Oldhippie and I are buddies from another forum, and he told me that this was the place to be. He hasn't steered me wrong yet, so here I am. 
I didn't seriously get into music until sometime around my sophomore year in high school, right around 9/11. I was always into hard and alternative rock when I was younger, and after my dad passed away back in January of 2011, I got into metal. I've been into it ever since. I've listened to all sorts of craziness made by all sorts of crazy people, and I've loved every second of it. Not that it matters, but being a thirty-something black guy, I've always loved seeing people's varying reactions when we inevitably start talking about music and they find out that I listen to metal. They're almost always totally shocked...ha ha. I dabble in other genres sometimes, but once a metalhead, always a metalhead.
I like all sorts of different stuff. Amorphis was my gateway band. I started out listening to them, then got into other melodic death metal like Insomnium, Be'Lakor, and Dark Tranquillity, all of whom I still listen to today. That stuff was perfect for what I was going through right after I lost my dad. I then got into Meshuggah and briefly dabbled in djent for a while, and then for a good solid year or two straight, I listened to nothing but black metal after discovering Immortal and Watain. If it didn't have blast beats, shrieked vocals, and grim, tr00 kvlt lyrics, I didn't want to hear it. LOL.
Eventually I grew out of that and started listening to more ambient stuff like The Body and newer Ulver, and then I randomly discovered Leaves' Eyes and got into symphonic metal, which totally mellowed me out. If I absolutely had to choose, I'd say that the symphonic stuff is probably my favorite subgenre of metal. I like Xandria, Epica, newer Nightwish (pretty much everything from their album "Once" onwards), Delain, After Forever, ReVamp, Kamelot, the aforementioned Leaves' Eyes, and I like a little Stream of Passion every now and then, just to name some bands right off the top of my head.
These days, I'll listen to just about anything guitar-based, from Alvvays to Arch Enemy and everything in between and beyond. I do prefer modern stuff, even modern stuff with a retro sound like Kadavar and Blues Pills, but I'll give almost anything a shot. I could go on and on, but I've probably already said way too much. Looking forward to posting some videos and hopefully engaging in some enjoyable discussions!
I didn't seriously get into music until sometime around my sophomore year in high school, right around 9/11. I was always into hard and alternative rock when I was younger, and after my dad passed away back in January of 2011, I got into metal. I've been into it ever since. I've listened to all sorts of craziness made by all sorts of crazy people, and I've loved every second of it. Not that it matters, but being a thirty-something black guy, I've always loved seeing people's varying reactions when we inevitably start talking about music and they find out that I listen to metal. They're almost always totally shocked...ha ha. I dabble in other genres sometimes, but once a metalhead, always a metalhead.
I like all sorts of different stuff. Amorphis was my gateway band. I started out listening to them, then got into other melodic death metal like Insomnium, Be'Lakor, and Dark Tranquillity, all of whom I still listen to today. That stuff was perfect for what I was going through right after I lost my dad. I then got into Meshuggah and briefly dabbled in djent for a while, and then for a good solid year or two straight, I listened to nothing but black metal after discovering Immortal and Watain. If it didn't have blast beats, shrieked vocals, and grim, tr00 kvlt lyrics, I didn't want to hear it. LOL.
Eventually I grew out of that and started listening to more ambient stuff like The Body and newer Ulver, and then I randomly discovered Leaves' Eyes and got into symphonic metal, which totally mellowed me out. If I absolutely had to choose, I'd say that the symphonic stuff is probably my favorite subgenre of metal. I like Xandria, Epica, newer Nightwish (pretty much everything from their album "Once" onwards), Delain, After Forever, ReVamp, Kamelot, the aforementioned Leaves' Eyes, and I like a little Stream of Passion every now and then, just to name some bands right off the top of my head.
These days, I'll listen to just about anything guitar-based, from Alvvays to Arch Enemy and everything in between and beyond. I do prefer modern stuff, even modern stuff with a retro sound like Kadavar and Blues Pills, but I'll give almost anything a shot. I could go on and on, but I've probably already said way too much. Looking forward to posting some videos and hopefully engaging in some enjoyable discussions!