So, I was given some iTunes gift certificates for my birthday, and since I absolutely never use the iTunes store, I don't know what it has to offer. So give me some recommendations! Anything you want, really!

Here's a reasonable estimate of what I like: http://www.last.fm/user/metarsenal121

Of course, I'm quite open to new stuff, too...

PS: Feel free to friend me. I am so lonely on last.fm.

I asked to be your friend

As for recommendations:

Blackfield - Steven Wilson's side project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. It's a lot like the mellower side of Porcupine Tree, the only flaw in the band is Aviv's voice is kind of terrible. But they're still really good. They only have 2 albums, I'd recommend the second one.

Bloodbath - Awesome death metal supergroup with Mikael Akerfeldt on vocals. He dosen't sing on their second one though. Still, they're awesome.

Baroness - Pretty cool Sludge metal band from Georgia, then again I only really like of their songs (Rays On Pinion) but their singer's awesome.

I can't remember if you had these, but if you didn't check these out:

Between The Buried And Me (just fucking get Colors if you didn't already BEST ALBUM EVER)
Into Eternity (Buried Into Oblivion is their best)
Enslaved (progressive black metal IIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)
Zimmer's Hole (3/4 of SYL)

Blackfield - Steven Wilson's side project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. It's a lot like the mellower side of Porcupine Tree, the only flaw in the band is Aviv's voice is kind of terrible. But they're still really good. They only have 2 albums, I'd recommend the second one.

Yeah, his vocals are hilariously bad. Steve isn't the best vocalist himself, but standing next to Aviv he sounds like an fucking Pavarotti

(clicked both of you on lastfm)

EDIT: I didn't recommend you anything, my bad.

So, try

Riverside - it's kinda atmospheric prog rocky thingy, with lots of catchy melodies - apparently lot of Porcupine Tree people like them. I like their last record (Rapid Eye Movement) best.

Alarum - Australian fusion death metal, nice stuff.

You can also try some of that modern melodic stuff:

Sybreed - lots of nicely crafted electronics with catchy ass melodies and totally massive, groovy metal section. Ultimate thing in industrial metal if you ask me. With emphasis on INDUSTRIAL and METAL.
Mnemic - bit like cross between Soilwork and Meshuggah, rather nice.

You could also check Smaxone, they have former vocalist of Mnemic.

Blackfield - Steven Wilson's side project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. It's a lot like the mellower side of Porcupine Tree, the only flaw in the band is Aviv's voice is kind of terrible. But they're still really good. They only have 2 albums, I'd recommend the second one.

Yeah, his vocals are hilariously bad. Steve isn't the best vocalist himself, but standing next to Aviv he sounds like an fucking Pavarotti

Okay, sorry I'm not contributing to the topic here, but this is the most confusing statement I've heard in a long, long time. I checked out some Blackfield stuff, even some of Aviv's solo work to make sure I was hearing the right vocalist-- what's wrong with his voice? It sounds really good to me, I seriously enjoyed what I heard. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right songs? He seems to be an excellent singer. And shit, if you say Steven Wilson isn't that great then that makes me fucking terrified about what people might say about my voice when playing them my music. Like his music or not, technically Wilson is a fantastic vocalist. Jeez, this is pretty surreal to be honest. I just can't hear the apparent faults that you guys seem to find show-stopping. I am fucking lost.

~Josiah

Blackfield - Steven Wilson's side project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. It's a lot like the mellower side of Porcupine Tree, the only flaw in the band is Aviv's voice is kind of terrible. But they're still really good. They only have 2 albums, I'd recommend the second one.

Yeah, his vocals are hilariously bad. Steve isn't the best vocalist himself, but standing next to Aviv he sounds like an fucking Pavarotti

Okay, sorry I'm not contributing to the topic here, but this is the most confusing statement I've heard in a long, long time. I checked out some Blackfield stuff, even some of Aviv's solo work to make sure I was hearing the right vocalist-- what's wrong with his voice? It sounds really good to me, I seriously enjoyed what I heard. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right songs? He seems to be an excellent singer. And shit, if you say Steven Wilson isn't that great then that makes me fucking terrified about what people might say about my voice when playing them my music. Like his music or not, technically Wilson is a fantastic vocalist. Jeez, this is pretty surreal to be honest. I just can't hear the apparent faults that you guys seem to find show-stopping. I am fucking lost.

~Josiah

Okay, let me back myself with youtube:

[youtube]hx0ZUz9JR5Y[/youtube]

Perhaps I should note that I only know Blackfield from youtube - I'm not that interested in them to buy a record honest. Though all performances from there are IMO rather unimpressive.

Regarding Wilson's singing: I can't say I dont like it, because I do - he know what to do with his voice (it's mandatory skill for a good producer I think). But he just doesn't appear that good technically, especially live (vide obvious overdubs of trickier parts on their DVD).

Hmm... Nope, I'm still not hearing it. Neither of them are perfect in that video, but shit man, I'm just not hearing any painful flaws or 'hilariously bad' singing. Even with a singer like Devin (hopefully a good example seeing as this is a Devin Townsend forum after all ) there's a massive difference between his live vocals and his studio performances.

~Josiah

Hmm... Nope, I'm still not hearing it. Neither of them are perfect in that video, but shit man, I'm just not hearing any painful flaws or 'hilariously bad' singing. Even with a singer like Devin (hopefully a good example seeing as this is a Devin Townsend forum after all ) there's a massive difference between his live vocals and his studio performances.

