I Like Heavy Metal Music

10 Years Of Being A Metalhead... I started to get into the metal genre at around the age of 13. Before that I was more into alternative rock. But when I was around 13, I got my hands on a bunch of Metallica CD's that my older brother didn't listen to much anymore. I had already heard their hit song "Enter Sandman", and it was one of my favorite songs, so I figured they'd have a few other good songs as well. Well I was wrong, they didn't have a few good songs, they had ALOT of good songs, I started by listening to some of their newer stuff, (songs off the Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc, and St. Anger albums). And I thought it was alright, but when I heard their older songs (From Kill 'Em All to the Black Album) ,Metallica instantly became my favorite band, and when I was around 15, they became an obsession of mine. I listened to nothing but Metallica, okay I shouldn't say that, I did listen to other Metal/Rock bands, but 90% of the time it was Metallica. And this went on for about a year and a half or so. When I was 16, I finally bought an IPod for the first time, and I felt that I was short on music for it. So I turned to good friend of mine, who shared a similar taste in music, to put some good songs on my IPod. And he did, there were a whole bunch of bands I never heard of, and I decided to give them a listen. The first band I chose was the Finnish metal band "Children Of Bodom", I had heard my friend rave about this band before, so I thought I'd try them first. I didn't know it yet, but my taste in metal music, was about to change dramatically. I randomly picked a song by them, a song called "Hate Me", and after hearing the first 20 seconds of that song, I loved it. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before, the guitar rifts, were much faster, heavier, and more complex, and their use of keyboards, made their music even better. I wasn't to keen on the harsh vocals at first, but I quickly got used to it, I realized that it just went well with the music. And the more songs by Children Of Bodom, that I heard, the more I liked them. And they became my new favorite band. Pretty soon, I was listening to a bunch of Scandinavian metal bands, like Arch Enemy, Kalmah, Norther, and In Flames. My Metallica obsession, had become a thing of the past, I still did listen to them every now and then, but not nearly as much. When I was 19, I started to get into Viking metal, after finally giving the band Ensiferum, a chance, I'm glad I did, they're still one of my favorites. I also got into Power Metal, for a little bit after hearing Stratovarious, and Sonata Arctica. When I hit my 20's, folk metal, became popular with me after hearing bands like Korpiklaani, Eluveitie, and Heidevolk. Soon after that, symphonic metal, would become one of my favorite metal subgenres, after finally getting into Nightwish, and Wintersun, a band that I had liked for a while, but have really gotten into them over the last couple years. And of course we can't forget Epica, another great symphonic metal band, that may even be better than Nightwish, tough to say though.
It's been about a decade, since I first got into the metal genre, and its seen a few changes over the years. Today I'm still mostly into folk and symphonic metal, but every band that I listed I still listen to, and of course, there are others too. But the ones listed are the bands that played a pivotal role in shaping my love for this great genre of music, that I will continue to listen to for many years to come.