Myhatbroke, this bullshit is getting old. What are you trying to prove to us? That you are more metal than we are?
The fact that so many bands sound alike is quite simple really. It's becasue there are 200 million bands in metal these days. Back in the 80's you had only a handful compared to today. Most of those bands were doing something original...but that's becasue nobody had really done any of that yet, it was inevitable. The bands that are pushing the boundaries with their music today are often more obscure becasue most people are too hard headed about metal. They don't want to accept bands that are really doing something different. People get pissed at bands that change their sound, and they often overlook new bands that are too unique. Truly adventurous bands are often limited to a small cult following and you won't see their name pop up everywhere. I remember when Opeth was like that.....
Dude you are just not in tune with the metal world at all.
And another thing, alot of people who truly love metal don't mind a little bit of monotony. Hell, I love it when I find a band that reminds me of another band that I love. For example, I discovered a band a while back called Gory Blister from Italy. Their album "Art Bleeds" reminds me so much of late period Death it's not even funny. It's one of my favorite albums now. Do you love Carcass, but wish they were still together? Listen to Necrony or General Surgery.....Want to hear some classic Cannibal Corpse meets early Six Feet Under....Check out Torture Killer. Metal fans have a rabid appetite for the same old stuff too...don't count that out. I love rehashing.
If you think Dream Theater are the of Pinacle of prog, go check out Spiral Architect and pick your jaw up off the floor. If you want to hear a completely original style of extreme metal, check out something like Alarum.
Bands are constantly pushing the boundaries of music, you just won't hear about them everywhere like the bands you're hung up on. You might not like them either, but they are there.
So to answer your question..."Is there anything else that can be done with metal?"
Absolutely. Will you like it? Maybe not. It sounds like you're just pissed becasue metal has progressed beyond the style that you appreciate and you're not digging it. It really sounds like you want people to go backwards. Instead of forwards too. It's okay, I want people to go backwards sometimes too. I want more bands like Cynic and Atheist. What's wrong with that?
That reminds me of another point..... People can be pretty slow to catch on. Hell, most metal fans I know completely overlooked stuff like Atheist back in the early 90's and it wasn't until their catalog was reissued last year that their popularity blew up. It's just becasue they were doing something different. I think there will be other bands that go through a similar period of rejection...that's just how metal is.
