Though it doesn't hold a candle to AAL, one of the first albums I remember in this specific genre is the soundtrack for Sauerbraten produced by Mark A. Pullen. Two Minute Warning
Animals as Leaders, Angel Vivaldi, Intervals, and Polyphia (well, now they are genre indeterminate, really) are my favorites.
I don't know if they are "instrumental metal", but Nightwish is quite good.
instrumental means not having vocals, or if you want me to slap you, not having "singing" or spoken word but other mouth noises are allowed.
metal means the music when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well.
Plague of Carcosa. One of their members is a poster on here and they shred, really heavy doom metal stuff.
CHON's early stuff has a lot of distortion. But they're more proggy kind of than metal but still really good instrumental band. I will plug CHON whenever possible
edit: also Haunted Shores is cool. It's the guitarists from Periphery but without the cringe vocals
hmm I've heard a couple of their songs. Not a huge fan but I do like this one which features CHON https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfICVryUd6g
BONGRIPPER BONGRIPPER BONGRIPPER!
That being said, a caveat - they're instrumental doom. Not really of like, the stoner variety, despite the name, I can't actually think of an easily recognizable doom band that sounds like them. Really heavy, chunky riffs that kinda evolve and change over the course of the song, drawn out segments that almost give a drone impression, really thick guitars. Great stuff if thats your jam. Their album 'Satan Worshipping Doom' is the crowd favorite, but I might suggest the newest one, 'Terminal' instead.
The Great Cold is good instrumental black metal. Not sure if Apocalyptica's "Cult" album counts here too, but that one's fantastic whatever you want to call it.
I've been here before so I ask: Specifically instrumental or are you interested in Metal but dislike the grunting /screaming vocals that are common in it?
I like instrumental music over vocal music. But it's true I really dislike grunting /screaming.
A couple I didn’t see mentioned, the whole album “The Deep Longing for Annihilation” by Alluvial, and anything from Haunted Shores
