dwardzala
I guess I will give you this piece of advice - if it sounds good, it is good.  You should avoid adding things just to add them or using techniques just to use them.  Keep you mixes as simple as possible.
 Set up your mixbus processing early in your mix (i.e. add your compressor and turn it on).

+1 Keep it simple!  The more you add the more that can go wrong.  Murphy's law applies to audio!

 For ducking you might try ducking guitars with the vocal - so the guitars come down just a hair whenever the vocal comes in. It can be tricky dialing in the attack and release times, but worth it, and you don't want to duck too much. With metal this could help the vocals stand out without sacrificing overall guitar volume.