Ok, this site is full of talent the outside world doesn't know about. I'd like to know the music you think is awesome, but if you mention their name, everyone else says "who?"

Eg. Fourth Floor Collapse. Their music is awesome, especially the song 'Drink Till You Drown', but they're a Perth based band and aren't really internationally known at all...

WB

'TOURNIQUET', is a band hailing from the 1990's with tons of variations. its one of the best metal bands  i have come across. they are not limited to just grungy vocals or thrash style of playing.......infact they have an album, 'Acoustic Archives' which is an acoustic version of their heavy songs.........they are preferred by a wide audience for their acoustics. drummer, Ted Kirkpatrick is know for his unique drumming styles and is also an awesome guitarist.

many know about them but then again most people would say "who"?

tourniquet

enjoy

The Hellecasters ......  Another band from LA, not  metal,, but if your a guitarist this bands cd's should be in your collection,

http://www.hellecasters.com/

The Hellecasters, yeah!

some of my favorites include....

The Mountain Goats
Dead Can Dance
Johnny Dowd
Smog
Madredeus
Boo Trundle
Neck
Zao
AC Newman
In Flames
Gaber Giorgio

Between The Buried and Me.
They have a song on here called Mordecia.
The dual guitar harmonizing on "Selkies; an endless obsession" is just amazing.
They are getting recognition but the only reason people have heard about then anywhere near me (England) is because of me. Which is cool.
Anybody heard of The Cat Empire. It's such happy music it makes me want to cry...
In Flames I've definatly heard of. Their newer stuff is not nearly a scratch on their back catalog. As is too often the case with alot of bands.

Matt Wertz!
Kyle Riabko
Five Times August

Some polished poprock stuff i came across...fairly big, but no one i meet seems to have heard of them

jackfancy mentioned Dead Can Dance! I agree, that's wonderful music. They do have quite a following btw, I myself am proud to have all their released works (including the DVD) aswell as some work that Lisa Gerrard (vocalist) has done with Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins, but most will only know her from the work she's done with Massive Attack) and This Mortal Coil. Early Cocteau Twins btw, that's one hell of a "gem" indeed.

The Legendary Pink Dots - check out the Maria Dimension album! That has to be their highlight amongst highlights! Though Casting the Runes, Man with the Cut-Glass Heart, A Melancholy Crack in Time and Velvet Resurrection are probably my favorite songs from them, and not at that album.
also their side project with cEvin Key from Skinny Puppy: Tear Garden - another side project - by Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre: Ohgr (dahh) especially the song Majik from the Sunnypsyop album - is fantastic!

Then there's The God Machine - a great metal/grunge type band from the early 1990's - no longer exists though, but that sound... They were way ahead of their time. They were signed to Fiction Records, the company that was initially a vehicle for The Cure.

Qntal - Absolutely great music. Female vocals to electronic arrangements and mystic soundscapes - that's seriously beautiful.

Also I'd like to mention Glyn R Brown from the Remix64 community. Dunno much about the dude but his arrangements are also fantastic.

I think there's more... But I these are the ones I instantly think of when you say "hidden gems"!

Yep, great stuff there. Good to see some Australian bands getting heard around the world, even though it's not the 'everyone knows their name fame', some recognition is good to hear (there's always the struggle with Australian bands trying to get their music to every corner of the world).

Augie March: They have some awesome instrumental sounds and very clever and tight knit lyrics. 'Stop Breathing' is so sweet, flowing, frequently using dissonance, chromaticism and diminished/augmented chords. 'One Crowded Hour' and 'This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers' are songwriting at it's finest. It also helps that the guy who writes the lyrics did some English/Literature/Poetry type course at university, so there's serious education behind the band.

Years Around the Sun: Don't know how well known these guys are in the U.S. but I couldn't order their album through the CD shop (I ended getting it on iTunes). Each instrument has its own melody, so their songs are always mindblowing, with a lot of sliding on the guitar giving a smooth, layed back feeling, and the drummer plays the strangest rhythms I've ever heard (you just need to listen to the first few seconds in 'Sinclair' to understand), which adds to the curiosity of the music, it's simply addictive in all its brilliance.

The Sinners is a Norwegian band that use to be excellent I don't know if they still exist I really hope so
The Barracudas is another of my favorite I don't know how well known they are but not enough if you ask me
La Mano Negra are very well known in France and in some part of south America but I don't think their fame go any further witch is a shame cause they are very very good

I think I should have mentioned Dalis Car, that is really interesting music, and I've been very fond of TimBuk3, and Bramlaan, a local artist who produced a double album back in the 80's (or was it earlier? I forget!) but sadly never broke through. His music sounds like a blend of Mike Oldfield with early Pink Floyd and anything that thrives on acid and loads of cans of bits

I think the band Blue Murder  was  over looked when they came out years ago. For straight ahead rock music with good musical ideas and strong sound they get it done.  My fav's  Blue Murder (the song) and Outta Love Again (ballad). If you want to hear them, pm me, and I'll get your email though I woullllldddddd neeevvvveeeeerr
think of illegal copying of music   pm and go from there.