Greetings!
Dudes, suggest me some metal like Death, Cynic, Gojira, Portal, Anaal Nathrakh (the little I can understand that is ), Cattle Decapitation, Cephalic Carnage, Ulcerate, Deathspell Omega, Mayhem, Meshuggah etc. that deals with topics other than the cookie cutter themes like metal4lyfe!, beer, Satan, gore etc. Absolutely nothing wrong with that whatsoever but it's not what this thread is about. Basically what I'm (or rather we are) looking for thought provoking bands that actually have something to say, doesn't matter if I agree/disagree with their ideas.

I'd prefer that the recs are on the heavier side of the spectrum but I'm (almost) open to all sorts of metal. Brief descriptions along with recs will be highly appreciated. Looking forward to your recommendations!
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Edit 1 | Feb 17, 2017 :
Please feel free to use this thread as you guys use any other major help thread. Share bands & discuss with each other as long the recs & discussions are relevant to the loose criteria set here. The original post has been edited accordingly.

Also, huge thanks to all the contributors.

Cheers!

Therion - their entire "classic metal" era - I can't get into that music at all, but the lyrical side is amazing.

Ehnahre is a band that would fit your list perfectly.

Therion's symphonic stuff does nothing for me as well. I'm checking out their death metal ouput, it's pretty decent so far.
Ehnahre is completely up my alley. Good one, thanks.

Man Must Die - Peace Was Never An Option: societal topics, not to mention I'd classify the music as thinking man's technical DM, i.e., it's very well structured, not the typical TDM guitar wankery for wankery's sake.

Tech death even at its wankiest is fine by me. Never checked out these guys for some reason. Pretty good so far, drumwork is crushing, riffs are pretty fresh & varied for the most part, hints of melodeath & metalcore in here too, the vocals are semi-understandable so I can make out some of the stuff the dude is spewing without looking at the lyrics, all around I'm enjoying it a lot. Thanks!

Then you might like their previous album, No Tolerance For Imperfection, even more. It's a little more aggressive, but still retains the structure and song-writing skill. Kill It, Skin It, Wear It is a crushing song, and It Comes In Threes is a mid-paced chugging monster with a totally out-of-place awesomely tasteful solo that somehow fits perfectly, if that makes any sense .

Why are Death and Cynic on your list, but not Atheist, btw? They qualify as "thinking man's" a lot more than those two, obviously. Also wondering about the absence of Demilich. I'm sure you're well familiar with those two, though.

Spite Extreme Wing are pretty much as "thinking man's" as it gets, their lyrics are in Italian but you can find translations around the web. One of the most conceptually mature bands in all of black metal.

I'm familiar with Atheist & Demilich, I didn't add them in the list because I've listened to them rather casually without making much effort to 'get it' so to speak. Basically, went in one ear & came out the other. It happens to a lot actually when I listening to music but I digress.

On the other hand, SEW are new to me.
"An underrated masterpiece by an underrated and overlooked band." Reads one of the comments, I agree wholeheartedly even though I didn't know about them a few minutes ago.
Will check out the lyrics later, the music has my undivided attention for the time being. Much appreciated, thanks!

Disavowed - Dutch band, in fact if memory serves me correct in one of their albums they refer to themselves as "the thinking mans death metal" or maybe that was the review on here. Either way solid band, first album I think has better music and riffing but the vocals can get a bit tedious, second album is much better vocally. Both great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXFPR0cxqEM

Decrepit Birth - Lots of in depth stuff going on here. First album is straight forward brutal death ala Caligorge but the next two albums are much more experimental and melodic, still very intense fast death metal though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMnPb7pQ39Q

Wormed - Much like Decrepit Birth these guys are as "thinking man" musically as they are lyrically. Have a very "outer space" type sound and atmosphere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngtiYt5Nnik

Plenty of bands out there with in depth thinking lyrics. I still think the best to ever do it though was Napalm Death, particularly on "From Enslavement To Obliteration" that album is one of my all time favorites. Great music, great lyrics, pure rage! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl0O5GF6c0E

Swallowed, The Chasm, Krypts...

Crimson Massacre - The Luster of Pandemonium is pretty much the logical conclusion of tech death to me. Incredible lyrical and musical depth. Ingurgitating Oblivion, Lecherous Nocturne (well, The Age of Miracles Has Passed, their other albums are not as good in my experience), and Orgone have very similar sounds and you'll probably like all 3 if you like Crimson Massacre.

There's also a certain school of prog metal that comes to mind - Power of Omens, Brothers Grimm, Psycho Symphony, and Garden Wall are the most obvious choices. Their songs tend towards incredibly complicated structures, rhythmic patterns, and instrumental interplay, and shy away from the anthemic melodies of more mainstream prog metal.

