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Heh... I've known about Machine Head for about as long as they are around, just never listened to them! Probably because a lot of people in my circle of friends did, which made me diverse... but it is something I actually really like! The double guitar playing is awesome, something I've always loved, with any Metal band! And the grunting isn't that harsh as I imagined from what you said! Thanx for another new band to start exploring!

@mrdaycee Duuuuuuude, I love Bullet For My Valentine! Dirty Little Secret Is my fav song of theirs. I actually got into them semi-recently... like sometime over X-mas break. I feel like Impending Doom's Murderer is like that in a way. It has close to no singing and is mostly a deep, rough scream with growls throughout. However a possible issue you may (or may not) have with the band is that they are blatantly Christian. So if that isn't your kinda thing, then you may not like their songs. Example: Murderer (the song mentioned previously) is about the book of Revelations and at the same time referencing the crucifiction of Jesus by Pilat. Again, its a more love it or hate it kind of band, but I appreciate the music either way.
As for Sarea, I really, really liked them and I need to check them out (I have a 'to listen' list and this def jumped in priority) I liked the guys voice at the same time screaming but he also has a really good singing voice; which is not uber common in metal (IMO). A band you might like a little like them, slightly heavier (more screaming), is Amyst. Here they did a cover of Rolling in the Deep I feel like this guy is along the same vein in that he can both scream and sing. And... dang his voice is so good. I feel like he has a great range to him doing both high screams and lower screams.
I feel like Five Finger Death Punch is really great, they have a lot of emotion in their songs (the ones you mentioned and I heard, at least) and they just have an awesome;for lack of a better word; vibe to them. Based on this they kind of brought memories of The Amity Affliction and Born of Osiris.
I think you would like August Burns Red (they covered Wrecking Ball); Crown the Empire (linked in the song above, they did 'Burn' but it is one of their lesser songs, should at least give you a taste though.); The Devil Wear Prada is really cool War is a good one. Underoath I found recently as well; which sucks because I heard they broke up. Anyway, here is Giving Up Hurts The Most which is the best one they have. The last two are Christian bands, but I feel like they are more artistic; and as such easier to relate to and better; than Impending Doom. Just what I think.
But your music was awesome. I already got most of the songs on spotify (yes I am a monster, sue me) and I will definitely be checking out other songs by FFDP and Sarea when I get the chance.
I feel like my taste is quickly shifting to the dark side haha. I used to hate the growling and almost spitting sound that is sometimes made, but now it pumps me up and I have grown really fond of it. Thanks for the music broski (that hurt me more than it hurt you)!

Impending Doom's 'Murderer' was something I tried listening to for 3 times, but it kept being a little on the heavy side @ellock... simply can't get my head around Death Metal. I like to keep hearing what they actually sing, which is often not the case for these bands. The grunting is SO heavy, that words are lost in the growling of them. Same goes for Amyst.... Pity... =/

As for the combo of grunting and singing, that's always something I can really appreciate! Simply shows how cunning a singer is whenever they perform such difficulty and pull it off without breaking a sweat!

I actually enjoyed August Burns Red! Something @HahiHa and @goumas13 proposed to me in the past, but I kind of forgot this band over time... heh... And I actually heard a song of Crown the Empire before I got to reading your mentioning in your post! LOL They were the next suggested song in a row after Amyst! :P But to be honest, I didn't like that song 'Voices' as it was a little chaotic and lacked consistency throughout... and I think their version of the 'Punk goes Pop' edition of Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' had nothing to do with Metal... it was a true pop cover, nothing more?! Did like their song 'The Fallout' though! Nice vibe, rythem and singing/grunting combo in that one! Add a beautiful girl in the vid and you've got my attention allright! LOL

Anyway, continuing on The Devil Wears Prada... errr... if the singer were to have a little more melody in his screaming, I'd say it's something worth listening to, but... he's simply screaming, as in... really - simply - screaming... (Oo) ...this just doesn't feel like an artist to me. Sorry to dump on them, but this is just not something I like to listen to. As I've stated before, I really like to hear melody in all parts of the song, both the instruments and the singing/grunting/screaming. TDWP is just throwing words at you, which is frankly something anybody can do in my opinion. This was truly a dissapointment to listen to, but hey... not your fault, ok?!

So, to elaborate on how I like melody in grunting/screaming... take Sarea again as an example. They have a solid melody in their grunting if you listen carefully. If you were to sing his screaming part using the exact same pitches and tone hights, it would be a consistent whole... take 'Downfall' as an example! Listen to the grunted verse and then try to imagine it being sung instead of grunted? That's what I mean with melody in grunting, which I prefer!

