Ooohhh a topic I can appreciate.
Right so. Like DnD, I got into metal in College.
I hate to break it to the ol' folks here but I really don't like "old school" metal. I've tried, I swear, but I just can't get into it. However, I'm perfectly willing to reap the benefits from their influences. I'm into a lot of the stranger genres of metal. I'm a big fan of some of the progressive movement. Bands like Opeth (saw them in concert and it was ridiculous!), Zozobra, Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, Machinae Supremacy (refered to as "gamer Metal" for their use of a 64bit processor in making many of the sounds in their songs), and Dream Theater are up near the top of that list. Couple that with some of the more mainstream Death Metal bands like Dark Tranquility, and In Flames (though I feel as if a lot of their work sounds very recycled).
I love off the wall quirky stuff as well. If there is one band that you check out please:
Diablo Swing Orchestra
Think Swing + Metal + Jazz + an Opera singer as their lead vocalist. really weird, but I found that it really grows on people. The more you listen to the album the more you realize how varied their talents are.
Another band is called System Shock, it's Melodic Death Metal, but it's NOT Gothenburg. Quite interesting stuff really.
Now for the sake of my collection I do have Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaugh, and many others.
Oh and FYI for those of you interested. Machinae Supremecy actually releases many of their songs on their website for free download.
http://www.machinaesupremacy.com/
Go to releases>webography and you can DL their un-albumed songs. good stuff, a bit different.