The third style that comes up for me are the really, really weird death and black metal bands from the late 90s. These bands don't share much in common aside from being highly eclectic and having disturbing and distinctive atmospheres, but they all have the same sort of appeal to me. This includes Windham Hell (neoclassical David Lynch metal), Ebonylake (proto-Unexpect + Ved Buens Ende), Graal (idiot-savant Atheist with freak folk elements), Rhadamantys (Comus goes prog death), Hospice (sad Eastern European folk music meets incredibly frantic tech death), Deface (Confessor + death-doom atmosphere + DSBM vocals??), Pan.Thy.Monium (Dan Swano is batshit insane), Gonin-ish (Japanese avant-folk metal), and Oxiplegatz (ex-guitarist of At the Gates makes Ayreon-esque sci-fi concept albums with weird industrial overtones).

This weird-core is, of course, very different from what people like ANUS would call thinking-man's metal (so, early At the Gates, Molested, Fanisk, Mournful Congregation, and so on).

Mournful Congregation is thinking man's metal? Thinking about the many creative ways of recycling melodies from the first two Anathema albums?

An Epic Dream of Desire is pretty awesome but hey, I'm not Mr. ANUS Tastemaker, don't ask me.

DB are pretty interesting, be it musically or the fact that Bill is voluntarily homeless. Wormed is probably one of favorite my bdm bands these days. Disavowed is new to me, will check 'em out.


Haven't heard heard Swallowed yet but the other two were fantastic when I heard them earlier this year.


Lots of good shit here mate.

Thanks for the recs guys!


...

!t.o.o.h! (prog death grind) I find them complex and original!
Bose De Nage post-black with one of the better drummer around!
others I like already here or are obvious ones.

Anata tackles some more complex themes than your usual extreme metal subjects, and where it delves into religious criticism, it's very thoughtful, especially on the later albums. The Conductor's Departure is a must-have in any thinking man's metal collection!

The Great Juggler:


Better Grieved Than Fooled:

The thread lives!!!

!T.O.O.H! is too weird/'wacky' even for me. Bose De Nage sounds pretty good even though I'm not the biggest fan of post-black.
Anata's last album was god-tier tech death but due to 10 years of relative inactivity they had been completely erased from my mind. I'm REdiscovering their stuff now.

Thanks for the recs!

Vardoger's debut full-length Ghost Notes has been basically on constant rotation since it came out for me.


Becoming The Archetype is great too. This is their most progressive album and my favorite of theirs.


I realize that both of these bands are Christian so hopefully that's not a deal-breaker.

Doesn't matter as long as the music is solid.

Vardoger is pretty good, those female vocals caught me by surprise.
Haven't heard metalcore in a long, long time. That BtA is making me want to revisit the genre *cue boos in the background*. I remember they had a song in which the vocalist went HALLELUJAH (!) in a deep growly tone, any idea what song that is?

Thanks for the recs!

I'm sure you've heard of these bands. But I'll suggest them anyway, since I feel they fit in the description.

Phobocosm


Misery Index


Dying Fetus


Gorguts

Right on!

BTA is a great band and put on a super fun live show too. They do have a little core influence but I'd consider them more progressive death metal than anything. However for their latest album they got basically a whole new lineup and it's more deathcore. It's decent for what it is I suppose but I much prefer their older stuff.

It might've been BTA that growled hallelujah that you're thinking of:

(It's at the tail-end of the song.)


If you like BTA, you may also like Solamors. It's the same vocalist/bassist.


The guitarist and the drummer of Solamors were in another band called Aletheian together which I actually discovered on Cynic's old online forum (about 10 years ago). Death and Cynic are their two primary musical influences though I feel they do a good job of making their own sound. I think they have great lyrics as well.

@overtenmy: I've been on a huge Misery Index binge for a few days, these guys are awesome. I know & adore all those other bands too but still, thanks!

@Kerrick: Forgot how epic that song was!
Solamors & Alethian are surprisingly good, brings back memories of the ol' days when I was blasting KsE, Unearth & Parkway Drive thinking it was the heaviest shit around

Awesome; I'm glad you like them!

You may want to give Artificial Brain a try. It's Gorguts-esque dissonant DM with, of course, a sci-fi/cosmic flair. The songwriting is tight as hell, and that's something that isn't so easily achieved in that niche.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxu5MYDP1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQeZaBVRXpg

Brood of Hatred play a similar style but are much more...introspective. The music is more controlled and calculated so to speak, and largely mid-paced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVFVaJZ3mi4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYG3UTFZIgg&index=3&list=PLF_qv-29DM-pUQbb3M9jA2EJtKHrjzlQ4

Are you a fucking psychic? I was just thinking about listening to AB before reading your post. *cue X-Files theme*

BoH is absolutely killer, goosebumps all over! It's subtly dissonant & melodic at the same time. I'm getting some fleeting Ulcerate (Shrine of Paralysis to be precise) feels here.

