseract
Sleep Token*
All Opeth after 2010 (😢)
Cynic*
Haken*
Edit: added links and asterisks. Asterisk means you should really look into them if you're not familiar 😁
I came to give recommendations and you listed most of the ones I know and more. Thanks for the list!
Check out the Liquid Tension Experiment too.
Damn, that's a great list. Most of what I'd recommend is in there, here's a few more:
Nikola Kvetkovic needs some love.
Opeth Piano Covers vol 1, 2, 3
Katatonia piano covers vol 1, 2
In Flames piano covers X
Dark Tranquility Piano Covers X
Oh no, I love Scale the Summit. What did he do?
https://metalinjection.net/news/breakups/scale-the-summit-parts-ways-with-rhythm-section-over-financial-disputes
He handled this really unprofessionally. He basically wasn't paying his band mates. His band members posted scathing things on social media. If I recall, one member jokes about the "Chris Letchford Can't Afford To Pay Me Starter Kit" with photos of his brand new house, truck, etc. Chris was an egoist about it all.
I've seen them live twice. One time they were headlining, and the opening act stoooooole the show (reign of kindo). Chris, in between songs, kept nagging the audio and light crew, saying things like "can we get some better lights up here I feel like I'm playing in my living room..." no, Chris, it feels like your living room because that's the energy your brought to stage.
So yeah, I don't support the guy, but his music is good.
Awesome list. My current listens, that I don't think I've seen listed yet. Some might not be metal enough for everyone, but I love metal and the above bands and I also listen to these artists:
Mostly Instrumental
Scoredatura
Their Dogs Were Astronauts
Arch Echo
Long Distance Calling (more Post-Rock than Metal)
Intervals
Apocalyptica (Cello Quartet that started by covering Metallica, newer albums have originals and guest vocals)
Clean Vocals
Soen
Instrumental Versions of Tracks are Available
Currents Instrumental Example
Divitius Instrumental Example