And with the new YouTube format of playing another song after you finished listening one, I just re-discovered a band which I didn't appreciate not so long ago! Arch Enemy! LOL If you were to ask me about them, little over a year ago, I would have waved them away as being too heavy for my taste! 'War Eternal' sounded really nice! Allthough I would have loved to hear the lead singer actually sing the chorus instead of grunting... if this were the case, I would have fallen in love with this band instantly!! But now I like them and will explore them more! (sounds twisted and complicated, but... *shrugs* ...shoot me! Haha) Plus, the new singer is sssssmokin'! Which always helps... *winknod*
Liked 'Under Black Flags We March' as well, but this is with the former singer apparently?

Next song suggested by YT actually surprised me... a Hardrock song by Gus G. called 'I Am The Fire'! Sounds great!! Even though it's borderline Hardrock/Metal, I felt it was worth mentioning in here... maybe you'll appreciate it as well? Let me know!

Back to Symphonic (Gothic) Metal... I started listening to Xandria as well! I was already listening to bands such as Epica ('Storm the Sorrow' <- Awesome!!), Nightwish and Within Temptation and just saw them pass by in a list next to Arch Enemy (probably because of the female singer; even YT is predictable!). They sound nice! Something worth exploring more! Try 'Nightfall' for example... great song and getting a good vibe from this band!
OH! Hey... They changed singers!?!
Found this song by Xandria: 'Valentine' and saw another singer to my surprise! Hmmm... actually like the new singer's deeper voice to be honest. Gives a little more bite to the songs!

And this... hmmm... what do you guys make of this? Amaranthe - The Nexus
It's something that sounds like pop meets Rock meets Metal meets Dance -ish -like -esque -errrrr....
Sounds nice, but need to listen to it more...

Allright... I've wasted 2 hours of my time listening to music on YT for this post, which I've written along the way! Well... 'wasted' is the wrong word... 'enjoyed' is more like it! But I really need to get to working now!!!

OVERALL CONCLUSION: One simply needs to find his/her personal opening into a certain part of this music genre. Seems to me that Metal and any sub-genre of it is something that needs to be explored and learned, much like acquiring the taste for wine so to speak. And once you've come across a certain song that triggers your interest, you may have opened the door to explore a new part of this ever-growing music genre! As did I with grunting/screaming... I've been listening to bands that were off the table little over a year ago, but are awesome now! Heh... one learns, one grows huh? HRUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

@MrDayCee That Sarea song (downfall) was really good, actually. It had a lot of emotion in it; the music video was sad, but I guess it matched the tone of the song. So I can't complain about that. I wish his singing voice was stronger though, it seems a little monotone; maybe I just misread the tone of the song. Like he wasn't trying to be super vocal and more of conveying the emotion of the song; so I am not shooting it down for that .
And, seriously your post creeped me out... just a bit... because this is the second time you mentioned bandSSSSS (plural) and songSSSS (plural again) that I found literally not even a week ago e-e. I recently got into gothic/symphonic metal, thanks to spotify, and Epica, Within Temptation, Arch Enemy and Nighfall all rose very quickly into my music library. I like the opera voices of the women adding to the almost dirty and gritty instrumental parts. Arch Enemy is the exception; girl screams better than most men haha. Though she is probably the weaker of the ones I mentioned. And yes,I think she is the old singer, now she is the band manager (I think... to lazy to look that up so don't quote me on it). And the former singer reminds vaguely of Laci Green; which made me laugh so I had to leave the video and just listen to the song haha.
Never heard of Gus G, I like his voice actually; it has a good combo of screaming/grunting while still singing. Though again, I feel like his voice could have more range. I can't tell if this is intentional as that kind of gritty (for lack of a better term) voice can limit range; from my experience with hearing people similar. But it is still good, and I will definitely check into him more.
Amaranthe is frickin' awesome... like metal singer (guy with long hair) meets pop (girl) and then they bring punk singer along (short hair). The music video was actually really cool as well; which is not something one can often say nowadays haha. Definetly going to have to find more of them.
Band you may (or may not) like is Parkway Drive their song Wild Eyes has an AMAZING intro and the rest of the song is awesome as well. One band I cannot say the same about is Coheed and Cambria Welcome Home The intro is by FAR the best part of the song; I feel so epic when I hear it. Then he sings (about a minute into the song) and I just don't like his voice. Just my opinion, but I have the song for the epic nature of the intro; I dunno if it is even considered metal but DANG.
Final little tangent and then I'm done, I promise. Completely unrelated to metal, but Rise Against is amazing; you mentioned the vibe and movements in a song, and Rise Against is really good at this. I am really, really bias though because they are in the top 5 bands I listen to, so I am not the best person to ask to; but they have such an amazing derision for society and contempt for culture... which sounds just like teen angst music, but it works so well for them. And it isn't all melodramatic and self centered, their songs are really emotional (again, extremely bias) and great. 30 Seconds to Mars is the same way... Leto and his voice... HE has range from singing to screaming on a dime. They aren't metal, but they have a scremy-ish sections in their songs.
Okay... done with the non-metal BACK TO THE TOPIC
Balance and Composure is good; *snooty voice* though technically a post-harcore band. They have some great stuff as well. I get your stance on TDWP; I am soft for them because they were my gateway band; like I wouldn't be listening to metal if it wasn't for them; so they have a sentimental place and they also influenced my musical taste a lot as such. It is one of those things that I feel attached to because of how it changed my taste in music. Going from a bland pop-rock then transforming into the 'Metal//rock/punk/post-grunge/a ton of other stuff' my musical taste is now. But I get that they are not the most talented; with a lot of bands completely destroying them. As for the understanding of the lyrics of ID, I completely agree; I liked the vibe and sound of the music but I HAD to google the lyrics... because I couldn't understand them. Now that I know what they are saying, I can understand most of their songs, but I still need google haha. I get that it can be a turn off for most people though; I guess I just quit caring about translating lyrics because I went through a J-pop phase and translated ALLL the lyrics. *shudders* dark times... dark times...
I totally agree with your point on music and musical taste though; it changes just like a person does.
I feel like my music is shifting into more extremes than it was before. I was pretty bland into pop and stuff; now I listen to pop and like it, but I am listening to metal and punk the most; just realized I called punk extreme *devious laughter*. Anyway, symphonic metal is my jam (at least for this week haha) and it is awesome how that unfolded and such.