Thanks!

Damn right I'm psychic Glad you liked BoH. Though it shouldn't matter, the fact they're from Tunisia makes me want to pimp their work harder.

I remembered some other stuff. Hadal Maw might also be to your liking. As non-wanky tech-death, it's very much to my liking. It helps they got that crazy drummer from Alarum on board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PH4Q3L2x_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmUNP6pxiDY

And for an album that is truly out there, check out Flourishing's The Sum of all Fossils. It's incredibly idiosyncratic Gorguts meets post-hardcore affair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN1_i0vc6j4

Blasting that Flourishing album right now, dissonance never sounded so 'fun'! Good stuff man!

Skagos is a great Cascadian black metal band that uses a lot of ambience. Check out the unconventional vocals about 3 minutes into the second track for some beautiful and intense lyrics.
https://skagos.bandcamp.com/

White Suns is sort of a black metal/harsh noise/hardcore band that uses loose, almost improvisational song structures without feeling wandering.
https://whitesuns.bandcamp.com/album/totem

I don't know if you're also looking for doom metal, but Warning is a phenomenal band (they seem fairly well known 'round these parts). They sing about relationship stuff, but, like, in a mature way. Great riffs too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGqUo7a7J_I

Anyway, I've been digging the other rec's. Spite Extreme Wing is the shit.

I was a bit unsure of Skagos at first but I ended up enjoying it. Normally, this sort of black metal isn't my thing but I'm opening up to it gradually.

Warning legit put me to sleep & I mean that in the best way possible. Not big on trad. doom (not sure if that's the correct term) but this proved to be very relaxing even though the dude was spewing full on gloom.

White Suns is interesting...let's just say that I have a minor headache now, thanks!

I dont know which !T.O.O.H! album you checked if you checked their last one give a chance to their early ones they much better.
I don't like Post Black Metal but Bose De Nage are great.

I wouldn't exactly call Julius Evola "mature" but, eh, different strokes.

I always thought Árstíðir lífsins approached Viking themes with much more genuine appreciation for Old Norse literature, society and history than almost all Viking/pagan-themed metal bands in the world. They almost sort of crawl into the mind of the Viking everyman with their imagery. All very tasteful and "thinking-man-like", I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQZefi2M6w

If you like Warning, you'll most likely also enjoy Patrick Walker's new band 40 Watt Sun. They just released their second album which is quite different [softer] than their first album, but both are quite good.

Here's one from their first album:


And one from their new album:

Perfect for the mild insomnia I'm suffering from these days.

Voivod were a big influence on the whole sci fi themed death metal bands, 'Killing Technology' through to 'Nothingface' would be well worth checking out.

Alsoe staying on that topic would be Nocturnus, not up there with Atheist and Death in terms of musicianship but still well worth a listen.

Metalcore huh?
In that case you need to hear one of my favorite metal albums ... Cataract - With Triumph Comes Loss. And that's saying something because I'm not a huge metalcore fan either. But I do like "heavy" music, and this is very heavy ... in the old-school definition (mid-paced, fist balled up, nose scrunched like you smelled something bad). It gets my subwoofers pounding. Introspective lyrics to boot.

When it comes to metalcore you may also like Before The Fall because it's nothing like your standard metalcore. Subject matter isn't the typical immature subjects, although I wouldn't call them intellectual. The music is more sophisticated but heavier at the same time, and songwriting more intellectual and varied than the typical metalcore band. My favorite songs are Destroy and Crucified Perdition, neither of which is on YouTube individually. You'll even hear a little Slayer riff in the sample.

I'm not really familiar with a lot of blackened folk/pagan/viking metal but this was really good.


Can't get into Nocturnus or Voivod for some reason. In theory I should outright love these two because the modern bands that are influenced by them are some of the best I've heard. Having said that, it has been a long while since I've given either one a proper chance.


Not completely sold on Cataract yet. Still had fun with it.
BtF sounds really beefed up. Gets a bit bro-metal at a few instances but I'm banging my head to this shit! Groovy & crushing

Try...

