Recommendations are made purely based on my own listening experience. Artists are grouped by genre umbrella, so there will undoubtedly be some level of subjectivity involved; unfortunately, I can't please everyone.
Avante-garde Metal:
- Igorrr: Alias and project of French musician, Gautier Serre, Igorrr is a ludicrous combination of baroque, EDM, and black metal. A personal favourite.
Black Metal:
- Zeal and Ardor: A Swiss six-piece, playing gospel and blues infused black metal.
Cabaret:
- Voltaire: Aurelio Voltaire is dark, camp, nerdy fun. Songs with subject matter from Star Trek to necrophilia attest that gothic does not mean dreary.
Death Metal:
- 1914: A Ukrainian five-piece, whose blackened-death metal is as heavy as the WWI themed lyrical focus.
Folk Metal:
- Amon Amarth: One of the largest names in folk metal, Amon Amarth are a Swedish five-piece famous for their groovy, norse mythology themed take on death metal.
Grind and Noise:
- Anaal Nathrakh: Legendary Birmingham (UK) two-piece grindcore outfit Anaal Nathrakh are the auditory equivalent of being hit by a bus.
Groove Metal:
- DevilDriver: The band that got me into groove metal, DevilDriver are one of the most fun bands of their kind. Who needs sophistication when you have pure cathartic energy?
Hard Rock:
- AC/DC: There's little that hasn't been said about AC/DC over the years. Call it Dad-rock if you like, but whatever you call it, you can't deny it has magnetism and an addictive boyish energy.
- Ghost: Tobias Forge's hard rock project, Ghost, combine blues and doom with camp aesthetics to put out some of the catchiest rock hits ever written.
- Motörhead: No band embodies "hard rock 'n roll" better than Motörhead, and no frontman better than Lemmy Kilmister. Truly one of the all-time greats.
Industrial:
- Rammstein: Legendary neue Deutsche härte pioneers Rammstein are provocative, dramatic, and unsurpassed in the industrial scene.
Melodic Death Metal:
- In Flames: One of the most well-known names in metal, this Gothenburg band are pioneers of the melodeath genre.
- Orbit Culture: Relative newcomers to melodeath, Orbit Culture combine deathcore aesthetics with some of the catchiest and heaviest melodeath around. A personal favourite.
Piano Rock and Acoustic Comedy:
- Tim Minchin: Marrying comedy and piano rock, Tim Minchin's music is a celebration of both, with a wit that stays on the accessible side of obnoxious.
- Ben Folds: Slice of life comedy with style and flair that only a very skilled pianist can weave into such light-hearted music.
Power Metal:
- Sabaton: Sabaton are a Swedish five-piece who put out catchy (if somewhat cheesy) heavy metal that juxtaposes occasionally bleak historical themes with modern melodic metal trappings.
Rap and Hip-hop:
- Run the Jewels: An incredible collaboration between EL-P and Killer Mike, RTJ are just incapable of writing a bad track. Hilarious, slick, and aggressive, this east-coast/southern hip-hop fusion is one not to miss. A personal favourite.
Rave and Hyperpop:
- Little Big: This tongue-in-cheek Russian project are responsible for some irresistably catchy rave tracks that celebrate slavic culture, whilst criticising the prevalence of systemic abuse.