Has anyone else ever experienced this? If so, what albums/bands/styles of music/etc. took metal's place during this period in your life? Why do you think this change in your taste occurred? When did you finally come back around to listening to a lot of metal?

I've been delving deep into the music of John Coltrane (particularly his free jazz works like Ascension) and Magma lately. Lots of Neil Young, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Cream, Kamasi Washington's The Epic, Fela Kuti, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, as well as a steady diet of the classic seventies' Genesis records (among many others).

I think part of this is due to my desire to grow as a drummer and songwriter. I've been busy writing and jamming with a new band at university, and I've been learning quite a bit from closely listening to great drummers like Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Christian Vander, and Elvin Jones and creative masterminds like Brian Wilson, John Coltrane, and Neil Young. I guess the bottom line is that I was itching to hear new sounds, and it was also necessary to inspire creativity in my view. 

I'm very curious to hear if anyone here has had similar experiences. 

Cheers.

I have though got burned out on certain sub-genres of metal at different times only to get back into them later. Prog most recently. Slowly finding an interest again. 

And I do know what you mean when you say you've heard it all before, I get that feeling with the sub-genres I listen to the most which has made my review grading of those artists harder than it once was. 

Electronic music on the other hand, I actually did get burnt out on several years ago. I used to listen to dubstep, which I hate now, along with bands I still love and have been re-visiting (Deadmau5, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, etc.). I also used to listen to a lot of the drum 'n' bass/electronic rock band Pendulum, and I'm not really much of a fan of them anymore. I still like a few songs, but I rarely listen to them anymore.

I also don't like much progressive metal anymore. I used to think it was so cool when I was younger, but I've realized that so much of it is dull and boring. Tool's still one of my favorite bands, and I still really like Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, and a few others but other than that it just doesn't interest me anymore.

I didn't anticipate listening to as little metal as I have been lately, but I definitely predicted getting tired of listening to so many similar bands (you know... the countless old school death metal throwbacks, generic power metal bands, etc.). That's a large part why I think I took a vacation from reviewing... hearing the 754th Morbid Angel clone just didn't seem that appealing anymore. 

The hiatus from metal also has a lot to do with my recent, deeper appreciation for jazz. Albums like Coltrane's A Love Supreme always impressed me, but I now feel like I really "get it" on some sort of transcendent level. It feels like a truly limitless genre to me, so of course this new realization means that I want to hear as much as possible. 

So, who knows. You never know when something might come along and have a profound effect on your listening habits.

...and great avatar, by the way. 

I've scratched the surface of a few other genres at times, notably neoclassical darkwave and ambient which came about because many black metal musicians have side projects in the styles. As irony would have it I've bought several albums now that are from side-projects such as Wongraven, Dargaard and Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, yet don't actually own anything from the respective metal bands the musicians are better known for. I've actually been feeling the itch to explore these styles some more recent so who knows, may end up listening to it a lot over the next month or so. 

As far as metal goes, I don't necessarily require something to be completely original in order to really like it so long as its very well done, so I still enjoy finding new bands in the styles I know well. I'm picker with some sub-genres than others. There are also still sub-genres out there that I don't know much about at all just ready and waiting to be explored when I feel the time is right.