The Band Recommendation Thread

[Ben...]

I think this thread needed to be made. I always see you guys and gals talking about all of these amazing bands but when I go to look for their names I can never remember what thread it was in.

So I thought "why don't I create a thread that could be used as a database of good bands".

So here it is. Post any bands that that you think your fellow JCF'ers might enjoy and perhaps open people's minds to genres of music they would otherwise have never gotten to experience. If possible list the genre and a recommended song for people to get a taste of the band.

I guess I'll start off with Wintersun. They're one of those Melo-death bands but with something different about them. Not my usual cup of tea but good non-the-less for people who like that stuff. Some suggested listening would include "Winter Madness", "Beyond the Dark Sun", and "Sleeping Stars". They currently only have one album out but a new one is coming later this year apparently.

[Spivonious]

I'm sure everyone here knows these, but anyway...

Symphony X - currently the best power/prog band out there, tons of fun to see live, great musicians all around. Check out Paradise Lost for a good introduction to them, then check out V.

Opeth - while their last two albums didn't really do anything for me, Opeth are masters of setting the mood. Blackwater Park is a great introduction, then go for My Arms, Your Hearse.

Nevermore - they keep getting better and better. This Godless Endeavor is their best.

Heavenly - if you like a slight heavier Helloween, this French band is for you. Check out Virus for some good old fashioned power metal.

Arcturus - kind of weird, always groovy prog/black/death/? metal band. Check out The Sham Mirrors.

Destroy, Destroy, Destroy - if you can get past the shrieky vocals and horrible name, this band cranks out the riffs and is a very enjoyable listen. Check out Devour the Power.

[Phantom Hawk]

Good thread idea !

Brainstorm kicks ass. Power metal with a great singer. I recommend their cd "Soul Temptation"

[thetroy]

Haggard is probably my favorite 'unknown' band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_taycrEW59w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_HGCDJshto&feature=related

[RunDMC]

Not sure how unknown they are (probably everyone has their stuff), but Samael is the only metal band that I still listen to on a regular basis. Lots of synths etc, check out 'Ceremony of Opposites' for a good intro. My favourite album is Passage (with the additional piano song versions).

[Mikernaut2]

Deadlock, kinda like Scar Symmetry but with a added female vocalist in the mix . Some catchy songs-

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=5150881

Periphery, one of the most promising up and coming bands. heavy, melodic and meshuggah-esque riffs.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=9918680

Born of Osiris- some cool odd tempo heavy grooves and interesting keyboard touches (I usually hate keyboards in heavy music but they make it interesting within the songs)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=2241860

[Ben...]

Here I'll throw a few more names out:

Ensiferum - a power/death metal band with Jari Maenpaa from Wintersun. So far I can recommend the album Iron and especially it's title track. Screechy vocals (there you go savage)

Crystal Eyes - This amazing Swedish power metal band is one of my favourites. I highly suggest power metalheads check out the album "World Of Black and Silver". some songs to check out include "Interstellar War"(one of my personal favourites) and "Winds of the Free". Clean Vocals

Stratovarius - This Finnish power metal with Jens Johansson, one of my favourite keyboard players, has a sizeable amount of classical influenced goodness. I find thier older material to be much better than their newer efforts. Some of my favourites include "Speed of Light", "Black Diamond", "Freedom", and "Hunting High and Low". Clean vocals

Kalmah - This band is one strange Melo-death band. They, like Stratovarius and Wintersun, are Finnish. The only album of theirs I've heard is "Black Waltz" and I quite enjoyed it. Recommended songs: "Man of the King", "Mindrust", and "Svieri Doroga/Black Waltz". Growly vocals

Rhapsody(of Fire) - This is easily one of my favourite bands. These Italian beasts can put out some amazing power metal, including a symphony and a choir and all that jazz. The singer is also a personal favourite though his pronunciations can be quite funny due to his thick accent. Some may find this band similar to Dragonforce, but unlike that band, these guys are actually good. I recommend everything from these guys but especially "Emerald Sword", "Dawn of Victory" and "Holy Thunderforce". Clean vocals

Outworld - If you can get over the corny vocals this texan power metal band is actually pretty decent. The guitarist for the band is ubershredmeister Rusty Cooley. Recommended songs are "Riders" and "City of the Dead". Cleanish vocals

Rob Halford's solo work - I wasn't so sure about this stuff until I heard "Resururrection" and "Into the Pit". It's decent and it has Jackson Endorsee Metal Mike in one of his bands.. It's Rob, so clean but super high up at times

Racer X - Paul Gilbert's old, ultra amazing shred band. "Scarified" is the greatest song of all time. Clean vocals

Kamelot - Haven't heard much of these guys but they seem okay. Kinda remind me of Dream Theater. Can only really recommend "Ghost Opera" so far. Clean vocals

David Lee Roth - His solo stuff with his stunt band is okay, with Steve Vai and Billy (the bore) Sheehan in all his speediness. Recommended songs include "The Bottom Line"(the vocals make no sense), "Elephant Gun", and "Shyboy". Clean vocals

Iron Maiden - It's Iron Maiden. I don't need to say anything because you already know about them.

