SWANS, Daughters, Impending Doom, For Today, Silent Planet, The Order of Elijah, Wage War, Drown in Sulphur, Lorna Shore, Mick Gordon's shit, Meshuggah, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Deathspell Omega. I collect whatever music helps most with what I'm writing at the time.
I love Tool and RATM too, but you can't say that without sounding like an asshole. When I was a sulky teen, I liked KoRn and Otep a lot.
Does Black Midi count? This song goes hard toward the end.
In terms of hard/aggressive stuff, I'll listen to things that don't fit on the mantle of metal, such as Hellfish and various Deathstep artists. I had Hellfish playing during Sekiro and I could clear his first phase without taking a lick of damage. I wish I kept practicing that, haha.
Annoying as fuck, but slaps when you're working out or fighting a difficult boss in a game.
Celldweller mets the criteria, as does RUSHKID and Black Tiger Sex Machine, though they're not quite metal. KROWW, Evilwave, and various other Deathstep artists have produced absolute bangers.
Whoops. I forgot to add actual contributions.
The last one's Psychostick. They're a comedic metal band and they're hilarious.
