I really didn't want to interfere in other sections inside this forum because I don't want to annoy people around there. So let's have a talk inside "The Tavern".

So, basically, I have 18 years of existance, and, though not completely deaf to this music, I feel I still don't comprehend the actual meaning of the genre. In other words, I need some essential artists to fully understand the essence of metal, and how I can interpret it for my own good. Some of my friends started to like metal stuff since, like, they were 13. I was more into the alternative electronica stuff, like Aphex Twin and alikes. Though, I've always wondered why people are so fervent to metal music.
Now, having read some books, watched some documentaries, and listened more metal, I think this music totally fits me. Though, maybe, I'll not "feel" it the same way experienced people would. But there's nothing wrong trying it, right?

So how should I start?

fyi: My favorite, by now, metal bands are: Nadja, Earth (though they're more rock oriented now), RATM and Ufomammut. I'm really into atmospheric kind of stuff, but I want to dive deep inside other subjects, like lyrics, the culture, stuff like that.

Thanks.

btw: sorry if my grammar is shit; english is not my mother language.

Sounds like you've already started. Why don't you just keep going.

Yeah dude. But I want to feel the full metal power. I want to know which singer has the most brutal voice, or what lyrics tears up the mind. Dunno, most of my friends started listening to metal with Metallica and Iron Maiden, then they went deep further into other stuff (though not that dark, like, dark ambient). So (this might sound retarded) I have 14yo and a friend of mine wants to share me some metal music "oh dude you should hear this, yo", and I'm completely ignorant to it. What would he show me?

Why don't you just continue to explore what you like, starting with side projects of band members and see where it leads you.

It obviously wouldn't hurt to check out some of the absolute basics though like Sabbath, Pentagram, Death, Morbid Angel, Darkthrone, Emperor, Fates Warning, Queensryche...

Just look them up on the site and start from the beginning of their discography's or try the album with the highest ratings or most reviews or whatever. The world is your oyster to explore.

Getting your hand held and having every street sign and landmark pointed out to you completely robs you of the majesty of exploration. Everybody else who posted so far is right, just explore naturally. Go off what you like, experiment with bands that are known to be similar, check out the classics and see what it is you like and don't like. It'll lead to longevity and a real connection with the music, as opposed to checking out whatever it is because your almighty guide just plopped you in front of it. Work to get there.

lol, well, I needed at least any form of motivation. I'm doing that, but a "hey keep going bro " really helps. Thanks.

Nobody can really guide you. People will have strong opinions (I sure do) but how each of us feel about music is different. It"s supposed to happen organically, over time. You follow your own path. Here are a few basic steps people usually take naturally:

1- Start with the bands you liked (you've listed some) and check out who influenced them, how they came to develop that sound. Check interviews, find similar bands. Go back. You should also find similar artists, see what they do differently and all that. This will give you a historical perspective. You may or may not like the artists you will find but will discover more stuff.

2-Find articles, documentaries and the like on the history of metal. How the genre was created, who are the pioneers, the innovators, who pushed the style in different directions.

3-Talk to your friends. Especially if they have already offered to help. BTW, there is a reason most of your friends started on Iron Maiden and Metallica. It's because these are two of the most kickass bands in the world with a body of work as good as anything else in the history of the genre. Read on those bands, see what influenced them and in turn, who they influenced and so on.

4-Read reviews.

5-Most importantly, have fun. Don't get caught up in who is the most brutal, fastest, etc... just focus on how you feel about bands and go from there.

If nothing else do, I personally recommend listening to the first three Black Sabbath + Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules, the first three Metallica, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Iron Maiden, Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance as well as Defenders of the Faith and finally, Slayer's Reign In Blood and and Seasons in the Abyss. Those 15 albums kick more ass than all the other metal records combined. Everyone should at least be familiar with this stuff. You decide if you like it or not.

But then, that's just my opinion and someone else is gonna come here and tell you to ignore my suggestions and recommend things that I will probably find awful.

Just don't over-analyze and enjoy whatever it is you enjoy.

Riffs, thanks for the suggestions, and I'll totally hear those records (I just really want to know metal).

Yeah, basically, this is your own path to tread. You'll discover what you like, and seek out more stuff like that, and as you get older, your tastes will expand. It's a beautiful thing - like an ever-opening flower. But since you want recommendations, I'll just tell you some of my favorite albums:

Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

That's my favorite album, and has been for a while. To me, it encompasses the best of both speed metal and power metal, and at the same time has an incredible, fantastic atmosphere. Totally great.

Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian

Basically my other favorite album. I like it for much the same reason as the BG album: the atmosphere. And also the incredible vocals of John Arch. It's an early progressive/power metal classic, in any case, and well worth investing in.

Psychotic Waltz - A Social Grace

The more I listen to this album, the more it embeds itself into my soul. I have a really hard time finding any faults with this album. An amazing, cerebral progressive metal album, with enough pounding heaviness to satisfy the headbanging urge, and some of the best, most philosophical lyrics I've ever heard on top of it. Amazing.

Man, that's only a very small portion of what metal has to offer, but I feel it is my duty to talk about those albums whenever possible. Definitely get a taste of the various subgenres and decide what interests you. Others have noted the classics that need to be heard; you'll discover more as you go. Have fun!

Thiestru, checking those asap, also thanks to orionmetalhead. And yeah, I know how "music discovery" works, just needed some starting points. Thanks again dudes.

If you want to know metal, the first thing you definitely should not do is watch a Sam Dunn documentary. Ever. Other than that, just really go with the flow and when you become comfortable with one genre type, move on to bigger things.

...and remember to listen to "Black Sabbath"

Would there actually be a chance to create some kind of "Metal Archives guide to the Metal Scene"?

It would contain a list (maybe even a discussion) of the essential bands/albums.

You'll really have to find the answer to those questions yourself. I make it sound like a chore when I formulate it like that, but the most fun part of getting into metal and music in general is finding your own little 'niche' within the genre. I understand that you want to get familiar with the basics before you delve deeper, though, but this is easier to do by yourself than it sounds.

Me, I started listening to bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden when I was like 13. Then I found out an old member of Metallica had formed Megadeth, and I checked that out. Then I got familiar with more thrash metal: Slayer, Anthrax, and European stuff like Kreator, Sodom and Destruction. How? You just read up a little on the genre's history through zines, books and internet pages; nowadays it's really easy with stuff like Wikipedia (though they tend to be very superficial). It also helps to surround yourself with a couple of friends with similar musical tastes, so you can exchange bands. After you are familiar with that kind of stuff, you can start exploring subgenres, which will probably make you go through certain phases. I've been into thrash metal, death metal and even some industrial metal before I found what I was looking for in black metal, and ended up listening almost exclusively to this genre and related crossovers.

This may not sound like the fastest or most efficient way of getting to the best music, but it is the most effective. I could tell you right away what my favourite artists/albums are, but it'd be meaningless without you having gone through a similar process. An album such as Peste Noire's L'Ordure a l'état Pur, for example, is likely to only appeal to those who are very familiar with the black metal genre already, and it took me a full 7 years before I started appreciating Darkthrone's early albums like I do now.

The fun part is that you'll probably end up hating a lot of the stuff you were into earlier. I find it incredible that I used to think Nothing Else Matters was a good song.

I started out as a Metallica fan boy. When I got hold of the internet, one of the first things I did was to get hold of Garage Inc, and find just about everything I could from the bands that Metallica covered. From there on I got deeper into NWOBHM, as well as thrash naturally, and branched out from there. Do the ame thing with your favourite bands. Read up on them, find out their influences, and find out what sounds like them. Have fun!

Just keep reading, and keep listening. What Terri says, find their influences, is an awesome idea.

Compilations are good. I once illegally downloaded a death metal compilation and eventually ended up buying every single album that it sampled. I didn't even do it knowingly, I only recently realized I was slowly but surely buying all the music I remembered hearing and liking from somewhere.

So yeah, buy or download compilations of a genre/style you like or that features one of the bands you already know.

I think that the beauty of metal is that there is such variety just within this one genre. You get bands from Black Sabbath to Anal Cunt to Stratovarius to Korpiklaani to Bathory and so on. There is no chance that you are going to like every band, so asking other people to help you start might put you in the wrong direction.

I would suggest finding artists similar to those which you like and also dabbling a little bit into the various sub genres to find out which of those you find appealing. I personally think that the process is very long. I started getting into metal 6 years ago and I'm still discovering new bands every day.

