Ranking the Clans

As the clan system is definitely a defining feature of the site, I thought it'd be fun to see how everybody orders their taste, and how they relate to the clans. 

As for myself:

1. The Fallen (Doom, Drone, Gothic, Sludge, Stoner) 
While I'm not huge on drone, I absolutely love every other subgenre in this class. 

2. The Guardians (Heavy, Neo-Classical, Power, Symphonic)
For me this clan is hard carried by the Heavy/Trad metal. I don't care at all for the rest, but the Trad group is massive, influential, and important. 

3. The Horde (Death and Grind)
Love both of these subgenres, especially OSDM

4. The Pit (Groove, Speed, Thrash, Stench)
I have no idea what stenchcore is, but Groove, Speed, and Thrash all kick ass!

5. The North (Black, Folk, Viking)
This is an odd relationship, because what I learned through my experience in this clan is that my black metal tastes are at massive odds with the majority of black metal heads. I'm just not big on all the Satanism and Anti-Christian stuff, but I love the SDBM genre, black n roll, and the bands that rely less on those themes in favor of things like nature, magic, and folklore. I also like the "Hot Topic" black metal stuff like Cradle and Dimmu. There is a lot of black metal that I enjoy, but it is not the black metal that most black metal fans enjoy which made me an odd-duck here. 

6. The Sphre (Industrial)
My wife (KosieCat) is a full-on rivet-head, as is my good friend Max. I've found that Industrial music has a bigger following in Detroit than other places I've been to and lived, probably something to do with it's relationship to the auto-industry. Most of the time the sounds just sort of blend together, and I don't really get into the harsh noise stuff. Occasionally, I enjoy Ministry, Corrections, House, and Front Line Assembly. I also enjoy some of the Late-entry Faster Pussycat albums and the associated Newlydeads.

7. Gateway (Alternative)
This is where I think my age starts to show. Alt metal seams to be where we are putting the whole nu-metal scene, unless I've gotten something wrong which is entirely possible. I was around for it's emergence but I don't connect to these bands they way I do the old-school stuff.

8. Revolution (Core)
Much the same as I said for the Gateway. I barely know how to identify a core band. What I gather to be the defining characteristics is that it forgoes guitar solos in favor of breakdowns. I prefer the solos. 

9. The Infintie (Avante-Garde, Prog, Post)
As a guy who enjoys a much more blue-collar approach to his music, these subs just aren't going to appeal to me. I appreciate the talent and discipline that goes into producing this stuff but I favor a much more raw and primal style of music. 

Looks like my clans are at the bottom of your list, Zach. It's fine, we can't all like the same stuff. Still this is a fun idea, coming up with our own clan rankings. Here's my order, with pros and cons:

1. The Revolution: Pros - the breakdown-filled madness of standard metalcore, the catchiness of melodic metalcore, the blend of epic and extreme in symphonic blackened deathcore (Lorna Shore, Mental Cruelty, Drown in Sulphur, Worm Shepherd, etc.), and the chaos of mathcore. Cons - I'm not up for most of the more brutal deathcore bands like Suicide Silence and Thy Art is Murder.

2. The Sphere: Pros - I enjoy the more noise-experimental and EDM-based kinds of industrial metal as well as cyber metal. Cons - the bands that heavily depend on industrial (sorry, that includes Ministry and Front Line Assembly) and Neue Deutsche Harte are not what I want on a regular basis.

3. The Infinite: Pros - the complex talent of progressive metal, the downtuned riff-fest of djent, the experimentation of avant-garde metal, and the lengthy ambience of post-metal and post-sludge. Cons - some avant-garde metal bands are just too strange for me, and I've lost interest in some bands over the years, even the most popular ones.

4. The Gateway: Pros - I was first exposed to alt rock/metal when I was 13 (half of my current age), long before developing my own "true" metal taste, thanks to my older brother who still enjoys those genres today. When my interest in alt-metal was slowly rising up enough for to have potential to join Gateway, I became interested in modern alt-/nu metal and was revisiting those bands I remember from the past. Cons - not much of a fan of old-school pre-Linkin Park alt-/nu metal, nor rap/funk metal.

