Music

Alright, cool, that helps. Admittedly I'm more of a post-90s metalhead than a true classics era guy, but I still have some big recommendations for you anyway. In rough order of release:

Pentagram - Pentagram, 1985. Sleazy doom metal with sexy swagger and all clean vocals.

Death - Leprosy, 1988. Death is literally the death metal band and this is a killer example of why they're the legend they are.

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness, 1989. For my money, this might be the best metal album of the classic era. Just insanely awesome classic death metal, start to finish. A classic even amongst classics.

At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul, 1995. A monster album and a great example of the "gothenburg sound" of melodic death metal. This album has aged incredibly well and doesn't really feel like listening to "old music" to me.

Embodyment - Embrace the Eternal, 1998. A fucking triumph of death metal and absolutely my favorite early proto-deathcore album by far. This shit is amazing. Just be aware that Embodyment radically changed their sound every album, so their is their only extreme metal album.

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone, 2000. A masterpiece of stoner doom metal that in my opinion does an excellent job blending classic metal with the more modern era.

and for some extra fun, a few recommendations that are on the softer/poppier side of metal:

Slipknot - Slipknot, 1999. Slipknot are probably the single most respected nu metal band, at least in my opinion. If you're unsure how you feel about nu metal, this is a great place to start.

Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage, 2000. For a lot of metalcore kids, especially those my age (I'm 40), Killswitch Engage is the metalcore band, and it all starts here (although their next two albums are better).

(hed) P.E. - Broke, 2000. For my money, this is the best nu metal album of all time. Very radio-friendly, but still chaotic and aggressive and full of skate-punk heaviness. Often overlooked and wildly underrated. If you're open to nu metal, definitely check this one out. Just be aware for that for some awful reason (hed) P.E. albums on Spotify if you're in the US are the clean versions, not the explicit version. I have no fucking idea why this is the case, but it's awful; seek out the real explicit versions, definitely. Youtube is shit for music listening, but if you can't find the explicit version elsewhere, here's a youtube link for the full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWNoHVOmDc

If you check any of them out (or already have), feel free to let me know what you think, I love discussing this stuff! And if you ever want to move on to the more modern era, I've definitely got plenty of recommendations there.