Hi Georgie you sound like someone who would enjoy the power-metal genre. Similar to the NWOBHM bands but tend to be played faster (but not always). Hammerfall, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gammaray, EdGuy, Stratovarius and Dream Theater would be some to check into. None of these bands are "new" but are certainly releasing albums and staying current in their genre. Hope this helps.

It hurts me to think of all the great metal you'd miss out on if you limit yourself to clean vocals. I'm sure you'll get a decent amount of qualifying recommendations, but if you want to open the floodgates, give the less-accessible vocals another try.

Maybe start off with some Opeth (alternates between growl and clean).

If you want to broaden your musical horizons, you may need to venture out into the unknown

Are you from Germany?

Nope, I'm from Canada but i would have guessed that too with the recommendations I made.

The bands you mentioned are all hyped in German metal mags. And it's Gammy Ray BTW.

P.S.: Isn't it curious how many Canadians are on here?

yeah a whopping 3

I second the Opeth recommendation!! One of my all time favorites.

Well actually there're four. But considering there're not much more than ten or so users online regularly, four is quite a bit.

my bad hehe. keep in mind it's also shaping up to be a long cold winter here in the great white north (koo loo koo-koo ko koo koo-koo) so there really isn't much else to do besides drink beer and post on the internet. eh?

Koo koo what? LOL
Man I'm freezing to death here already, I don't even wanna know what you guys are going through.

Anyway, no idea why but I always felt like half the users here were from Canada. Is there such a thing as Canad-o-phobia?