Judas Priest - One of my favourites. Not including the stuff with Ripper Owen of course. I especially like the old stuff and the 80's stuff. Some recommended include "Hell Bent For Leather", "Painkiller", "The Hellion/Electric Eye", "Starbreaker", "Beyond the Realms of Death", Better By You, Better Than Me", and of course, "Victim of Changes". see Rob Halford

Shawn Lane - For all you jazz fusion people. Considered to be one of the fastest guitarists of all time, the late Shawn Lane made an interesting album called "Powers of Ten". I highly recommend the song "Gray Pianos Flying". It will seem corny at first with all the synth stuff but then you hear Shawn rip, and by rip I mean jaw-dropping speed. No vocals

I'll find more later. I would write stuff about Nevermore and Symphony X but they've already been mentioned by Spivonious.

[shadowcat]

Dark Suns - Progressive rock/metal from Leipzig, Germany. Their album "Existence" is one of my faves, and left me speechless on first listen.
Oh btw, CLEAN VOCALS!!! (though they have some growls on their other two albums)

Martriden - Black/Death metal, a pretty new band from Montana. Kickass stuff, their debut "The Unsettling Dark" held my personal position for best album of the year... until June that is.

Diablo Swing Orchestra - Just check them out. They mix lots of styles and stuff and it's so much fun to listen. Groovy!

[VitaminG]

Ark - great guitar playing, tight band, great songs, featuring the brilliant Jorn Lande on vocals.

Masterplan - see above

Millenium - see above

Jorn - see above

Isis - right up there with Opeth for setting a mood

Warrel Dane - Nevermore frontman's groovy debut solo album. The Soilwork-ish rhythms may not fly for all NM fans

Scar Symmetry - good stuff. My favourite song on the last album was actually a bonus track on the special edition, but if these guys keep getting better, Gary's going to be a happy boy

Textures - reminds me of Scar Symmetry

Communic - very Nevermore-ish. Well worth checking out.

Anarion - Aussie power metal. Really really enjoyed their last album. I like 'em better than Dungeon or Black Majesty

Eyefear - more very good Aussie power metal. This isn't just parochialism either - I like bands from all over the world and these last two are as good as anything coming out of Europe.

Prototype - premium progressive/tech/power metal stuff. More people should be checking these guys out.

Coldworker - excellent tear your head off, stomp on your throat death metal. If you don't have both their albums already - run, don't walk to your nearest cd store & buy them now. Hey Anders!

[Trem]

I rec Ihsahns (ex Emperor) new album ANGL
I am loving this, i got a promo, fucking great. He has really come into his own and free of any genre stigma, he has got so many styles weaving thru this, with some really great guitar indulgance going on, even pulling out some wah wah bluesy ish leads, the great orchestrations that he has awlays had, good shit!!
A bit of a lot of styles, some emperor, a bit opeth, breaks/time changes, and his own unique style, i'm really impressed with this, and he's really stepped up and throwing a lot of great leads in there.
Ihsahn is probably massively underated as a musician/composer.

If you even remotely like his style or any of his works, this is a high point for sure, a deffinate step up from Emperor creatively.
Deffinatley Check it out.
Highly recommended

[toejam]

Rob Halford's solo work - I wasn't so sure about this stuff until I heard "Resururrection" and "Into the Pit". It's decent and it has Jackson Endorsee Metal Mike K.. It's Rob, so clean but super high up at times

Actually, Into the Pit is from Rob's first band after JP called Fight. The first album is called War of Words, and the two guitar players were Russ Parrish and Brian Tilse. The second Fight album was called A Small Deadly Space, and guitarist Mark Chaussee took over for Russ Parrish.

Rob then had another band called Two, which featured John Lowery (ex- DLR band, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie) on guitar.

The band Halford featured Mike Chlasciak and Pat Lachman on guitars.

[Robert Burns]

*** Shit... Texas Hippie Coalition " !! Game over !

[Tonelover]

Just checked them out on Youtube, damned their singer is one big ugly scary mo-fo!

*** Shit... Texas Hippie Coalition " !! Game over !

[Spivonious]

Now that I'm home and can look at my collection...

Andromeda - prog band with insane meters, awesome guitar skills, and surprisingly very good songwriting. Check out II=I.

Chris Poland - yeah, the former Megadeth guitarist. Return to Metalopolis is one of my favorite instrumental guitar albums.

Kamelot - they were already mentioned, but I'm mentioning them again. They started out much more proggy than they are now (Epica and after are really just straight-ahead power metal). Check out Karma and The Fourth Legacy. Amazing singer in Roy Kahn.

Rhapsody - again, already mentioned, but over-the-top epic symphonic metal doesn't get much better than their Dawn of Victory. Don't care too much for the last two albums though. I miss the cheesy narrator.

[quiksilver]

. . . and now for something completely different.

John Mayer Trio

I know, I can't believe I said it either, but check out their CD, "Try" - especially "Who Did You Think I Was," "Out of My Mind," and "Good Love Is On The Way." It is really good.