I have a really close friend in real life that introduced me to bands like Linkin Park, Korn, and Three Days Grace all the way back in 5th grade. Flash forward to now, and I now grown to like bands like Judas Iscariot, Napalm Death, Tsjuder, Aborted, Torsofuck...you get the picture. My friend planted the seed that helped to make me into a metalhead in later years.

Right now, my friend's playlist consists of Trivium, Gojira, Seether, Lamb of God, and other bands that are similar.

FYI, I'm not shitting on those who legitimately like those type of bands that I mentioned above.

Since my friend introduced me to metal, I'd thought I'd return the favor and give back.

Any general tips?

Personally, wouldn't bother. People are naturally going to enter into the heavier stuff by themselves, if it interests them. least I know with me, any time someone recommends me something, it tends to go on the back burner, I just prefer to discover music, and fit the whole puzzle together by myself.

Look at yourself, you took those initial bands you were shown, and chose to explore on your own. Your friend may come around, or he may not, but I wouldn't force it or anything.

I second what Thy Shrine said. It's hard to move people to enjoy extreme-er music if they have no desire to do so. If anything, just show them bands that you listen to. I went from Metallica to Slayer to Emperor and Cannibal Corpse. There is no "transition" band really, one just needs to hear bands to know what they may like or not.

Pantera maybe?

With all the shit Anselmo is involved in Pantera would be a good gateway band if he likes them....

And I always recommend Sabbath and Motorhead.

Pantera is just more of the same to what he already likes. He needs something that will meet him half way but open him up to other possible directions. Maybe Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore or some earlier In Flames or At the Gates?

You are never going to convince ANYBODY to like Torsofuck. Trust me.

As for the rest, some people may simply not be into the extreme /harsh stuff like Aborted or Napalm Death- it's just asking too much for them. You gotta admit it is an acquired taste. But your friend may find other music that is outside the mainstream metal/hard rock bands you mention him liking- stuff that may not be death or black metal, but still really interesting and cool. For example, Ambient, doom, drone metal, or some of the less-compromising punk bands, or other types of music you can't hear on the radio that may not be harsh/brutal but yet still really unique and interesting.

Try some of the groovier Slayer tracks from South of Heaven and Seasons In the Abyss. If he digs those - and why shouldn't he? - move on to 'Ghosts of War' & 'Born of Fire' before unleashing Reign In Blood and Hell Awaits.

Baby steps.

Just play them what you enjoy, either they'll like it or they don't. Otherwise you can try to use old KGB techniques to demoralize them and then reprogram them with goregrind.

Tie them to a chair and force them to listen to wigger slam until their eyes bleed

Decapitated Anticult would be a good start I think. a mix of blasting and groove and elements that I think would appeal to a radio metal fan.

I see what you two mean. I simply wanted to see how my friend reacts to listening to more extreme metal so we can go to those crazy black/death metal festivals when the time comes. But I understand. I can’t force it on him.

I know I cannot inherently tie my friend to a chair and force him to like extreme genres like goregrind or some shit like DSBM. And like some of the users here said, the more extreme genres are an acquired taste. I didn’t like black or grind when I initially discovered it myself.

All in all, I think I just have to leave my friend be. Can’t force him. I just wanted him to come with me to some fests or local bar venues and he wouldn’t be uncomfortable if a really heavy band came on and started a song off with 10 minutes of feedback.

Man, don’t overthink it. It doesn’t always take someone introducing the more extreme stuff, to get into it. Sometimes it just happens. For myself, a friend got me into the 80s classics and some speed/thrash and doom, but it was just my natural curiosity that led to death and black metal.

You could try to research what bands the musicians in those bands that he listens to enjoy and try going about it from that angle. Or in the case of Matt Heafy from Trivium, maybe that Capharnaum band he also did vocals with.

I dunno, this stuff is something of a crapshoot, but "hey man check this out, that one musician you like is a big fan of it" sounds like a better way to catch your friend's interest than "hey man check out some Torsofuck"...

Make him a mix dude

How about showing your friend some impressive live videos of your favorite bands and seeing his reaction directly to the live performance?

This was the way I personally 'got into' some more extreme metal subgenres.

I’ll make him a mix and mail it to you

I don't know man. Just get him a fucking black witchery CD or something. hahaha

Back in my high school days, one of my buds at the time was a fan of black metal and decided to get a drumkit so we could jam together. Well we went through our cult phase and started dubbing old black metal albums onto $1 tapes from the supermarket, and got into all that war metal shit. We were in a CD store some day and he came running over all excited about this black witchery album, I forget which one. Well that phase didn't last and years later when I was at his house, he still had the album on his Itunes. I hit play on the album, turned the speakers up and started laughing. He just had a stone like look on his face as he said ''why the fuck did I buy that''. Lol