Since I actually am an IT Engineer I found this offensive, but I do get your point.
You kidding right?
Actually my tastes in music are quite wide, ranging from mozart/bach and rafi/manna dey to these metal bands I mentioned.
I guess because of my proclivity towards classical music I like "melodic" death metal and not metallica.
Metallica also has melodic songs. Listen to Welcome Home (Sanitarium), One, Fade To Black, For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Call Of Ktulu (Instrumental), Orion (Instrumental), etc.
Perhaps you have not heard enough Metallica. No compulsion if you don't want to check them out, but I haven't seen anyone who does not like Metallica. People dislike them for being sellouts but everyone agrees that their first 4 albums are very good.
On a side note, the whole Death Metal scene is derived from the Thrash Metal scene and Metallica wrote the first Thrash Metal song "Hit The Lights". Therefore, if there were no Metallica, there would not be Thrash Metal, no Death Metal and consequently no Melodic Death Metal, Deathcore or Grindcore. Besides many of the modern day bands cite Metallica as an influence.
Even if you don't like them, always remember that they are a formidable force in metal and a very essential band.
Further reading : *en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica#Legacy_and_influence
I dont like the way the guitar is played in metallica, I tried listening to a few songs like "Enter Sandman", but none of them gave that kick that I get from bands like In Flames and Insomnium.
What if I told you that the the techniques used by Metallica and other bands like In Flames are all similar? What exactly don't you like about their guitar technique? Tremolo picking or the key that they use? If its the key, all of their songs except The Unforgiven is in the key of E minor, the same key is used by In Flames and many of the scandinavian bands except perhaps Meshuggah, Vildhjarta and Enslaved, etc. That does not make their songs much different.
I thought music is a matter of personal preference
and not everybody is inclined to like everything.
I am pretty sure that there must be a few metalheads who prefer a few specific bands over all others.
Metal is like a vast and deep ocean, if you get out of your comfort zone and explore, you will find amazing bands with distinct styles and sounds. That's how I found most of my favourite bands. Yes, music is a matter of personal preference and no one is forcing you to like everything, but nothing beats the satisfaction of finding a band that you like on your own without the TV, radio, your friends or parents to tell you what to listen to. That music would truly be personal and something that is yours and yours alone. Like a drug that is personalised for you alone that gives the ultimate kick.
I may be wrong about this but isn't finland the "cradle of metal" and aren't finnish bands supposed to be pros ?
Nope. There are a lot of good bands from the scandinavian countries, but the cradle of metal it is not. Metal would not exist if Black Sabbath hadn't recorded their eponymous debut album. Since then everyone and every culture that was exposed to metal assimilated it into their own cultures and made it their own. This is why metal has a mind boggling number of sub genres. This is also why the scandinavian countries have a distinct variety of metal of their own. Birmigham, England is the birthplace of metal, but as it were, there is no "Cradle Of Metal" anywhere in the world.
Also, what if I told you that all bands are pros.
Source : 10+ years of experience listening to metal.
