There are some great modern bands out there but the norm, the spotlight, the cream of the crop shines the most repulsive and generic stuff. Yes, fusing and mixing genres to get a new sound is great but too much mixing and matching and it becomes a wall of noise. Especially since the digital revolution of music, the Line 6 era...

I just don't buy into this "designer" and "fashionable" pretty boy screamo metal sensation though. They're obviously shunned by the hardcore Death Metal scene of which these "core" bands like to associate themselves and their music with.

I like music that's creative, balanced between technical and melodic but also music that stands out, that can be told apart from other bands around. Which is what I'm aiming to do with my own band.

though for prog metal, I would define as Ayreon, Symphony X, Dream Theater and Stratovarius rather than Nile or Opeth. =\

Bands that combine the cliches of new with something else, like folk music, bands like Blind Guardian and Rhapsody of Fire standout too, but they actually have incredible singers who aren't trying to imitate a dying pig.