Metal Recommendations

[Gjin]

I was wondering if you guys could recommend some new and/or lesser known metal bands that are in the same vein as the styles of:

Metallica (up to Black)
Megadeth (up to Youthanasia)
Iron Maiden (all of it)

I also am really partial to some old Judas Priest. I think the most 'recent' metal cd I bought was Soundgarden's SuperUnknown

I just can't keep track of all the music coming out these days and I'd like to 'broaden' my selection since I've heard the songs on the listed albums about a million times each.

I'm particularly not looking for screaming/unintelligible vocals or black metal, instead good guitar arrangements & vocals that actually have some meaning. But I'd like any suggestions as to what you guys thing is 'good' metal, past/present.

[BloodforBlood]

Manowar
Inflames
Stratavarius
much much more if ya want.

[off_world]

Savatage
Iced Earth

These should start you off...

[Oakman]

Blind guardian
Gamma Ray
Freedom Call
Iced Earth (Lead singer just left to go to college for crim just, cool stuff but sucks he's gone )
Helloween (new album kicks ass)
Iron Savior
Symphony X ( favorite)
Kamelot
Rhapsody
Shadow Gallery
Sonata Arctica
Testament

[Ham n Cheese]

I'm particularly not looking for screaming/unintelligible vocals or black metal, instead good guitar arrangements & vocals that actually have some meaning. But I'd like any suggestions as to what you guys thing is 'good' metal, past/present.

not sure if its all metal or if you don't have them, but thought i'd mention some better overlooked bands (besides SOAD).

Deftones - Adrenaline, Around the Fur
Helmet - betty
System of a Down - everything, older stuff is less mainstream though
Rammstien (sometimes)
Pantera
Silverchair -frogstomp (pretty good if you realize some lyrics are great and some are filler)
Killswitch Engage (i dont like them, but a lot of my metal friends do)
Static X

I'd like to 'broaden' my selection

Radiohead
Jimmy Eat World
Pink Floyd
Coldplay
White Stripes
Strokes
Queens of the Stoneage
Local H
Prodigy
Chemical Bros
Pixies
Limp Bizkit Album - Three Dollah Bill Ya'll
BEATLES
Dave Matthews Band
Gorillaz / Blur

[Worfless]

if you like power metal you will like

Iron Savior
Helloween
and possibly Kreator

[Vendric Ravenkrest]

Iced Earth
Kreator
Metal Church
Overkill
Stratovarius
Dark Tranquillity
In Flames
Pist-on
Pantera
Pissing Razors
etc etc etc, tons of bands like this...

[He Hate Me]

For the Iron Maiden in you:

Destiny's End - "Breathe Deep The Dark"

I also strongly echo the Manowar, Savatage, Helloween, Iced Earth recommendations (granted these bands have extensive and great catalogues, these are just a few suggestions from what I think are the cream of the crop/stuff I think you might enjoy):

Manowar - "Truimph Of The Steel", "Hail To England"

Savatage - "The Dungeons Are Calling", "Power Of The Night", "Hall Of The Moutain King", "Sirens"

Helloween - "Better Than Raw", "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. I (and also Pt. II)

Hammerfall - "Legacy Of Kings"

Iced Earth - "The Dark Saga", "Something Wicked This Way Comes"

And of course, Bruce Dickinson's solo stuff... "Accident of Birth", "Skunkworks", "The Chemical Wedding", "Balls To Picasso"...

For the Metallica/Megadeth in you:

Nevermore - "Dreaming Neon Black", "Dead Heart In A Dead World" (new album should be arriving soon...)

Overkill - "Killbox 13", "W.F.O.", "Necroshine", "From The Underground And Below"

Paradise Lost - "Icon"

Dave Mustaine's brief side project... MD.45 - "The Craving"

For the Judas Priest in you (also assuming you have a background in Black Sabbath, AC/DC and the like old school):

Cathedral - "The Ethereal Mirror", "The Carnival Bizarre", "Caravan Beyond Redemption"

Trouble - "Manic Frustration", "Plastic Green Head"

Halford (go figure...)- "Resurrection"

Sentenced - "Down", "Frozen"

Xentrix (if you can find it...) - "For Whose Advantage?"

For something different/stuff to experiment with:

Pantera - "Cowboys From Hell", "Vulgar Display Of Power"

Testament - "Low", "The Ritual"

Machine Head - "Burn My Eyes"

Skyclad - "Prince Of The Poverty Line", "The Answer Machine", "The Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea", "A Burnt Offering For The Bone Idol"

In Flames - "Colony", "Reroute To Remain" (May not be your speed, there are harsher sounding vocals here, but the music is in the genre of Metallica/Megadeth heaviness)

These recommendations assume that you have at one point listened to/heard Anthrax, Slayer, Motorhead, Flotsam And Jetsam, Metal Church. If you haven't, then I might I suggest those bands as well... (I'd probably throw Slayer into the stuff to experiment with section -- this is all based from what I read in your post)