[Imperial]

Within Temptation! I was made aware of this band by a friend who told me that my sister has a twin! He he. Indeed a look alike!
Sharon Den Adel and my sister!!! 
It was in the year 1996, there was this young woman named Sharon Den Adel who loved to sing... metal !!! He he!!
Anyway, This band is the biggest band in the Netherlands, any type, any style. Reason? Sharon Den Adel!
Probably the second best Metal singer after Tarja Turunen, who IS THE QUEEN!!! Let's just make that statement here right away!!! ( Sabine Edelsbacher of Edenbridge is also an incredible accomplished metal singer, of the Tarja Turunen school..)
Nightwish has in my ears got the best bar none guitar player of ANY metal band, any style (Vai, satriani and those dudes are of a different style alltogether... you know..) - Erno “Emppu” Matti Juhani Vuorinen. He is just amazing!!!
It is unfortunate for NightWish that Tuomas Holopainen went mad or something and removed Turunen from NightWish. A really sad story that, who knows what happened. Toumas is an incredible composer... and I respect that, but seriously... One must understand that for all Nightwish fans, including me, it was really traumatizing to see Tarja leave!
Nightwish was THE band for 9 years, it was the master, the King, The Queen ... All Metal fans of Norway, Finland ,Sweden and Denmark I'm sure are still in shock, in awe, of this band, but mostly of Tarja Turunen!!! It is an era that has ceased!!! It is a DEEP sorrow
I believe!!!
Enough of that!!! ...

Sharon has a quality that is really difficult to achieve. A utterly pure voice! She has a really narrow octave band to her singing, but
somehow you don't really notice it!!! Sharon is a soprano singer.
The reason for this is the quite unique harmonic property to her voice, and her ability to have almost ZERO wow and flutter in her pitch!
Sharon Den Adel has also sung for Ayeron and many others! Many musical styles also, not just Metal! Her voice transcends!

Sharon Den Adel:

My sister:


I tell you! It is almost scary!!! My sister sings Gospel and Country... eh! Hehe! (Yup she sings quite well, I think!)

OK, back to Within Temptation now...  they make great music! They are not my favourites, but they rank quite high in my book!

Ehm... as is fitting of a metal fan I have quite long hair...  aa . I'm sure that is not normal among audiophiles, but there you are!

I'm including a picture of Floor Jansen, thought to be the most flawless female singer of metal. She' NEVER misses a micro octave this one, live or studio!!! But... I don't know. she sounds like Maria Callas... to much like opera to my ears.
Floor Jansen:

Don't believe me? "proof"
I'll say that is an uncanny likeness! Wouldn't you?
Floor Jansen is EQUALLY good as a opera singer as Maria Callas, she just sings metal!!! That is Amazing!!!
If I had any say in it... this would have been the new singer for Nightwish... this is the only one that can match Tarja Turunen.
I have no idea why they chose Olzon, no disrespect, but... come on... Britney look alike, sing alike? Come on!!! Insulting!!! 
We live in a narrowminded world. I think if Floor was as beautiful as Simone Simons (thought to be the most beautiful female metal singer alive) she would still have been the singer of Epica; And Epica would have been the worlds top metal band. Goes to show, doesn't it? This post turned out to be a maniac like rant for me. I get so mad, but I must remember, these bands are just made up of ordinary people, and that is why I like their music so much! Metal is about rage, strength, love, passion and pride!

I have to attest: Simone is among the most beautiful females, alive!!!

She actually looks equally stunning, without makeup!!! That is unusual indeed! No supermodel can match that!  (Ok... maybe Adriana Lima  )
This woman does not need an iota of makeup, not an iota!!!

Edit: (Wow, was I ever worked up last night!!! That was some rant there!!!  )

Imperial

[simoon]

Some great recommendations so far!

I can't stress how great Aghora is! The newest one, Formless is amazing! A slight step above their first Immortal Bliss.

The recommendation of Gordian Knot is also great but I'm not sure I'd call it metal. They are more in the progressive genre.

Symphony X is great, but their only 2 CDs that seem to hold up for me are V: The New Mythology Suite and The Odyssey.

