I think many of us think along those lines. My tastes probably lean closest to progressive rock, but there is so much cross over that it's hard to label some music and I sometimes hate to attach a label that doesn't quite fit. I was big Jethro Tull fan but part of that was because their music didn't fit one particular mold. It's rock but with a lot of folk and minstrel elements mixed in. Yes is probably my favorite but they borrow a lot from classical. Rush became more mainstream down the road, but I love the early works like Hemispheres with those long complex arrangements.
Metal, likewise, has different flavours. I was into Judas Priest in the '70's with Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class, but I considered that more heavy rock. Some might call it metal. Who cares, man, it's all great music.
Screaming For Vengeance was the last Priest album that I was really into. So hard not to crank the volume up with those songs. For me, Hellion / Electric Eye is a great example of a heavy intro to a great rock song:
Ask me now what metal is and I would probably lean more towards Metallica, Korn, Slayer and Anthrax and the like. Some of those are more "thrash" metal, which is the one genre I'm not particularly fond of. Prefer something progressive along the lines of Tool. Not that metal has to be thrash. I love Metallica's Sad But True. It's a slow tempo but evokes the word heavy to my ears.