Hey, I thought I'd add to this thread.
I notice black metal not having a loud voice on this thread (excluding the mention of Xasthur and Burzum). Which is fairly unsurprising. Black Metal is fairly difficult to get into. Anyway, I thought I'd give a few bands some notice.
Keep in mind that they have all recorded music in good quality, not the cruddy quality Black Metal is known for.

Dark Funeral
They appear to be a bit satanic, although I haven't taken the time to read their lyrics yet. Their band logo has a pentagram though. I think that tells you all you need to know.
My Funeral - Dark Funeral
[url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEVodXzNmPM]

Austere
From Australia. It's difficult to find their music. The song I'm posting is soul-destroying. You know those jerks who say, "It's just screaming, ughhh".
Well, this one is. Whoops. But you can feel the emotion the guy projects. He just came and screamed his heart out.
This Dreadful Emptiness - Austere
[url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWCiZ0lLOo]

Gorgoroth
Gorgoroth are just great. Not to mixed with Gorguts or anything like that. They're from Norway, and in my opinion have really mastered atmosphere in their music.
Sign Of An Open Eye - Gorgoroth
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Za2PVVDcI]

Immortal
Immortal is amazing. One of the Pioneers of more modern black metal.
All Shall Fall - Immortal
[url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOOebk_dKFo]

That's black metal all done for me for now \m/

I also want to draw attention to a couple of bands that are fairly small, but I think represent a new genre, or at least one that I haven't been able to discover. They seem to be a mix of Epic Theatrical Music, Black Metal, Death Metal, Djent, and a bunch of other genres. They're both really interesting, and barely known bands. You guys should totally check them out.

These would be
Ovid's Withering
I don't have enough good things to say about this band. Their album, Scryers of The Ibis, is incredible. The album is one big story, to do with greek mythology, and not your generic crud either. It's genuinely interesting. They've also released 16 bit versions
The vocals are diverse, ranging from crushing lows and screaming highs, even some black metal style later in the album.
The band are also massive gamers and stream on twitch. Check out their music, and listen to their album.
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfoXYpR4PXI]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHjjNlO8BDk]

Shadow Of Intent
This band has a extremely similar sound, just on different subject matter. Their album is called Inferi Sententia (Halo fans, listen up), and is the same quality as Ovid's Withering. Check em' out.
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWCRfn4hzjc]

That's all folks. Hope you find some quality music to add to your collection. \m/

Here's some REAL black metal
Immortal is quite a joke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP3KkEVK8RI

Y'all trippin. Let me show you some AWESOME and BR00TAL heavy metal that will blow you AWAY.

Decapitated - Three Dimensional Defect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIzHnEv8AbY

Ulcerate - Everything is Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk2MZptsmdk

Nile - What Can Be Safely Written

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZelUftUPkk

Feared - Erased

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV5zUAhSey8

Beyond Creation - Omnipresent Perception

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0MkJtI3FvU