[Black Sabbath] – Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Masters of Reality (Classic metal)
[Judas Priest] – British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Painkiller (Classic metal, speed metal)
[Motorhead] – Icon (Speed metal)
[Venom] Welcome to Hell (Extreme speed metal)
[Queensryche] Operation Mindcrime (Trad metal/Progressive metal); FANTASTIC ALBUM
[Death] – any, but Scream Bloody Gore and Human are good places to start (Death Metal early career, progressive/tech-death metal later career) NOTE: These guys are credited as the very first death metal band
[Carcass] Heartwork (Melodic death metal)
[Dark Tranquility] Damage Done (Melodic death metal)
[Lost Horizon] – A Flame to the Ground Beneath (Power metal/progressive metal)
[Sonata Arctica] – Reckoning Night (Power metal)
[Iced Earth] The Blessed and the Damned (U.S. Power Metal/some Thrash metal)
[Cradle of Filth] Midian (Extreme gothic metal)
[Wolves in the Throne Room] Black Cascade, Celestial Lineage (U.S. Atmospheric black metal)
[Emperor] In the Nightside Eclipse, IX Equilibrium (Symphonic black metal)
[Metallica] anything from the 80's (Thrash metal)
[Prong] Beg To Differ, Prove You Wrong, Cleansing (B.T.D is thrash metal, the other two are groove metal)
[Pantera] anything from 1990 to 2000, especially Vulgar Display Of Power (Groove metal)
[Exhorder] Slaughter in the Vatican, The Law (Groove Metal/thrash metal)
[Machine Head] any except The Burning Red and Supercharger; I highly recommend Burn My Eyes, The Blackening, and Unto The Locust(Groove metal/thrash metal)
[Slayer] Reign in Blood, Seasons in the Abyss, Divine Intervention (Thrash metal)
[Rhapsody] – Tales from the Emerald Sword Saga (Symphonic power metal)
[Nightwish] – anything with Tarja Turunen on vocals (Symphonic metal w/female vocals)
[Symphony X] Paradise Lost (Progressive Metal)
[Dream Theater] Images & Words, Awake, Metropolis Pt2 (Progressive metal); A Change Of Seasons is their best song, IMO.
[Tystnaden] Sham of Perfection (Gothic metal w/female vocals)
[Nevermore] This Godless Endeavor (Progressive groove metal)
[Sepultura] any with Max Cavalera on vocals except Roots. Dante XXI and The Mediator are also great albums. (Thrash metal/death metal early material; later material is groove metal)
[A Storm of Light] And We Wept the Black Ocean Within (Post-metal/doom metal)
[High On Fire] Snakes of the Divine, De Vermis Mysteriis (Stoner metal/sludge metal)
[Mastodon] Leviathan (Progressive sludge metal)
[Bolt Thrower] anything from War Master onwards (Death metal)
[Mayhem] De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (Black metal)
[Drudkh] Autumn Aurora, Eternal Turn of the Wheel (Atmospheric black metal)
[Overkill] Ironbound, i hear Horrorscope is amazing too (Thrash metal)
[Saint Vitus] Mournful Cries (Doom metal)
[Iron Maiden] Number of the Beast, Powerslave (Traditional heavy metal)
[Kamelot] The Black Halo (Symphonic power metal)
[Black Breath] Sentenced to Life (kind of a genre mix of Black metal/speed metal/crust punk/hardcore punk/death metal instrumentally, vocalist screams a lot, so this might not be for you)
[Kreator] Pleasure to Kill (Thrash metal/extreme metal)
[Fear Factory] Demanufacture, Obsolete (Industrial groove metal/some thrash and death influences)
[Vader] Litany (Death metal)
[Amon Amarth] With Oden On Our Side, Twilight of the Thunder God, Surtur Rising (Melodic death metal)
[Heaven & Hell] The Devil You Know (Traditional heavy metal/probably a little doom metal)
[Razor] Violent Restitution (Thrash metal)
[Taake] Nattestid Ser Porten Vid (Black metal)
[Destruction] Eternal Devastation (Thrash metal)
[Meshuggah] Destroy Erase Improve (Experimental extreme metal/progressive metal/groove metal)
[Agalloch] Pale Folklore (They're a mix of Folk metal, post-metal, black metal, doom metal, and various other subgenres)
[Eluveitie] Everything Remains As It Never Was (Folk metal/melodic death metal)
[Enslaved] Mardraum (Black metal/progressive metal)
[Byzantine] ...And They Shall Take Up Serpents (Groove metal/progressive metal)
[Immortal] Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (Black metal)
[Prostitute] Vaginal Hell Demos (Sludge metal/stoner metal)
[Candlemass] Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (Doom metal)
[Soulfly] Dark Ages, Conquer, Enslaved (Groove metal/thrash metal)
[Ministry] Rio Grande Blood (Industrial metal/thrash metal)
[Overkill] Horrorscope (Thrash metal)
[Fool's Game] Reality Divine (Power metal/groove metal?)
[Vektor] Black Future (Progressive thrash metal/some black metal influences)
Here are also some bands albums that I either haven't gotten around to listening to yet or haven't listening to much (a problem I need to correct ASAP), but I've had recommended from friends of mine:
[Neurosis] Times of Grace (Post-metal)
[Brocas Helm] Defender of the Crown (Power metal); haven't listened to the entire thinig, but"Cry of the Banshee" is an AWESOME song
[Electric Wizard] Dopethrone (Sludge/stoner metal)
[Possessed] Seven Churches (Death metal)
[Incantation] Infernal Storm (Death metal)
[Ne Obliviscaris] Portal of I (Extreme progressive metal/melodic death metal)
[Down] NOLA (Sludge metal)
[Satyricon] Nemesis Divina (Black metal)
[Deicide] Legions (Death metal/thrash metal)
[Morbid Angel] Blessed Are the Sick (Death Metal)
[Vio-lence] Eternal Nightmare (Thrash metal)
[Saviour Machine] Savior Machine (Gothic metal)
[Evergrey] Glorious Collision (Progressive power metal)
There's a lot more I can probably recommend, but this should be a good place to start. Some of these might be a bit abrasive to you at first, but you might come to appreciate them as I did if you let them grow on you. I don't want to color your opinion, though. Find something that fits. And if you like it, searching for similar artists on Google can broaden your horizon.
Here are also a few websites I can recommend for more info on genres and bands; you can look these up on Google:
- Encyclopedia Metallum (the forums/users can be annoyingly elitist so I don't have an account on there, but if you're looking for bands or confirmation on whether or not something is actually "metal", this is the best place to go. Take their reviews with a grain of salt, though, some of the users are EXTREMELY biased)
- Map of Metal
- Blabbermouth.net
- Metal Sucks (don't let the name fool you; it's a fan site)
- MetalBandCamp:
https://metalbandcamp.com/ (They have legit free downloads offered by some bands; others require payment)
- TV Trope's Useful Notes on Heavy Metal [
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal]
- and any articles on TV Tropes linking to specific subgenres.