5. The Guardians: Pros - the clan with the first ever metal genres I enjoyed, power/symphonic metal, the former thanks to DragonForce and their hit song "Through the Fire and Flames". I also enjoy a few of the lesser-known classic heavy metal bands and a bit of neoclassical metal. Cons - due to my focus on heavier more modern genres, my interest in The Guardians has been on and off and just not the same as it was when I was a young teen 10 years ago.

6. The Horde: Pros - I love the more melodic side of the genre including (of course) melodeath, symphonic death metal, and the more progressive side of tech-death. Cons - Never really a fan of a lot of old-school/brutal death metal, and definitely not a fan of grindcore and its R/X-rated subgenres.

7. The Fallen: Pros - Some doom/gothic/sludge metal darkness is good for me once in a while. Cons - I'm not huge on drone, stoner (except High on Fire), or funeral doom, and I'm often tempted to play the ultra-slow songs at 2x speed.

8. The Pit: Pros - I'm up for the lesser-known bands of thrash (especially tech-thrash), speed, and groove metal. Cons: I don't get much appeal from the most well-known bands like the Big 4 and other similar bands, and stenchcore is hard for me to explore.

9. The North: Pros: I used to like some folk metal bands like Alestorm and Eluveitie. Black metal is OK for me in small doses and if a band that has one or a few albums of the genre moves on to a different one. Cons: I'm also not big on Satanism or Anti-Christianity, but for me, that includes Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. DSBM is just way too depressing. Too much linkage to arson and murder, particularly in the 90s Scandinavian black metal scene. And I definitely avoid the dreaded NSBM at all costs.

1. The Fallen

Absolutely my favourite clan. Funeral doom, death doom and good old trad and conventional doom have appealed to me for the longest time. I grew into drone and sludge and have even started to get more into gothic metal. I was a huge fan of stoner metal initially, but it has paled a bit for me over the last year or two and often bores me now.

2. The North

The more furious and raw the better, but I like most black metal sub-genres. Folk metal, not so much, but even that has some releases I enjoy. Sure, there are plenty of sub-par bedroom artists out there, but the great far and away outweighs the poor.

3. The Horde

I wasn't always the biggest fan of death metal, but I never really knew many DMheads. I was more a grindcore guy. Since joining Metal Academy and being guided by members who definitely are knowledgeable I have really got into it and, as a relative newcomer, it still holds many pleasant surprises for me. I will pass on cybergrind, though if that's OK.

4. The Pit

As a guy who was around when the early thrash albums hit, The Pit will always hold a lot of nostalgia for me, but thankfully, mainly due to the burgeoning South American thrash scene centred on Santiago and Valpairiso it is no longer just just about the nostalgia. I am not massively into groove metal, though.

5. The Guardians

Again, as a metalhead since the mid-70s the Guardians will always be home to some of my longest-lasting favourites, so there is a huge nostalgia factor. But, the rise of a new trad metal scene is producing some good stuff too and I have sometimes even been known to veer off into power metal territory!

Now it gets a bit more difficult.

6. The Infinite

I am going with The Infinite next. I always enjoyed prog rock because you weren't always sure where it was going and prog metal is similar. I don't like the Dream Theater-like wanky stuff, but the progressive death and black metal stuff is often fantastic.

7. The Sphere

I enjoy the industrial aesthetic, although I have merely scratched the surface with The Sphere, but I suspect there are quite a few decent albums in there somewhere.

8. The Revolution

I am going to, probably unexpectedly, not put The Revolution last. I used to loathe the likes of Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage, but over recent times I have found several releases I have enjoyed within its ranks and am hopeful of discovering more.

9. The Gateway

There is a couple of faves here - Toxicity and Battle of Los Angeles, but it is also home to some of the blandest metal in existence. Controversially, I also find some Gateway darlings such as Faith No More or Alice In Chains massively overrated.

1. The Horde - At my core, I'm an extreme metalhead & this is where my comfort zone is which will probably come as no surprise given my association with Sydney brutal death metal outfit Neuropath. I'm not big on melodeath, symphonic death metal, goregrind, gorenoise or cybergrind but I absolutely worship the remainder of the subgenres included.

2. The North - I totally froth over high-quality black metal & war metal which overcomes my reservations about symphonic/melodic black metal, black 'n' roll, folk metal & most Viking metal to see this clan taking out second spot.

3. The Pit - This is where my roots lie & thrash metal will always have a strong place in my heart. I'm not huge on groove metal or speed metal but those don't play anywhere near as strong role in the clan.

