Yeah, I'm usually against vocals, especially in any kind of rock. But, I've been into Dream Theater for awhile, & am now getting into Stride, Dragon Force, & Symphony X.
As for music that inspired LoT, I always figured it was stuff like Vinnie Moore & Yngwei Malmsteen & maybe Joe Satriani that inspired them. If you listen to any of their stuff, you'll see what I mean. I even made a special version of Sylphia, where I took out the techno, & added in all Vinnie Moore, which seems so much more fitting. I think Bonknuts still has it uploaded somewhere, if not, I can reupload it on File Factory. It makes the game so much more interesting. And I didn't take just random tracks for each level, boss, etc. I took my time, & found which songs sounded good with each area.
The music I listen to, is usually in my truck, & on a mp3 cd, since I usually just rip all my stuff so I can have a cd in there for weeks. Right now, I'm making my way thru all the Castleroids, from Symphony of the Night thru Portrait of Ruin. I'll probably next go thru the 2 PS2 Castlevania ost's, those 2 ost's barely fit on 1 mp3 cd!