So I only learned of this reply because I happened to open my email this morning. Medium didn’t give me any notifications.

What, exactly, did you listen to of Apocalyptica? I’m sure they covered Metallica at some point. The link I put up however is “Hall of the Mountain King”. It’s a piece written in 1875 by Edvard Grieg. That you recognized the tune, is probably due to it’s use in all kinds of movies and shows. Specially cartoons tend to use Classical music.

I grew up with Classical music. I had to choose an instrument to play and for years I played harp. Camille Saint-Saëns — Danse Macabre is still my favorite piece of music. Beethovens 9th always moves me to tears — and yeah I know that’s a bit of a cliché.

I feel it’s that background that makes me gravitate towards Metal, specifically the Melodic, Symphonic and Core genres.

I’ll listen to the tracks you listed later today.