Expanding my musical horizons

[Life Sucks]

I've realized lately that of all the posters on here, perhaps I have the most limited/narrow musical taste. I listen to almost only extreme metal, though I do like my thrash and classics (Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, etc.), and some traditional doom. I'm looking to try to learn to enjoy music that isn't super heavy, both metal and non metal. I'm open to both metal and non metal suggestions (particularly the latter, considering the nature of the request, but I did not want to post this in the non metal forum). Now for the important part: the music MUST meet the following criteria:


1. it must be dark, gloomy, or downbeat in nature. nothing happy or upbeat please.

2. nothing too heavily blues based. i'm not too into that.

3. no fucking girly lyrics. maybe if the band has one or two such songs it's ok, but I fucking hate bands where the primary subject matter is girls/sex/relationships. on a similar note, i realize i do like a lot of instrumental music, so such suggestions are welcome.

4. no typical indie please. not my cup of tea. almost all indie would be eliminated anyways by criterion number 3.

5. just a note. i don't like jazz. i've actually tried to get into it before, but it doesn't click with me for some reason, though I do respect the genre.


TBH there may be more that I can't think of right now, but that's a start. And if you are just going to post something to flame me, then fuck off. I'm only looking for serious suggestions.

 

[The Ozzman]

Illdisposed

 

[waif]

Uh...
Draconian?
Opeth? (Sort of a violation of 3 - a fair amount of lost love stuff, but it's mostly instrumental anyways)

 

[Lord Kur]

the swans
joy division
bauhaus
skinny puppy
christian death
the residents

 

[Life Sucks]

Uh...
Draconian?
Opeth? (Sort of a violation of 3 - a fair amount of lost love stuff, but it's mostly instrumental anyways)

I've heard Opeth. And yes, major violation of number 3 there. Number 3 is not to be ignored.

 

[J.]

Swans
Dead Can Dance

 

[hibernal_dream]

Check out the ambient scene. Early Tangerine Dream, Aphex Twin and Klaus Schulze. Also Autechre. No blues, no upbeats, no lyrics.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

Satanic Warmaster. If you can get over the bit of fuzz in the music it, Carelian Satanist Madness is actually pretty relaxing.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That album is fucking kickass. All of SW's stuff is top notch.

 

[Qoppa]

Beethoven. Go.

 

[Alter]

Number 3 takes out a ton of good non-metal. I dont get it, are you looking for non-metal?

Panda Bear
Elliott Smith is downbeat as fuck but violates number 3

 

[Einherjar86]

Dvorak's where it's at for classical. New World Symphony baby.

I think you might like Virgin Black. They're very dark, very gloomy, and they're sound ranges from frighteningly heavy to delicately soft. However, they're still metal.

For non-metal, I'd say Tom Waits. Don't get his early stuff because it's more blues/jazz; but his later stuff is really creepy and weird. Lots of strange percussion and very haunting spoken tracks. Check out a song like "Murder in the Red Barn" or a spoken track like "What's He Building?"

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

And, despite your parameters, buy yourself some Ted Nugent.

 

[Rumpole]

Anything by Antimatter.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I've realized lately that of all the posters on here, perhaps I have the most limited/narrow musical taste. I listen to almost only extreme metal, though I do like my thrash and classics (Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, etc.), and some traditional doom. I'm looking to try to learn to enjoy music that isn't super heavy, both metal and non metal. I'm open to both metal and non metal suggestions (particularly the latter, considering the nature of the request, but I did not want to post this in the non metal forum). Now for the important part: the music MUST meet the following criteria:


1. it must be dark, gloomy, or downbeat in nature. nothing happy or upbeat please.

2. nothing too heavily blues based. i'm not too into that.

3. no fucking girly lyrics. maybe if the band has one or two such songs it's ok, but I fucking hate bands where the primary subject matter is girls/sex/relationships. on a similar note, i realize i do like a lot of instrumental music, so such suggestions are welcome.

4. no typical indie please. not my cup of tea. almost all indie would be eliminated anyways by criterion number 3.

5. just a note. i don't like jazz. i've actually tried to get into it before, but it doesn't click with me for some reason, though I do respect the genre.


TBH there may be more that I can't think of right now, but that's a start. And if you are just going to post something to flame me, then fuck off. I'm only looking for serious suggestions.

Look at my sig.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

If you're interested in trying an electronic/synthpop album, check out VNV Nation's Empires. It pretty much meets all your criteria, though the lyrics can be a bit idealistic/wistful (the sound, however, is not). I used to listen to it a hell of a lot when darker music was more my thing. It's an absolutely fantastic and landmark album among electronic music.

As for metal: if you haven't listened to Cathedral yet, their early material is pretty solid doom metal. Stay away from their 1993-1998 period, though.

The album I recommend most from Cathedral's discog, however, is Endtyme. It was the first album after their bluesy period, and it maintains the thick, groovy sound from it, but completely does away with the upbeat/bluesy riffs. Endtyme is a dark, frightening album with apocalyptic themes, and unlike most doom metal (that I've heard anyway), it actually rocks pretty hard instead of just plodding around with sleep-inducing tempos.

 

[WINTER TYRANT]

dont know if youd like it but i am partial to Wrath of Killenstein. check em out...
http://www.myspace.com/wok

 

[LivingCadaver]

heh I've been a bit bored with metal too lately..

I'm a bit into indie rock/shoegaze, electro and classical music but I don't you'd be interested in any of that.

I don't know if you like punky indie but BearVSshark is a good band, Against Me is another good punk band not too poppy. Also Interpol is one of the best indie band I've listen to, good voice (guy), nice rhythm section for the genre and catchy bass/guitar. They are quite on the unhappy side of things especially on the album the Antics, not your typical party balloon/soap bubble type of indie band.

 

[Mort Divine]

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

 

[Hypnos]

Void Of Silence --> 'Human Antithesis' is one of the darkest pieces of music ever
Antimatter
Orplid
Canaan
Monumentum
Neronoia
Laliya
Pink Floyd
King Crimson
Mike Oldfield --> get 'Tubular Bells, pt. 2' and 'Voyager'