illusionist is here (or is it an illusion?)

Howdy! I just finished combing through the Bands list and adding most of my ratings, so now I feel less naked coming to introduce myself to the forum as a full-fledged member of the site! 

Who are you? I go by "illusionist" on a few sites, such as this lovely locale as well as RateYourMusic, Plug.dj, and AlbumoftheYear.org. My real-life moniker is Thomas, and I'm a 24-year-old dude from Texas - although I now live in North Carolina. By day, I'm the nice baby-faced fellow sitting at his generic desk job. By night, I'm the life of the pit (or the crazy kid headbanging as he runs down the street at 11pm). Aside from metal (obviously), I love sports (especially soccer/futbol), sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction, and anything connected to nature or the outdoors.

How'd you get here? The Trickster AKA Ben invited me on RYM. I found the concept intriguing enough to spend days on my profile despite the lack of a large community here (yet). I'd never heard of the podcast, but who knows, maybe I'll check it out now if this site is any indication of the quality of product I can expect. How did Ben find me? No idea, you'd have to ask him.

Most importantly, your Metal journey? Let me preface this by saying that I grew up in an extremely conservative, evangelical family. I was not allowed to listen to non-Christian rock music until I got to junior high (even tame stuff like Linkin Park or The All-American Rejects). So, when I discovered Metal via playing a friend's Guitar Hero III around that time, it blew my mind. Bands like Metallica and Slayer beckoned the most. By age 15/16, I'd started secretly researching and exploring lots of various sub-genres and getting pretty heavily into it (behind my parents' back, of course). Fortunately, it wasn't just a passing rebellious phase. Since leaving home at age 18 and moving across the country from my family at age 22, my love for Metal has only continued to grow (alongside many other diverse types of music).

My tastes are pretty wide-reaching. I'm proud to have favorite bands from pretty much every corner of the Metal galaxy (aside from maybe that Drone/Atmospheric Sludge/Post-Metal type stuff). Ironically, my two favorite subgenres are probably polar opposites - Power Metal and Black Metal. Death Metal and Folk/Pagan/Viking Metal are also very much dear to my heart. In retrospect, I should've selected The Infinite as one of my Clans or a fourth clan because many of my favorite bands happen to be ones that combine black/death/power/folk metal with progressive elements and thus get classified as Progressive Metal. So yeah, I tend to appreciate those artistic touches or complex songwriting in my metal, along with a bit of melody. For example, 90s Scandinavian Melodic Black Metal might be my favorite specific niche subgenre/scene. 

Anyways, I've ranted long enough. I'm off to explore the rest of the forum! See y'all around!

Another member that came to metal through Guitar Hero! I didn't realise it was responsible for bringing so many into the fold.

I'm thrilled that you accepted my invite and encourage you to continue contributing. I'm going to make a big push in the next few weeks to bring some more members in. The more this place feels like a growing community, the more likely they are to join in on the fun.

Cheers!