Hm... a Strat is usually a sure fire hit. I can almost gaurantee that once you start playing more you are going to be exposed to a lot more genres of music... one main genre is the Blues. Strats are great blues guitars as well... Definitely go for one of those. Since you like metal... I would look hard at a Mexican Fat Strat with a Floyd Rose. It should be an all around great guitar that will do anything you want it to do from blues to metal.