I've done some metal concert photography and I go with a prime lens. Earlier I only had a 28mm 1.8, but next time I will go with a 50mm 1.4. Automatic settings don't work well, so I go fully manual; manual focus, manual metering, manual flash. Yep, unlike Matt's answer about not using a flash, I do have a speedlite with me. Swiveled up to the side and with a soft-box, and I manually set the strength , too. 1/32-1/64, aka fill flash. And I turn it on and off between shots, depending on the amount of smoke in the air and whatnot. I also move around like a ninja. I am very lucky that the concerts I shoot I am even allowed to crawl around on the stage itself, so I can get close to the drummer and shoot over the shoulders of the band and see the audience from their perspective.

Examples:

I've done some metal concert photography and I go with a prime lens. Earlier I only had a 28mm 1.8, but next time I will go with a 50mm 1.4. Automatic settings don't work well, so I go fully manual; manual focus, manual metering, manual flash. Yep, unlike Matt's answer about not using a flash, I do have a speedlite with me. Swiveled up to the side and with a soft-box, and I manually set the strength , too. 1/32-1/64, aka fill flash. And I turn it on and off between shots, depending on the amount of smoke in the air and whatnot. I also move around like a ninja. I am very lucky that the concerts I shoot I am even allowed to crawl around on the stage itself, so I can get close to the drummer and shoot over the shoulders of the band and see the audience from their perspective.

Examples: