Metal for Squares

[Futureman]

I've been dabbling in metal music lately. Apart from the bands I listened to some 20 years ago, I'm not well-acquainted with the genre or its various subgenres. I know enough to know that I do *not* like, for example, Cannibal Corpse, if only because bands like this are too campy and seem to draw from what other black/death bands have already done. On the other hand, I have found bands like Morbid Angel kind of interesting.

Can someone suggest some bands worth checking out? I’m especially interested in doom/stoner metal and even more interesting hybrids of folk and metal (e.g., Circle of Ouroborus [thanks HCI!]). No "Symphonic" Metal, please.

[Kid B]

It's okay, metal is for squares.

[tinobeat]

Early Man renewed my interest when their record came out, and in my renewed interest I delved successfully into these awesome bands:

Saxon
Angel Witch
Death
Venom
Possessed
Exodus
Kreator

I sort of found that 80's thrash and NWOBHM was what did it for me. Except Death, who don't fall into those, but their "Individual Thought Patterns" album is totally amazingly brutal.

[vesper]

it sounds like you might like opeth, especially the later stuff - check out blackwater park and ghost reveries.

[baconfat]

!LOINCLOTH!

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Are Loincloth even around anymore?

a tiny handful of doomy and/or stonerish recommendations, off the top of my head:

Angel Rot
Artimus Pyledriver
Blood Farmers
Calamus
Cathedral
Earthride
Electric Wizard
Goatsnake
The Hidden Hand
Kyuss
The Obsessed
Pentagram (U.S.)
Saint Vitus
Spirit Caravan
Unearthly Trance
Unorthodox

If you like Circle of Ouroborus, check out Nuit Noire. Drudkh also mix in folk elements but in a completely different way.

Some out-there-ish black and death metal recommendations:

Anaal Nathrakh
Deathspell Omega
Negură Bunget
Portal
S.V.E.S.T.
Sadistik Exekution
Thralldom
Urfaust

www.Metal-Archives.com is a good source of info on a lot of these bands.

[Moon Pix]

Machine Head, the first album at least.