A couple more to check out are Pathosray from Italy. Great vocals, melody and chops from all band members. Somewhat similar to Symphony X but more progressive with more meaningful lyrics (Symphony X's lyrics get a little silly in that mythological "wizards and dragons" sense)

Pain of Salvation from Sweden. Other than their last 2 CDs ("Be" is good but not great and "Scarsick", not sure what they were thinking on this one), they could be the best prog-metal band there is. Get "One Hour by the Concrete Lake", "Perfect Element" and "Remedy Lane". This band has the ability to juxtapose crushing power and beautiful melodies in a way that is quite unique.



Circus Maximus - The First Chapter from Norway. Kind of like a cross between Dream Theater and Symphony X. The follow up, Isolate, was not quite as good.

Redemption - all of their CD's are worth getting. Vocals are by the Ray Alder from Fates Warning.

Spiral Architect - A Sceptic's Universe. One of the best technical metal bands ever! One CD and gone. Recorded in HDCD it's a sonic and musical masterpiece. Amazing musicianship and complexity, but unlike some highly technical bands, these guys don't loose site of great melodies.



Zero Hour  - Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond or Dark Deceiver. All of their CDs are great, but these 2 newest ones have the best vocalist. Very dark, dense and progressive.




Spastic Ink - Ink Compatible. Does humor belong in progressive metal? When done by genius guitarist Ron Jarzombek it sure does. Guest include Daniel Gildenlow (incredible vocalist from Pain of Salvation), Marty Friedman (Megadeth),  Jens Johansson (Stratovarius) and others.

[Jim N.]

Opeth
Riverside
Pain of Salvation
as mentioned by others.

Also try Fates Warning "Disconnected". Very good metal/prog album.

and best of all Porcupine Tree.

[JoshK]

Does POS have growly vocals? 

[jimdgoulding]

Jim N.- Was happenin?  Porcupine Tree is pretty hip in my off the charts opinion and I dig your portrait.  Think we could hang.

[simoon]

Does POS have growly vocals? 

No.

I'm not a real fan of growling vocals, with a few exceptions; Opeth, Cyic, Linear Sphere.

PoS vocals have quite a large range and variety, from dark and intense to beautiful harmonies and always very emotional, but never growly.

P.S. none of my recommendations have growling vocals.

[Jim N.]

Jim N.- Was happenin?  Porcupine Tree is pretty hip in my off the charts opinion and I dig your portrait.  Think we could hang.

Yeah, we could hang and maybe nail some alien poontang . With a look like mine I have to go inter-galactic to score which is why I party in Roswell.....

Congrats on the TAS Golden Ear.

PT is simply awesome and Steven Wilson has to be the most prolific rocker going this side of the insane Ryan Adams.

[JoshK]

Yeah I am not down with the cookie monster vocals. 

[Demarche]

Amother recomendation that I haven't seen yet is Riverside http://www.myspace.com/riversidepl from Poland.

[Imperial]

I also speak German... and there is one German Metal girl (She's only 18 - so I regard her as such still) called Lafee ( Christina Klein ).
She blossomed, sung, swept hearts with her texts (I guess with her voice as well...) and at age 18 decided to end her career.
So If you like German, and "metal" coz it's not really this, it's sort of a germany style of hip hop /metal... anyway. Lafee!
Quite unique!!! A troubled young woman this. Her texts burn a hole in your heart!!! 
She also sings on English.. But it simply does not convey the German depth to her lyrics..

The German language have shades of "command and brute giddiness" that the English language cannot convey with simply words...
It's of course a reason to this but.. it's not a good one... ! 
Still! Lafee uses this complex weave of strenght in a very beautiful and full of sadness - way...



Imperial

[stu]

Imperial,

Thanks for starting this thread.  I have picked up some good tips.  I also wanted to pass on what I have read reguarding the Nightwish issue.  It seems that Tarja was asking for more money than what the other band members got.  Toumas told her that in a band everyone gets the same.  She essentially said pay me more or I leave.  He told her "bye,bye, beautiful", which is the name of a son on the latest disc.  Another song on the disc is "master passion greed", which is also about the departure.  I think Toumas was a little angry when he wrote these.  If anybody in the band should get more money it would be him since he writes the music.  I admire him for sticking up for his principles.

As far as the new singer goes, I think she is fine.  Totally different from Tarja, but good.  I think that if she was singing in a different band, people would be talking about how good she is.  I actually think her style fits the music a little better, eventhought I like what Tarja did on a lot of their songs.  The new disc also has the vocals up in the mix so you can hear them better, which I also like. 