...Dååth: Industrial/Melodic Death/Groove Metal (haha Yeah copied from this site) with sometimes a kind of “special“ Sound esp. Earlier Songs, but more profound lyrics (see self exploration)

...Nattefrost: black metal (yes, the carpathian forest dudero doing sth alone) , in particular “Blood and vomit“ has a (for black metal) unusal good quality and vivid/full Sound, but mostly ... Weird lyrical themes, esp. In“Terrorist“

...castrator (from u.s.) : am/brutal dm w/ thrilling( fast, well... Brutal )Sound and lyrics //I dissociate myself from their lyrical themes, bc they're very political etc (triggering intensifies) ; I See then from a neutral point of view and rather concentrate on the music only//

...mephorash: bm, pretty young Band w/ good quality Sound and some dm like parts, interesting and different from the bm classics

******For fun:) *********
Party cannon: brutal dm, I haven't spent much time on them yet , but a cool partaaay Option for not-so-serious times

Biological monstrosity: #1unreadable logo, so is their music, actually only a Funny-to-know-and-to-mention band(only reason I've listed then:))

******For those w/ too much time on their hands:) :
Sunn o))) : drone, very very extraordinary, not for everyone, but once you're in, it can get deeeeep and creates an interestingly occult atmosphere
I rec “black one“

Have seen Dååth being mentioned on metal blogs a couple of years ago but never bothered checking them out. The band has changed styles quite often it seems, I need more time with them.

As for Nattefrost:
> Cunt Cunt Gimme' More, Goat Worship, Preteen Deathfuck
> Thinking Man's Metal
Pick one. Still, enjoyed it for what it is.

I already know about Castrator, the lyrical themes aren't a big deal to me.

Checked out a few songs by Mephorash, really liked it. The best one here!

Know about Part Cannon but I'm on the fence about these guys.

Biological Monstrosity; are you fucking kidding me dude? Nice troll.

That is perhaps the only album by Sunn O))) that I can get into. It's paranoid incarnate.

Haha yeah cool that you actually listened to All my recs and could laugh at the trolling:)

Glad you liked Mephorash tho

Seems like any number of styles of bands could be what you are looking for, basically you are looking for technical, interesting and unique metal, mostly death metal but not necessarily, that kind of breaks out of the "norm"??

I really like looking for bands like that, especially older more obscure ones so this list will be some stuff that I really consider to be unique and special stuff to look for:

Scum--Purple Dreams and Magic Poems: This is a Finnish band/album from 1994 which is one of the better albums I've purchased in a long time.

Very technical, heavy death metal with just really catchy riffs.

It's actually a very rare album that took me a long time to find.

Adramalech-Psychostastia, another somewhat similar Finnish death metal band/album from the mid 90s (if you couldn't tell I'm a HUGE fan of old Finnish death metal.

I kind of run out of "descriptive words" for music easily lol, but these bands just have that similar kind of "Finnish groove" with challenging riffs that are unpredictable much like other bands like:

Demilich--Think someone mentioned them but they are just SICK. Their vocals are much more guttural burp-type vocals, forget the name for those kinds of vocals, the kind of ones also done by gore-grind bands like Cock and Ball Torture...drawing a blank on the term for those vocals.

A few more Finnish old school gems like:

Demiogd--Slumber of Sullen Eyes

Pakeni--weird band.

OF COURSE old school Xysma---very grindy and quirky, they changed their style later on

Lubircant--Nookleptic---If you can find this it's quite a funny interesting kind of album that also doesn't sound much like many other bands other than early Xysma.


To shift gears out of Finnish stuff:

I think someone mentioned Nocturnus--The Key but that album is just amazing.

Order From Chaos---Still Birth Machine is an album/band I can't praise enough.

Their drumming is ridiculous and I think that along with Blasphemy who had a totally different take on "war metal" that they were probably the main influence to lots of those bands later like Conqueror, Revenge, Proclammation.


Korpse---GREAT fucking Scottish sort of stoner grindish band, in a way a bit like Xysma and really a kind of KVLT band.

S.U.P./Superation and their album Cube is something that is REALLY one of a kind and not like too many other albums bands I can think of.

Kind of a bit like a heavier version of Voivod is the best way to put them, and of course you probably like Voivod who is just the best.

And then if you want something that doesn't have vocals that are so heavy there's one of my all time favorite and criminally unrecognized Finnish band Fall of the Leafe who's vocalist sounds just like Maynard from Tool but the music itself has kind of more of proggy-goth-melo death kind of feel to it.

Then the singer went on to form The Man Eating Tree who really aren't all that good.

Mental Home seems to be a mostly forgotten Russian melodic doom-death band who are good.

And of course if you like that stuff then there's Rapture who are kind of Finnish-doom/death somewhat similar to early Katatonia.

You could also listen to Arcturus--Especially Sham Mirrors for some proggy black metal.

And then their's Inquisition who are Colombian black metal with riffs for days.

And if you haven't heard Abigor's--Verwustung Invoke the Dark Age that's probably my favorite black metal album of all time, crazy Austrian shit, Rippikoulu who are kind of a slow paced Finnish death, and I'm sure you know of Neuraxis, Augury and Illogicist who are super technical death metal.


A lot of the first ones I mentioned are bands/albums that would probably be worth something to find original pressings of, I'd actually like some of these on vinyl though I only have these on CD.

That should give you enough to work with haha.

Obscure thinking man's death metal, mostly from the 90s.