Be sure to check out Gamma Ray. The German band "Helloween" has been through a lot-and the real core of Helloween formed Gamma Ray. They still produce music and it's awesome unlike most of what Helloween puts out.
Iced Earth is great too, good to see them get a mention. Horror show has a lot of really great pieces for enjoying with your speakers-especially toward the end of the album with Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, and Transylvania.
Some other good metal bands:
Freedom Call
Luca Turilli
Rhapsody
Those bands are more of a 'fantasy metal' so some of the songs are pretentious, but the music is all good. Luca Turilli is part of Rhapsody and he likes to compose music for an orchestra. The result is a cool mix of metal guitars and classical instruments.
