Man, if you can't find metal, you're not looking hard enough. Metal Maniacs is a real good magazine for harder metal. So is Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Second one (Latter or former? Always get those two mixed up) even comes with a CD in every issue with all kinds of diff. bands, from established ones with new songs coming out, all the way to unsigned, independent bands.

I'm readin "The encyclopedia of Heavy Metal" and it's real good. You get a brief history on a lot of bands and a sort of synopsis of what their music's like and how it's changed throughout their career. Then to buy the stuff? Look no further than: http://shopping.theendrecords.com

They have so much metal ****, it's insane. And they're all pretty cheap. $13 mostly Me listing what I like probably won't help as much as that book, those 2 mags or that awesome ordering website. Check 'em out