Man, what a thread! I can't believe all those names that haven't been mentioned haven't been mentioned.
My taste is very, very weird. I mean, sure, prog metal, and I love Zero Hour (and I can't fucking wait for October), but I listen to lots and lots of stuff that doesn't fit into any categories. (nb: I'm not really mentioning any of that stuff here; that would be stuff like
maudlin of the Well and
Genghis Tron and
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and
Hieronymus Bosch and so on. I'm trying (and failing ;P) to stick to stuff that somehow sounds like ZH here
) Now I kind of understood that you like straight clean vocals, and it'd be a shame if that should be reason enough for you to not like some (most) of the bands I will mention. I'll try to make it clear which band has a cookie monster singing for them and who has the nice melodic human beings
Okay, I'll start out with some of the most obscure stuff:
Behold... The Arctopus! What can you possibly say about a band that has recorded songs with names such as "You Will Be Reincarnated As An Imperial Attack Spaceturtle"? Not really much
Basically, there's only one EP: "Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning" (man I wished I'd be making this shit up ;P). What do they sound like? Insane. Very very technical, but always in a sort of funny way, where they're not as much wanking on their guitars as really having fun. If you know
Dysrhythmia (and if you don't, check them out as well! Just as insane, just as instrumental, only more rock than metal), think Dysrhythmia plus a dash of insane heavy metal. And yes, they're instrumental. No cookie monster here ;P
Prototype are definitely awesome! Check out their new album Continuum as well. Evidently they're just a little too mainstream for my tastes (at least to be as godly in my opinion as ZH are), but they are a great band and awesome at what they're doing.
Now let's mention a few techdeath bands I love.
Cryptopsy are the number one technical death metal band. No one gets close to them. No one reaches their ankles standing on tiptoe. They are insane, fucking fast, and as brutal as a band can be without personally appearing and breaking your bones one by one. They make Death Machine look like The Spice Girls. Just listen to WE BLEED from And Then You'll Beg (it's on their official website,
www.cryptopsy.net), and you'll need to know no more.
I'll just throw a few more names of techdeath bands out there, for anyone interested in this type of music looking to discover more stuff:
Theory in Practice, Amoral, All Shall Perish, Symbyosis, Cephalic Carnage, Gojira, Bloodbath, Sybreed, Spawn of Possession, Psycroptic, Behemoth, Necrophagist, Yattering, Psyopus. Have I mentioned I quite like this kind of music? ;P
Into Eternity deserve a special mention because they're special. But you've probably heard of them already since they're BIG now
Anyhoo, they are KIND of progressive death metal, but very very melodic and harmonic and their trademark are passages where up to 4 band members sing their own vocal lines. Great stuff, check them out!
Of course since we're talking basic technical metal too, you must know
Watchtower, Spastic Ink, Ron Jarzombek's solo stuff, and the German band
Sieges Even which started out as a Watchtower ripoff back in the 80s and is now doing its very own thing, having most recently delivered their killer album "The Art Of Navigating By The Stars", which is definitely my album of the year 2005. Very melodic, beautiful, progressive metal, always focussing on very interesting song structures. Man I can't talk about music worth shit. Get Art of Navigating... and stop asking questions. It's nothing like ZH at all, but it's fucking brilliant anyway.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the very obvious
Power of Omens! They've split up, unfortunately, but I hear their singer has found a new home
I decided there should be an "In Flames like nwosmdm" section as well, since someone mentioned
Communic (whom I'm going to see live at
Prog Power Europe 2006--which is also the festival that introduced me to ZH back in 2001
). These bands are all rather similar but also all very awesome. Most of them have clean vocals, sometimes a bit of screaming/grunting. Here we go:
Withering Surface, Diablo, Scar Symmetry, Mnemic, Susperia, Soilwork, Mercenary. All these guys are continuing the tradition that In Flames set up and then betrayed when they went britpop.
I just realized none of these are really like Zero Hour, but hey, you started it with Communic
Here's a fucking unique band that you might enjoy:
Ephel Duath. Hailing from Italy, they play something that's oddly between hardcore, death metal, and lounge jazz. No, I'm not on anything
Check them out!
Of course everyone knows
Meshuggah (hey, we're approaching ZH-likeness again ;P), but does everyone also know that Meshuggah are going to retire after listening to
Textures, a dutch band that decided to do what Meshuggah used to do, and better? Now you do!
Two bands that I couldn't fit anywhere but that are also essential:
Extol, Christian Metal that reminds of
Opeth (just in CASE there's a single person left on this planet who has not heard of Opeth--drop whatever you're doing, stop worrying about your hair being on fire or the alligator chewing on your leg and IMMEDIATELY get their whole discography and listen to it ten times in a row. You will thank me. They are the most awesome band in the world) (sorry ZH guys; you're in the top 5! ;P) in how they oscillate between moods. And then there's the awesomely funny
Freak Kitchen with exceptional guitarist Matthias Ia Eklund (who also has a solo project called
Freak Guitar--the sounds this guy gets out of a guitar, it's incredible).
Man I've got to stop or I never will. Music is awesome.
Edit: okay, I've got to add
Orphaned Land. Awesome progressive metal from Israel with a lot of Israel-type world music going on in the songs. All done now