4. The Fallen - Probably the clan whose subgenre set I find the most universally appealing. Sludge metal, drone metal, doom/death & funeral doom are all strong faves of mine but I can dig pretty much anything to come out of The Fallen so it was challenging for my top three.

5. The Infinite - I love a bit of complexity & value high-quality production & performances so this clan is one that I always find interesting, outside of the more avant-garde stuff.

6. The Sphere - There's a lot to like for me in this clan & I often discover bands that I've never heard of that are producing compelling metal here.

7. The Revolution - I'm not a fan of the melodic side of -core music but can really dig the more chaotic & aggressive stuff, particularly mathcore, deathcore & old-school metalcore. When it becomes fused with sludge metal or grindcore then I'm all in. I'm very much out when things get all clinical though & I find a lot of the bands that are popular these days tend to lack any sort of heaviness even if they utilize the same tools. There's definitely a saminess about a lot of The Revolution artists that I find a little bemusing.

8. The Guardians - Despite having strong affiliations with the classics of the 70's & 80's, I'm strongly turned off by European power metal, symphonic metal & neoclassical metal. I invariably enjoy half of the monthly playlists but really struggle with the other half.

9. The Gateway - Whilst I absolutely love the early 90's brand of alternative metal, this clan has totally died in the arse for me in recent times as I find that it's become a dumping ground for the most commerically accessible metal. My taste here is pretty much the opposite of Andi's as most modern alternative metal does very little for me. I've never been big on nu metal, funk metal or rap metal either so this is easily my least favoured clan.

This is based on the number of their albums in my top 100.

1. Guardians (29) - This was the metal spirit that introduced me to the genre as well as the world.  Songs like Dazed and Confused would influence many later songs that lured me in, oftentimes by bands such as Scorpions or Metallica or Dio.  And then you add the symphonic stuff, much akin to the artist that my father introduced to me at 15: Meat Loaf, changing my world, and suddenly you've got the perfect clan for me.

2. The Fallen (23) - I feel like the Fallen has a bit of an unfair advantage with so many subgenres under its belt, but taking influence from the Sabbath side of things can in fact go a long way.  There's metal that sends lightning through your veins, and then there's the stuff that crushes your soul.  I can't deny that Neurosis had a big say on expanding my metallic horizons.

3. Infinite (19) - While most post-metal hasn't had much of a say in my metal affairs, the progressive and avant-garde stuff is the kind of thing that really gets my brain pumping.  Starting with Dream Theater, I eventually moved to Tool, Symphony X and similar bands, and I especially love how it can move into practically any genre with ease, from power to death.

4. Horde (15) - As with many, my first venture into death metal came through Symbolic, and it wasn't long after until the heaviest shit imaginable was not but pussy to me.  Although there aren't very many death songs or albums I could call favorites, they keep managing to find my way to my top 100 albums

5. North (14) - Sometimes you need to just sit down and embrace the darkness, or the sadness, whichever you prefer.  Folk metal and viking metal are quite fun on their own, but the black metal easily outshines it on my charts.  Nevertheless, Moonsorrow, which encompasses all three, is one of the finest examples of each of the three as well.  It just sends you back in time the way LOTR does.

6. Pit (9) - Thrash was a pretty slow venture.  Believe it or not, when I first heard Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning, I didn't really get into them beyond a couple songs.  But further ventures into heavy, power and death helped me to overcome that.  Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning have both spent time as my number 1 metal album of all time, although speed metal struggles to keep up with thrash's output IMO.

7. Gateway (5) - There is very little alternative metal that I'm in love with.  The only example I can think of right now is Dirt by Alice in Chains because I went on many grunge binges in my early days online.  Otherwise, quality alt-metal is something I appreciate critically rather than being engrossed in personally.

8. Revolution (5) - I love almost all kinds of punk.  I went through various binges in a variety of punk genres, but metalcore isn't one of those that I've been able really grip beyond a few key bands.  Especially when the subgenres like deathcore kick in, metalcore's more of a guilty pleasure rather than a serious venture.  Still, I found that alt-metal can be much more imaginative in the whole, hence albums like Lateralus and White Pony.

9. Sphere (1) - Although I consider Killing Joke's Extremities an industrial metal album as well, there is extremely little industrial metal in my chart because much of it gets more monotonous than it needs to be, even the much better ones.