~Josiah

I noticed Dev's singing voice slip on him once or twice when I saw them live. Still fucking amazing though.

Terror Syndrome!

There's no CD yet so if you want it you'll have to get it from iTunes or the likes. And it's awesome!

Just le t me say...

• Ryan Van Poederooyen (I've heard that name before...)
• Dave Young (I've heard that name before...)
• Mike Young (I've heard that name before...)
• Byron Stroud (I've heard that name before...)
• Alex Skolnick (I've heard that name before...)
• Trevor Dunn (I've heard that name before...)
• Christofer Malmstrom (I've heard that name before...)
• Michael Manring (I've heard that name before...)
• Devin Towsend (Who?)

http://www.myspace.com/terrorsyndromeband

Terror Syndrome is fun!

I suggest One Way Mirror! Fun band with the singer of Scarve.

Hmm... Nope, I'm still not hearing it. Neither of them are perfect in that video, but shit man, I'm just not hearing any painful flaws or 'hilariously bad' singing. Even with a singer like Devin (hopefully a good example seeing as this is a Devin Townsend forum after all ) there's a massive difference between his live vocals and his studio performances.

~Josiah

I noticed Dev's singing voice slip on him once or twice when I saw them live. Still fucking amazing though.

Sure. But still, you have part of that cool timbre what you hear on the record and he usually sings in tune . Aviv's voice sound all off for me, has that horrible vibrato and generally not that pleasant tone. Well, could be me though. I'll fuck off now.

Blackfield - Steven Wilson's side project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. It's a lot like the mellower side of Porcupine Tree, the only flaw in the band is Aviv's voice is kind of terrible. But they're still really good. They only have 2 albums, I'd recommend the second one.

Yeah, his vocals are hilariously bad. Steve isn't the best vocalist himself, but standing next to Aviv he sounds like an fucking Pavarotti

Okay, sorry I'm not contributing to the topic here, but this is the most confusing statement I've heard in a long, long time. I checked out some Blackfield stuff, even some of Aviv's solo work to make sure I was hearing the right vocalist-- what's wrong with his voice? It sounds really good to me, I seriously enjoyed what I heard. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right songs? He seems to be an excellent singer. And shit, if you say Steven Wilson isn't that great then that makes me fucking terrified about what people might say about my voice when playing them my music. Like his music or not, technically Wilson is a fantastic vocalist. Jeez, this is pretty surreal to be honest. I just can't hear the apparent faults that you guys seem to find show-stopping. I am fucking lost.

~Josiah

Okay, let me back myself with youtube:

[youtube]hx0ZUz9JR5Y[/youtube]

Perhaps I should note that I only know Blackfield from youtube - I'm not that interested in them to buy a record honest. Though all performances from there are IMO rather unimpressive.

Regarding Wilson's singing: I can't say I dont like it, because I do - he know what to do with his voice (it's mandatory skill for a good producer I think). But he just doesn't appear that good technically, especially live (vide obvious overdubs of trickier parts on their DVD).

Everything I've always heard from Blackfield has always been in this vein. It's slow and supposedly emotive, but comes out methodical and dry, like a mediocre Pink Floyd cover band. That's just my opinion, though.

Regardless, I have to say I agree more with BrunoN. I've never been impressed with SW's vocals, just because they're airy and half-sung much of the time. He doesn't have a bad voice, and he's not a bad singer, but he always sounds the same (that sort of "pity me, I'm so sad" tone), and I can't say I go for it. I much prefer PT to Blackfield, in any case--and SW hides behind vocal effects a lot there. Oh, and Aviv? Not impressed. It's one thing to say someone's not awful at what they do, and it's another to say someone's good at it. Aviv sounds (and even looks) like he could use some training. There's more to singing than matching pitch, and I'm not sure Aviv, as it stands now, really has what it takes.

But that's just my take.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I'll give all the stuff I haven't heard a shot, and see what I want to buy.

More are always welcome, of course...

Hmm... Nope, I'm still not hearing it. Neither of them are perfect in that video, but shit man, I'm just not hearing any painful flaws or 'hilariously bad' singing. Even with a singer like Devin (hopefully a good example seeing as this is a Devin Townsend forum after all ) there's a massive difference between his live vocals and his studio performances.

~Josiah

I noticed Dev's singing voice slip on him once or twice when I saw them live. Still fucking amazing though.

Sure. But still, you have part of that cool timbre what you hear on the record and he usually sings in tune . Aviv's voice sound all off for me, has that horrible vibrato and generally not that pleasant tone. Well, could be me though. I'll fuck off now.

This. It's that vibrato he has, good god that's terrible. Maybe it's just because he's singing in English, so its harder for him to pronounce the lyrics. Oh, and this is why I don't like Aviv:

I added you too. =D

Uhm I don't think you'd enjoy much of my music, but, you might like some X Japan. If you'd like serious vocal stuff, I'd suggest Gackt. His music is amazing anyway though.
If you want a real random bunch of genres, then Miyavi could be the way to go. He's got some real heavy tracks (Coin Locker Baby) to a random mix of tradition japanese instruments, combined with rock and hip hop. My favourite song though is POP is Dead. It's so random. Parts are quite heavy and then some aren't at all. xD