I have subgenres I prefer but I don't really embrace them. I find with most metal subgenres, the first half-dozen or so bands that pioneer the subgenre are really good if not downright awesome, but they're quickly followed by a flood of shitty imitators.
E.g., if you look at early 80s thrash, the first bands were the best: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer (if you consider them thrash), Anthrax, Metal Church and Armored Saint. Almost all of them went on to change their sound, sometimes for the better, sometimes...not so much. But the thrash bands that came after them were just derivative and uninteresting.
I'm not sure I ever stuck with a subgenre. I love Dream Theater and early Queensryche but otherwise don't really go for prog-metal. Was obsessed with Type O Negative, My Dying Bride, Prong, later Ministry, and various other goth/industrial/doomdeath bands but there's not many decent bands playing that anymore. I used to listen to Rhapsody of Fire and Blind Guardian a lot but don't really seek out power metal. I was obsessed with the (mostly Dutch) female-fronted symphonic metal scene (Nightwish, Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica, etc.) for a while but find the newer bands from that scene dull and uninspired. I never thought I'd like death or black metal but Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth and Chthonic are pretty cool. Some technical/math metal acts are good too.
I find with a lot of newer metal bands that the overall level of musicianship and complexity of arrangements are probably better than they've ever been in metal, but I can't stand the raspy screamo vocal style. Guess I'm getting old...