Aha! Plenty to get my teeth stuck into here. Cheers. Keep 'em coming!
I see no mention of Maiden in your post. Is it the teensiest bit possible that you haven't given the masters of metal a listen?
If you do, try Brave New World, Powerslave and 7th Son of a 7th Son.
Naturally I'm familiar with Iron Maiden, and pretty fond of 'em, but I've never bought an album by them! See this is the kind of prodding I need, hahaha. I even used to cover The Wicker Man in my old band (brilliant song, btw). But yeah, I know their staples pretty well. Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, The Wicker Man, Rainmaker... and they're all fantastic. I wasn't sure if they might have been essentially the only interesting songs. Ah well, only one way to find out - to Amazon!
Angel Dust by Faith No More sounds like a must (three recs is enough for me!), and I'm pretty impressed by the description of Karnivool, so I'll throw that onto a shopping list somewhere.
@Zantera, Orcus & skydivingninja re: Radiohead A friend of mine lent me OK Computer and Hail to the Thief, once. I've still got them on a computer at my parents' house, so I sometimes get blasts of it, but I don't use that computer much so I've not really familiarised myself with them. Hail to the Thief doesn't do too much for me, but I really like Lucky and Paranoid Android from OKC. What are The Bends and Kid A like, compared to OK Computer? I'll copy OKC across next I'm back at the rents'.
Queen
I'm torn on Queen. Again, they're one of those bands that I have a basic familiarity with but not much beyond that. Don't Stop Me Now and the medley on BCSL do the trick for me, but I'm a little bored of Bohemian Rhapsody, and Radio Gaga actually annoys me, so I'm in two minds. What kind of era should I be looking into?
Other suggestions: I picked up that C&C album for £3 in a charity shop a few weeks ago, it's damn cool. Definitely approve. Needs a bit of time to grow but I'm enjoying it. I've got the latest Riverside and really dig it, so I'll be checking SLS out. I can't say I know anything about Mew and The Decemberists, though. What are they like?
Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion (amazing band that mixes prog/alternative rock with pop)
How is it compared to Catch Without Arms? I bought that on a whim, and really dug the music on it, but couldn't stand the vocals for a second. Would I still be interested in checking out the rest of their catalogue?
Get Ultima Ratio by Superior.
It's full of flavor, heavy but melodic, has truckloads of strong choruses, isn't too all-over-the-place, and is only 8 years old. And the band is unique enough (or hybrid enough) that it's hard to really assign them one genre.
Beautiful! Sounds right up my street. Count me in.
Orcus: The Heavy sound interesting, not sure if they're my bag but they've gotta be worth a shot. I'll check out the YouTube links you posted.
Redemption - Start with the most recent album, Snowfall on Judgement Day. You'll find a small group of us here at DTF who think the world of this band.
Enchant - A band not talked about a lot on here, but they really strike a chord with me. My favorite album is Wounded, but you probably want to start with Tug of War (aside - they need to release a new album soon, its been almost 6 years!)
Devin Townsend if you want heavy and melodic. Start with Terria
I love Devin Townsend already (but good call!), and am interested in Redemption. I really, really dislike Fates Warning - I've tried them four different times, and not really found anything to love once - but a friend of mine sent me a Redemption song, saying that the FW guys aren't ALL bad. And I really liked it. So I've got that on my To Buy list too, now. Cheers! What style are Enchant? Progressive metal?
The Dear Hunter. Get Act III: Life and Death right now!
And Act II while you're at it.
I've always been put off these guys because they have a dumb name (silly, I know!), but checking samples they do sound right up my street. Goodo!
I'll check into Marillion, Buckethead Presto Ballet and Amorphis, too. I'm sure I've been given a free Marillion CD at some point in time, I've seen it floating around somewhere so I'll dig around for that. I've already heard a bit of Buckethead and he's damn impressive, so that's a good avenue too. Don't know much about the other two but it'll be fun discovering!