I've played metal (among other things) on and off for nearly 30 years, everything from hard rock to pretty brutal death metal. Heading closer to djent type stuff more recently but most time spent on what somebody else described as "melancholy metal" - Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Katatonia type stuff. My previous band released a pretty decent album 11 or so years ago with ex-paradise lost drummer Lee Morris and Jens Bogren producing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Mhb2Peo_VtXjbkDJX1M9w).
Things looked to be going pretty well, decent reviews, etc. Then the singer disappeared up his own derrière with ridiculous self promotion antics and everything stopped dead at that point...
Gear wise I've played pretty much everything going over the last 20 odd years but my signature shows pretty much where I'm at now - Vigier leading the pack at the minute. Ridiculously good bass. Still love my ACGs to death, and really I'm a dyed-in-the-wool P-bass guy and have too many basses, but it's a nice problem to have...
Rig-wise, after being an Ashdown fan for the longest time, I moved on to an Orange Terror which is probably my fav head of all time, but with no gigging band for the last few years my rig is kind of up in the air. Lots of nice gear knocking around. I'd love an oldschool Trace Elliot SMX rig after playing through one in a rehearsal room last year. Maybe a cull is required to enable that to happen...