u/Nearby-Page462

So I’m not sure if this is more of a thread for here or for r/metalcore. I think here based on my understanding of the difference.

I’m on a bit of a train of musical discovery at the moment. I’ve found a kind of vein of music that I’m really into and I’m trying to mine that and discover more in that area.

I’m wondering if I could give you lovely souls a description of my taste and then see if you can put me onto some bangers? :)

What I’m trying to find more of:

I like metal with a really cool emotional throughline. I like atmospheric stuff with interesting production. Big changes in mood mid song. Stuff that jumps between genres for effect. I tend to like lyrics with more of an introspective style or a narrative. Like you’re following a characters thoughts or their struggles. I find that really engaging. I prefer mostly cleaner vocals with some screaming for effect. Stuff that’s fully screaming just feels one note to me.

Some bands I’m really into right now:

Thornhill - More Bodies and Heroine than The Dark Pool. Bodies is probably my favourite album right now. 10/10

Loathe - ASTY 9/10 is my favourite. ILLIAITE has some great moments but struggle to connect with the heavier songs. 7/10

Sleep token- I love all of it 😂

Deaftones- very hit and miss. Koi no Yokan is like a 9/10 for me as it’s a bit more structured and has more emotional progression in the songs. Some amazing moments on this album where I can only describe some swells as a kind of explosion. Some of their other music is a lot less engaging and repetitive. I don’t really understand where it’s going. Listening to deaftones taught me that I like the big moments in songs to feel earned. I don’t like slamming into a heavy moment just because you can.

Spiritbox- Really like some of their singles for the production and some of the clean vocals but a lot of their b sides on eternal blue sound very samey to me. Some pretty basic guitar writing on some of their songs which bring them down for me when the guitar and vocals are the two most prominent elements of ‘the mood’.

Karnivool- Sound awake specifically. I love the dynamics, genre shifting, lyrical style, dynamics, it keeps surprising me but it’s not just noodling around without direction. Another 8/10

Bad Omens- Death of peace of mind. Love the production, the mood, incredible vocals, introspective lyrics.

Things I’ve tried and not liked :

Tesseract - Altered state. I think I didn’t like the base style. It felt like different flavours of evanescence. I didn’t like how the lyrics just felt like an instrument in the mix. They didn’t have prominence by design.

VOLA - Witness. I didn’t like the synths. They felt a bit corny. I didn’t feel an emotional connection to the music.

Mood ring - stargazer - the lyrics felt very simplistic, gets repetitive. Didn’t engage me. Didn’t feel an emotional direction of the songs.

Static dress - red carpet disaster. This one seems to come up a lot for people that like Thornhill and loathe. I didn’t gel with it at all. I thought it felt like you me at six but less catchy. I don’t think I liked the genre here. Nothing on the band.

Hopefully that builds a bit of a picture of what I like. I’m hoping there’s some people out there with similar taste to me who have some absolute gems to share. :)

Thanks so much everyone :)

Edit: Thanks so much for all the suggestions everyone. I will get around to all of them in the coming days!

Hi all,

I’m about to embark on a masters doing Urban Design and international planning at university of Manchester. It’s a one year full time course. For any recent graduates of similar courses… did you manage to work part time during your masters? How was the workload?

I’m wondering if I’d manage to work part time for 16 hours a week and not burn out. Does that seem crazy?

Any nuggets of knowledge from anyone with relevant experience would be super super useful. Thanks so much :)