Where to start with Extreme/Tech Metal?

My grandson keeps asking me where to start with Extreme/Tech, as a lot of my listening is toned down from the growling death groups of old. So, where is a good place to start for a novice?

This is just a random list I quickly wrote down. If you want more, let me know.

Devin Townsend's Terria album.. start there. A friend from the old PMT suggested it to me and it hit like a ton of bricks. Fabulous frickin album.

Death - Human, Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic

Control Denied is basically Sound of Perseverance era Death with a clean vocalist.  You may dig them.

You got no prog from Crack the Skye? What?

Do you need like keyboard solos or something? Or Neal Norse featured?

Mastodon is more extreme and less prog on their earlier albums, FWIW.
OMaTS is, as you say, not extreme at all (not really metal even).  Will be curious what way they go next.

I've been hooked on Between The Buried And Me, mainly their last two albums, "Future Sequence" and "Coma Elliptic", the latter of which doesn't have as much screaming, but is probably the most accessible of all their albums.

In terms of other easier to get into bands, I found Leprous to be a hit, particularly "Bilateral", Cynic is a good choice obviously. "Crack The Skye" is also easy to get into, but I personally tired of it rather quickly. A lot of Devin Townsend stuff as well to check out, including his heavier stuff with Strapping Young Lad.

If you want to cash in on the demented cartoon music category, Electrocution 250 blows the competition out of the water (or would if there was any competition, Unexpect would probably be the closest to just sheer insanity).

You also have your "classics" like "Crimson" and Disillusion's "Back In The Times Of Splendor" is quite interesting, a surprise for me. Some djent-influenced groups I like such as Ever Forthright, The Faceless, Fallujah, Tesseract, The Room Colored Charlatan (and if I'm plugging bands, give Skyharbor's "Guiding Lights" album a listen. It's not real techy, but it's just such a nice listen, it's almost relaxing, give them a shot).

If you really want techy and brainy, Canvas Solaris, Blotted Science or any of Ron Jarzombek's stuff will do nicely. Christian Muenzner's solo stuff is good if you don't like screaming, with screaming you're probably like at bands like Obscura and others.

If he's got a bit of a gothic, devil-worshipping side with a heavy desire for epic orchestral effects, perhaps a Dimmu Borgir or Cradle Of Filth? Or if he just wants the full monty, Fleshgod Apocalypse would probably take the cake.

Just a few of bands off the top of my head.

Martyr - Feeding the Abscess.

The Dark Elf wrote: SteveG wrote: My grandson keeps asking me where to start with Extreme/Tech, as a lot of my listening is toned down from the growling death groups of old. So, where is a good place to start for a novice?   I would suggest he start with pre-electric Bob Dylan and move forward from there. By the time he's done, he won't be interested in Extreme/Tech.

Hmm, he's pretty savvy about a lot of different genres, especially Krautrock, and kids go through phases. Remember when you did?

Edited by SteveG - July 27 2015 at 13:05