Anyway, just my opinion.
Thanks again,
stu

[Imperial]

Ymmärrän...
Yes, there were all these ... I don't know, words, floating around on the subject...
 
I still listen to Nightwish...
Toumas is just too great a composer to ignore, and of course, a very big part of Nightwish and their success over the years!
They say that action speaks louder than words... of course, not all actions should be put into words either.. 


Imperial

[Imperial]

Then you have Pagans Mind, ... I'm not gonna say anything about these guys I think.
Just link to a live concert with them
Should be self explanatory really.
Here they made a song over the famed Spielberg (close encounture 3rd degree melody)
They sort of sound like DT you could say.. Like a Pettruchi like guitarist among other things... Check it out!

Imperial

[Ericus Rex]

I recently was introduced to Dragonforce.  You may like it - very energetic and virtuostic.  They have a myspace page if you want a free taste.

[Stu Pitt]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the band that probably started the genre -

BLACK SABBATH

The original line-up with Ozzy, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Bill Ward

The latest re-mastered stuff has awesome sound quality.  The earlier releases sound horrible in comparison.

If anyone's a Sabbath fan, the Black Box is definitely worth picking up.  All the original studio albums were remastered.

I'm not a big fan of the last two albums - Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die!

I'm not a big Ozzy fan and don't like anything the band released without him.

[nathanm]

"Re-mastered" and "awesome sound quality" are usually mutually exclusive terms in my book.  Usually it just means they cranked the living hell out of it.  I have yet to hear any metal album which has been improved by remastering.  At best it will sound the same as the old one, but on average they just make them loud and obnoxious.  If Sabbath broke with this trend I wouldn't necessarily be surprised, but I still have my doubts.  I'd love to see a waveform comparison.  I hope I'm wrong.  Sabbath doesn't really have anything to do with "symphonic\melodic\progressive metal", though.  Of course they were hugely influential, but they are far removed from the bands mentioned thus far.

Dragonforce is nutty! One or two songs is all I need.  "My Spirit Will Go On" namely.   Them and Sonata Arctica will wear a person out.  "Spastic" is the word that comes to mind.  Like drinking three pots of coffee in an hour.

[mcullinan]

I have two of the remastered Black Sabbath albums and they really do sound great. I was pleasantly suprised at the quality.
Check them out if you can.
Mike

[Stu Pitt]

The Sabbath re-masters aren't a bump up the volume job.  The old ones sound harsh, sharp, and dirty.  The new ones sound have none of this. 

The newest re-masters were overseen by Sabbath and done from the original Warner Bros. tapes.  There were some other re-masters released by Castle which reportedly had no input from the band (they didn't even know they were being done), and didn't use the original tapes.

The new remasters were transferred to 180g vinyl (Earmark/Rhino), and Rhino/Warner Bros CD.  The following are from this batch - Greatest Hits (The new one), Symptom of the Universe, and the Black Box.  To the best of my knowledge, none of these remastered CDs were sold individually - ie a remastered Sabotage isn't available on its own.  The only way to get it is the Black Box.  The tracks Paranoid and War Pigs were released as a single to drum up interest.

Far removed from the bands mentioned thus far?  Perhaps.  Tool has been mentioned (one of my favorites BTW).  Listen to one or two of Sabbath's first 6 albums, then listen to a Tool album.  IMO, Sabbath was a huge influence.

[nathanm]

Sabbath are credited with starting heavy metal at the root level.  Every sub genre that followed claims them as an influence, but only some of them actually have a Sabbathy sound.  Sheavy for instance has a singer that's kind of like…Essence Of Ozzy.  But like, froggier.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=XQkbYMJUzUU

The Black Box sounds promising.  Looks like they did it right.  I might have to check it out.  "Never Say Die" has gotta be their worst, though.  That one was a real turd.  I also think the Tony Martin stuff is great, I love Tyr.  And Ian Gillian's "Born Again" is pure bombastic joy.  One of the benefits of not following a band since its inception is that you can look back on all the lineup and musical changes with a dispassionate ear.  Tony Martin Sabbath has fuck all to do with Paranoid Sabbath, but I'm luckily not saddled with the need for the title and the style to coincide.  I can't say the same for Skyclad for instance.  Hey, maybe Skyclad is a progressive metal band?  Maybe…

[mcullinan]

The ones I have are Japanese imports. They sound awefully good. They are also CDs, not records.
Mike