For thrash metal, I'd listen to the big four first. Hell, those are the bands I listen to most anyway out of thrash other than my own personal preference for "brutal" thrash, but there's very little of that to go around. Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer being some of the best bands in thrash and in metal. Anthrax I can honestly do without, never cared for them much and don't think they are all that important. There are other WAY more important thrash metal bands I think.

Well, on the Newbie Introduction thread, one of the first posts has a massive list of "essential" albums, split by genre.

Man, I can't wait to see your expression once you hit your genre, so to speak. I think a lot of people have that revelation of like, "this is my fucking genre." That's what happened to me. I listened to Anthrax, Slayer and Dark Angel and was just like, "OH MY FUCKING GOD." I hit that once with Reign In Blood, again with Darkness Descends, again with Fistful Of Metal, another time with Thrash Zone and again with Deathrash Assault and Breaking The Wheel. Nothing can top that feeling of like, "OH MY CHRIST, THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER HEARD EVER, EVER!"

Yeah, this over and over again.

It's been scientifically proven that appreciating Black Sabbath helps increase life expectancy, improves happiness, bumps your salary by 11 thousand dollars annually, helps fight cavities and increases penis size.

Or maybe it does none of these things, but it is definitely amazing music that everyone should be acquainted with

Well it's good to know you are already familiar with the big Archetypes. There are Archtypes for every genre, all of which give you a good idea what it's like. Archetypes for Power Metal, for example, would be Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian and Rhapsody of Fire.

Youtube is an AMAZING place to find allot of lesser known bands, especially through the related searches bar. So, lets say you are looking for "Brutal Death Metal", search for something like "top 10 Brutal death metal bands". You can easily go and explore through many links.

Secondly, I recommend going to as many concerts as you can. Often the big bands will bring lesser known bands for support who are of similar genres who you may like. When I went to see 3 Inches of Blood last year, they brought along 2 thrash bands (Havoc and Angelus Apatrida) and a Black/Death Metal band (Goatwhore). You can then look them up on this website and often find more under the "similar artists" tab.

Thirdly, join facebook groups or like public pages. Often they will share allot of lesser known metal bands they want more people to know about. You can also talk to allot of people there as to who their favourite metal bands are, as you will no doubt find many you have never heard of.

Fourth, I actually quite reccomend watching the documentaries by Banger Films inc. These include Metal: a Headbangers Journey, Global Metal and Metal Evolution. All of these documentaries give you a good history of the general culture and how many of the important subgenres of metal came about. On this note I also recommend you look up Heavy Metal reviewers across the internet, many who are dedicated to giving the undiscovered gems in metal their time in the limelight. Personal recommendations from me would be Happy Viking, The Guess Nation (AKA Pat's Metal Reviews) and Cover Killer Nation.

Fith and finally; Keep an open mind! When I first listened to Heavy Metal and Rock, I got in through 80s Hair Metal and NWOBHM and scoffed at the idea of Harsh vocals! Now I love many melodic death metal bands which use harsh vocals in a way I never thought existed. The more new things you try, the more likely you will find something that you never expected to like. There are exceptions to every rule!

Hope this helps =D

You should just take it at your own pace man. Don't try and rush things and listen to every old school metal album now because people are telling you. I didn't listen to some metal classics and I'm still checking out classic albums. The awesome thing about listening to metal and music is you don't need to understand the fundamentals to get into the latter works. Sure everyone is going to say "Listen to Black Sabbath cause they are the best [insert nerd rant]" but you got to go at your own pace and make your own opinions. You don't have to like Black Sabbath at all if you don't like the music.

Don't come off like an ass either if you don't like something either.

Power Metal is legit, awesome, and very manly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Keyboards are a great instrument.

And don't forget Manowar. And Virgin Steele. Oh! and Manilla Road, they are very important.

Also, what FasterDisaster said is spot-on. I feel that way with power & black metal, two sides of a metal coin, you might say.

I recommend looking through the recommended albums in the intro thread like Against Such Things said, then hitting up the appropriate help thread in Rec Central to find more of whatever you enjoyed.

If you want more atmospheric stuff, I recommend Agalloch, Neurosis, and Isis to begin with. Another band worth checking out is Meshuggah, since they haven't been mentioned yet and Djent is becoming more and more prominent, for better or worse.

Thanks folks. Quite digging the recommendations in here.