Originally posted by scacchipazzo
My mind is plenty open. I lend my ear constantly to a lot of it (new music) being the father of two teens. I frankly find heavy metal more compelling than, let's say, Andy Partridge.
I thought you said Zappa said these works were boring. I suspect it was a simple case of skill not fitting the medium. I'm not saying lack of skill, but genre of adeptn qui heavy metal band. They are pretty awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fIDFSUMvLY
Yeah, Zappa said they were boring. But maybe he was wrong and his serial works are awesome. Who knows. Vai did eventually work with Zappa, so I guess he came back on his initial verdict. I agree with your general sentiment though, great guitar player, perhaps not such a great composer. I have listened to one of his albums and it wasn't bad but not particularly impressive either.
I grew up with heavy metal, actually (I'm 25). Got a reasonable collection, a few hundred records perhaps, though these days it's maybe 10-20% of what I listen to. The Iraqi stuff is actually not bad at all, though their brand of thrash metal is perhaps not the most original (but well-executed).
As for recent artists, I'm a fan of Michael Gira and his works. The Swans are pretty well-known so maybe you know them already, but:
YouTube (1995)
Mike Patton has made some interesting stuff, here's a sample from one of his many projects:
YouTube (2001)
Since you like classical maybe you'll like Therion, who make a blend of heavy metal mixed with strong Wagner/Orff/etc.-influences - they record with a full orchestra but unfortunately they lack the funds to tour with one.
YouTube (2001)
Coil's swan song is exceptionally good:
YouTube (2005)
Have a Nice Life recorded a masterpiece in 2008, blending shoegaze, post-rock, drone and more. There is a buildup to a climax at around five and a half minutes, better executed than any post-rock outfit has done so far.
YouTube
You also probably ought to listen to Ulver, who started out as a black metal outfit but are now at the forefront of modern avant-garde music.
YouTube (2000)