Do you listen to more or less metal than before?

[Vamos]

How have your listening habits developed over the years when it comes to metal? Do you find that you listen to more metal than before or less? For my part I find that while I listen to metal quite a bit, and in fact it is the music I listen to the most, the number of bands and styles I listen to and like has declined considerably.

Some years ago I used to like Power Metal and listened to plenty of bands from it but today I do not listen to this style of metal anymore. Power Metal is something I just can’t stand today.

Gothic metal I used to be crazy about. And I do like some bands but a plethora of bands that I liked before I no longer do. I dig the beauty and the beast style when done right, but most of the bands in this style fail to do so and plenty which are female fronted are quite boring.

Progressive Metal is a genre I like, but over the last couple of years, like the previous styles it has sort of dwindled a bit and I like fewer bands than I did before. Bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X, which I used to be crazy about, no longer hold my interest that much and I listen to them only occasionally. I accidentally deleted my DreamTheater folder from my computer and never bothered to rip my CDs again. But I do like several bands of this style still and listen to it often. Opeth, which I think can be put here (I am not going to go over 1000+ metal styles), is the one I listen to the most.

Doom Metal in its many variations is a style that has my full attention and I am crazy about it. I actually like more bands from this style than all of the other styles combined and it is the genre that still excites me to explore more and come back to it over and over. I adore the dark, primitive, heavy and mystifying nature of the music and of all music I find it is the one that best matches my personality. Bands like Evoken, Esoteric, Skepticism, Draconian, Virign Black and the like are ones that unlike many bands from other metal styles, touch and move me emotionally instead of leading me to mindless headbanding.

So I could say that my attention to metal has become less varied and broad and more focused towards a couple of styles. Yet, while metal has shrinked, things have expanded towards other genres like Jazz, Classical, Darkwave, etc.

What about you? Do you listen to more or less metal than before?

 

[DeepSouthMetal]

I listen to far more metal than I used to, though that's largely due to the fact that I didn't listen to much metal (unless Evanescence and Linkin Park count...) until mid-2007. Before that I listened to country and Japanese rock... uke:

Then, I simultaneously discovered Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, Opeth's Blackwater Park, and Riverside's Second Life Syndrome. I've never looked back.

 

[To rid you disease]

i have recently how retarded metal is and i nowdays only listen to avant garde free artistic jazz with a touch of classical and autumn leaves.

 

[Slunk]

I never fully listen to pure metal (expect for Bloodbath now and then, but I don't take it very seriously). That being said, the majority of my favorite bands (Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Mastodon, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins (90's), etc) all have metal elements in them.

Any band that stays on one level gets boring to me. That being said, I think metal adds some of the most interesting/satisfying flavors to music. I don't think I will ever get bored with bands like Opeth and Porcupine Tree so long as they keep putting out new music.

 

[DeepSouthMetal]

i have recently how retarded metal is and i nowdays only listen to avant garde free artistic jazz with a touch of classical and autumn leaves.

So you too are a fan of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin?

 

[Nasty-Fire]

Well, not really for me. I still listen to 98% metal. I started with "Melodic Death Metal" and went into "Progressive Death Metal" and such, more ambiant music. Started to like Doom Metal recently, but never really lost interest for anything. On the opposite, I discovered many new genres. Other than that, I always loved black metal, and still am, but always in a limited way. You know, Opeth is the center of my interests in music right now. Today I discovered Agalloch and Pabulum because of this forum, thanks guys.

 

[To rid you disease]

So you too are a fan of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin?

way to mainstream for me

lol, on a serious note, i listened to some on spotify and im rly digging it so far haha.

 

[FJChaos]

I started listening to Classic Metal bands (Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden) when I was 12. Late 2007 I discovered Melodic Death Metal and Old School Death Metal. Recently I've been getting into random stuff like Avant Garde Metal and Prog Metal/rock.

 

[Tubbs]

I almost never listen to metal anymore. Now it's mostly prog. Occasionally I'll listen to Opeth, Enslaved, or a select few other metal bands but it's not very often.

 

[Annihilat0r]

Less. Most metal sounds like dog shit anyway, so it's not a big loss.

 

[BloodSword]

MooDoom, your paragraph description of Doom is spot on,man.

 

[Arasmas]

rainbow - first 3 albums
black sabbath - first 6 albums + 2 dio albums
metallica - first 5 albums
megadeth - rust in peace
opeth - all
dream theater - all, it's a guilty pleasure

on the occasion when i listen to metal, 99% of the time it is from the preceding list. usually this is done on the bus or subway or whatever, when it's not really the time for "serious" listening anyway. i have completely lost any interest to discover new metal bands. why waste my time when there are still countless classical works to be discovered

 

[x_OPETH_x]

Drastically less.... circa 2000, ALL i listened to was metal (death/melodic/core, etc)..

now, i'm into a fair amount of stuff-

Experimental/IDM/Ambient (Boards of Canada, Eivind Aarset, Yagya, Motionfield, etc)

Jazz/Fusion/Prog (everything from Focus to Mahavishnu, Jean-Luc Ponty, Hiromi's Sonicbloom, Steve Kahn, Allan Holdsworth, Steely Dan, Keith Carlock and Wayne Krantz, etc)

most of the metal i listen to isn't really true metal, usually it's experimental/jazz/prog/psychedelia-infused hybrids like Intronaut, Exivious, Textures, Novembre, Extol, Kayo Dot, Memfis...

I reallly don't listen to any "straight-ahead" music in ANY genre...Plain old metal is boring as hell, as is "prog"

 

[Vamos]

...Jean-Luc Ponty, Hiromi's Sonicbloom...

Great stuff right there. Ponty is lovely and Hiromi is also great. You don't like her other albums? Another Mind (see: XYZ) and Brain (see: Kung-Fu World Champion) are good.

 

[Lateralus14]

I entered my true ignorant teen metal head phase like a year ago so I'm still listening to way more than I ever have, but I'm already getting tired of my iPod's current lack of upbeat music, so I'm trying to branch out again, but most of my top 10 bands are metal or have metal elements still atm.

 

[biggsy]

far less than at my peak. pretty much only a bit of post rock and opeth.

 

[i aint play this]

I don't really know, probably less. But to be honest my music-listening habits are getting crazier everyday, to the point that I don't even remember what the fuck I listen to. I'm listening to Rage Against the Machine and in the next second I'll put on some Joni Mitchell, and then some totally random shit for no particular reason.

 

[Don Corleone]

less

 

[hexwind]

Today I discovered (..) Pabulum

I'm waiting for the release ! I listened to only one song with vocals and it's amazing !!!

 

[hexwind]

I discovered new great bands becoz of Mike lol, like : Camel, Comus, Scott Walker and I like them so much thus I listen to a lot of mellow stuff (or whatever you call it lol) than before, and I knew a lot of other metal bands. So i think i listen to more music than before, both Metal and other stuff.