Metal Reviews

I've benn relistening to my Sonata Arctica albums recently and realized I didn't have much power metal in my collection.
basically my short list: sonata arctica, kamelot, angra and stratovarius.

i've tried blind guardian and gamma ray and never really liked it.
when it comes to power metal i'm really picky I like fast songs but an album has to have mid tempos. a perfect exemple of balance would be sonata's Silence and a bad one would be Sonata's WHG(all fast and most songs sound too much alike).

Can anyone suggest me some bands that might peek my interest ?

Try Dream Evil.

Iced Earth

Listend to Horror show 2years ago and never liked it.

from the tracks I heard on myspace they sound great,
but the lyrics to the "Prophecy" are extremly cheesy, borderline horrible IMO. are most of their songs like that ?
or is it only their "Dragon Slayer" album ?

Timeless Miracle (Best album of 2005, I cant rave enough, check it. Assuming you havent already)
Nightscape
Dreamtale
Axxis
Guardians of Time

try Burnt Offerings much better then Horror Show and you should also try Night of the Stormrider.

A diverse and good list would be:
Galloglass
Heavenly
Wuthering Heights
Edenbridge
Jag Panzer
Virgin Steele
Rage

The last three are a bit heavier than the others but they are v good.

Also try Helloween if you haven't. If you have try them some more. And not just their Keeper era. Some of their later stuff slays just as much.

Timeless Miracle ( very good but lacks guitars...)
Nightscape (Blah...)
Dreamtale ( great stuff! any specific album to check out ?)
Axxis (ok...i guess)
Guardians of Time (website is down)

Great band! I may review their latest for Monday if I can find the time this week.

Edenbridge ( Niiiiiiice!)
Rage ( Awesome, can't believe i've never heard them before, what CD in their catlogue would you judge as a "Must Own")

The last three are a bit heavier than the others but they are v good.

Also try Helloween if you haven't. If you have try them some more. And not just their Keeper era. Some of their later stuff slays just as much.[/quote]

From what I remember, they have had a new vocalist for every single album released. The best IMO is a tie between the original album: Beyond Reality and their newest: Difference. Their second album Ocean's Heart is good, but the vocals and production kind of bug me. Also, on their debut they have Marco Hietala as a guest vocalist on some songs.

´
Well I haven't heard that many albums by them actually but "Soundchaser" is pretty damn good. If i'd buy one i'd but that one.

thanks, Wuthering heights and Virgin Steele are also very good.
Wuthering Heights is actually very appealing, the vocals are not to high( castrated vocals as I call them) and the guitars sound nice.

looks like i'll have a couple of choices to make,
Rage(love the hard edge guitar sound), Edenbridge(love female vocalists) and Wuthering Heights are the bands that impressed me the most so far.

They're a tough band to kind of single out one album to suggest for people. Lingua Mortis, XIII and Ghosts are pretty much a trilogy, very symphonic and heavy, but not like their earlier, faster, thrashier stuff.

Then you've got Unity and Soundchaser that are heavy, but not as trash-oriented, just some serious heavy metal. Then the recent album is like a split album, the first half is the Lingua Mortis Suite which essentially fits right in with Lingua Mortis, XIII and Ghosts. The second half is like Unity and Soundchaser.

Anything before Lingua Mortis can be likened to early Blind Guardian, it's raw, it's fast, it's thrashy and there's a lot of it. They released a lot of albums before they started trying new things on a big scale. The Lingua Mortis album was a pretty big departure. Still, they've maintained a very high standard throughout their career. Just be warned, the new stuff is like silk while the early stuff is like high-grain sandpaper! It's very raw and Wagner's vocals are pretty rough. Basically 80's thrash, by the book.

A killer band any way you look at it.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS - Far From The Madding Crowd
sounds like a killer album! I....must...purchase



NOTE: I'm craving for new music tonight! err mourning.

Yes I recommend that album highly. It's fast, dynamic, technical and epic!

And thanx Eyesore, for sharing som desirable info on Rage.

If you haven't already, try Pagan's Mind. They're much more Proggy than Power, but they still have a very distinct Power Metal sound to them, as if Dream Theater and Stratovarius mixed together in a twisted experiment in the bowels of Prog.

Celestial Entrance is fantastic. I'm pretty sure they're still "Power" enough for this thread, but if they're not, they still kick a lot of ass.

Pagan's Mind are indeed a killer band!!

EMBRACING FEAR (2004 Version)
THROUGH OSIRIS' EYES
AEGAN SHORES
EMBRACING FEAR (Original)

...for instance.

That is to get you started.

Kiuas - if you like guitar shreds this is for you, more so for a SA fan.
Brainstorm - heavier than most pm, if you like Rage you'll like this too
Cryonic Temple - In Thy Power is great, constant speed throughout the album
Evergrey - unique prog/power band
Lost Horizon - any SA fan should hear this, it's out of this world
Mob Rules - much like SA; heavy keyboard presence, catchy blabla...good stuff if somewhat cheesy
Pyramaze - with members from Wuthering Heights, one of the better pm bands and it have Lance king on vocals and he rocks
Secret Sphere - try Heart & Anger; one of the best pm albums last year, again very similar to SA
Twilightning - very promising band that writes some of the catchiest choruses ever; try something from Plague-House Puppet Show