Imo there aren't any real black metal bands anymore, since mayhem got fucked up by burzum ...
Todays "Black" Metal are mainly guys which think "Oh yeah, I can scream like hell and I raped some girls, I'm evil, yeah" without any decent skill on music ... Gorgoroth, Nagaroth etc..
One exception is the german Band "Endstille", which plays really decent black metal (including nice lyrics), but, oh no, they didn't rape any girls, so no they can't be a black metal band t.t

Anyway I prefer good Death/Viking Metal or fast Metalcore like Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, In Flames, Behemoth, Moonspell (oh yeah, alma mater), Equilibrium, Finntroll, Ensiferum etc.
In fact i prefer any bands with skilled musicans and decent lyrics.
To name some
Metal: System of a Down, Metallica (well call these 2 mainstream, but they belong to the most skilled bands around), Fallen Utopia, Rammstein, Böhse Onkelz, Eisregen (since I'm from Austria, I have no probs with the german lyrics)
Rock/Poser Metal: Nirvana, G'n'R (again 2 mainstream, but they are just decent musicans, or were in some cases..), Dreamtheater (awesome skilled musicans), Marillion, Spocks Beard, Liquido
Folk: In Extremo, Schandmaul (pity, this genre is mainly german, never seen any non-german folk-rock band)
Jazz/Anti-Folk: G.Love, Adam Green, Papa jo Jones (defently the best (jazz) drummer this world have ever seen), Cop shoot Cop
Punk/Punk-Rock/Ska: Die Toten Hosen (again german, but awesome), Goldfinger, and some times even Millencollin ...

dont think anyone listens to death angel anymore, best band from back in the day, along with metallica, iron maiden, etc.

Black Sabbath > All.

I listen to lots of metal, but i must say that your "metal" is pants. I don't like them at all. Try Children Of Bodom, Slayer, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden

Hmm...let's see. On an important note. Cannibal Corpse > you. They have brutal lyrics for a reason. Hmm, actually Chris Barnes > you.

And what I listen to...

Cryptopsy
Necrophagist
Morbid Angel
Kataklysm
Dream Theater
Megadeth
Symphony X
Death
Nile
Carcass

and a hundred other bands that I'm just too lazy to put down that includes death, black, thrash, folk, power, w/e else. Dark Angel, Death Angel, Testament, Exodus, Vio-Lence, Exhorder, all pwnage thrash bands.

EDIT: to bob(Cs2), anyone who knows Nevermore and As I Lay Dying will most likely know Cob Slayer, Pantera, Black Sabbath and Maiden. Those are your most common metal bands. I'm sure he already listens/has listened to them. With some metal, you just grow out of it, especially something like Metallica.

This post was edited by Valefar on Oct 30 2006 03:21pm

Valefar is winning at this topic.

Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Necrophagist, Skinless, Bloodbath, Amon Amarth, Death, Behemoth, Corpus Mortale, Psycroptic, Nile, Gojira, Dies Irae, Circle of Dead Children, Gorgasm, Inquity, Goratory, and Cephalic Carnage all ftw.

I do not like metal at all.

I enjoy two metal bands.

Lamb of God.
Bullet for my Valentine, Kinda oldschool.

-Jose.

Lol, old school metal = Sabbath, Priest, hell even Candlemass and Morbid Angel.

+ for the sake of forum classification, Lamb of God=metalcore and Bullet for my Valentine = not really metal.