Your Music Evolution

My first heavy band was Linkin Park (lol) and that lasted quite some time, actually. In fact, it went right up to and a little bit past I got into real metal.

My first real metal band was Dream Theater, thanks to Xanadu (I think that's his name on these forums). I had to write a report on a guitarist and chose John Petrucci because I had heard some samples of his solo stuff and loved it. My transition into Dream Theater's material was only natural. This is still my favorite band.

After DT, I really had no order. I collected as much metal as I could, soon dropping nu-metal entirely. Some of my firsts were Iron Maiden, Grip Inc, Eldritch, Angel Dust, and Ayreon. I was also introduced to Therion and Nightwish at this time, but didn't care much for the vocals.

Soon enough, I decided to give Therion and Nightwish second chances, and ended up loving them both. This led me to looking into Symphony X for some reason.

I continued to gather up more and more metal for my playlist and discovered such bands as Evergrey, Kamelot, Helloween, and Pain of Salvation, all of which have remained on my top bands list. Also during this time I looked into the softer side of progressive music. I discovered Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, and Rush.

My introduction to harsher vocals came with my recommendation to Agalloch. At first, I was skeptical, but I grew to love their album "The Mantle." This also opened up melodic death metal for me, such as In Flames. Since then, I've become a huge fan of such music. Bands like Kalmah, Scar Symmetry, Wintersun, and Ensiferum are all on my playlist.

Still, I wasn't much a fan of one of the best death metal bands out there - Opeth. That changed when I bought their album "Blackwater Park" and heard the song "Bleak." INSTANT LOVE, mostly due to Steven Wilson's contributions. I now listen to Opeth constantly.

That's about where I stand now, I guess.

Jam it back in, in the dark.