I only recently discovered Blind Guardian. Typically listened to thrash, rarely power metal. Man, what excellence. Brilliant vocals, great choruses, distinct and unique sense of melody both on guitar and vocals. Something I really love about them is that vocals, guitars, and drums all have very prominent and distinct parts. In many bands I feel like one instrument will often dominate and the band becomes boring. I.e. great vocals, no guitar solos or great guitar but could care less for vocals. When I started listening to Blind Guardian and heard a chorus for the first time, I thought “Dang that was awesome, but I bet the guitar solo will suck or not exist”…and MAN was I wrong. Brilliant vocals and brilliant guitar work. And then that drumming is just always going. My life is 2% better for having found them.
I still consider "Nightfall in middle earth" one of the best albums of all times. I remember waiting in front of the recordstore on the releasday in 1998, came home and listened to it from start to finish a few times while reading the newest "Rock Hard" magazine, good times. Even today it's one of the few albums I still enjoy listening from start to finish.
Here in Spain they were arguably the biggest power metal band ever. Shirts with their art were very common - a tier below Maiden shirts, but putting up a respectable fight in popularity. They also filled some of the best venues - not stadiums, but the tier right below, the premium venues, which I think is a great achievement for such a niche genre.
When I was a kid I loved some of their classics like Mirror Mirror, but I wasn't as much into them as some of my entourage, as I preferred other styles of vocals. Recently however I've come to appreciate them again because Spotify suggested "Sacred Worlds" from the album Edge of Time. I love fully orchestrated metal - Metallica's S&M with the San Fran Symphonic or Nightwish's Once with the London Philarmonic - and "Sacred Worlds" is an absolute banger within this rare subgenre.
Blind Guardian is well known in Europe, but very little overseas. I went to a concert once and the mood was really good. The crowd sang for themselves for half an hour. The band was going for 3 hours altogether. Everyone was friendly (nothing else I expected with power metal).
In fairness, early BG very much aligns more with speed metal, which is a fairly close sibling to thrash. It was that vector that got me into them more than my latter appreciation for power metal in all its bombastic soaring-vocal glory.
If you like thrash and great vocals, check out Forbidden if you haven't. Late 80s early 90s technical thrash whose singer has some wild range. Twisted Into Form is their best album IMO. Their reunion album Omega Wave is also excellent.
Had a very similar feel when I discovered Domine as a teenager… the temes are also very varied. You can see what the band was reading (in terms of fantasy novels) through the years :)
One thing that's changed my metal taste is going to metal festivals that mish mash everything together and making an effort to just go see bands who I have no idea about even if I listen to their music and am unsure about liking it.
One of my favorite things about metal is how diverse it is and sometimes it just gets silly even if it appears absolutely serious - I think seeing the bands when they are having the most fun let's them try things you won't see in their music or videos or even on a regular tour.
In case anyone is into video games and power metal and lives somewhere near Madison WI there is a festival called Mad With Power my wife found last year that falls into the bucket of how is this even a thing but it's a joy to experience.
There are also a few metal cruises I've been on that are absolutely not what you'd expect and are mostly people hugging everyone and have things like cupcake decorating classes.
If you like the harder blind guardian songs more (like mirror mirror) have a look at the band Persuader. The singer somewhat randomly sounds like Hansi kürsch and all their songs are more towards speed/heavy metal but with clear power metal influence.
I found power metal because I was looking for a more positive sub-genre of metal. What I was listening to before often had ahrimanic themes - death, violence, satanism etc.
Impressive work. I believe Encyclopaedia Metallum[0] would be a better source for the corpus, though the noise rate would be higher as there are many one-song/single/demo album bands, along with bands making music in multiple genres in different eras in their lifetime.
The ability to find lyrics on lyric sites would be a reasonable proxy for sufficient popularity, I’d imagine.
On a semi-related note, when talking about large genre-specific corpuses, https://vgmdb.net has a fascinating scope definition across all things game and animation adjacent, including both the massive doujin (fan-made) music scene and the full discographies of many j-pop artists and composers, all annotated by franchise adjacency with (often) full staff credits: https://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22321
It’s a fascinating corpus and one I’d love to analyze deeply one day.
Encyclopaedia Metallum is an amazing resource, it's also quite scrapable.
I managed to quickly throw thogether a set of small bash scripts to crossreference the midgard [0] leaks with metal artists.
[0] The midgard (Nazi online shop) sales record was leaked, including personal information, so I won't link it here
I've commented on a lot of tangential topics in this thread, but regarding the article, I find the clustering really impressive. I know a lot of these bands and going by feel I broadly agree with a lot of the groupings. Perhaps it's not exhaustive or perfect, for example I would intuit Blind Guardian to be much closer to Demons & Wizards, because both of those bands share lyricists and themes, but the analysis otherwise nails many of the tuples. For example, Helloween - Gamma Ray - Masterplan or Edguy - Avantasia, where both groupings' bands shared lyricists. I also agree with other not-so-obvious groupings like Kamelot - Angra - Stratovarius or Falconer - Dream Evil - Hammerfall - Nocturnal Rites.
> For people who might not know, Rhapsody of Fire broke into in two bands, one keeping the original name and the other becoming Rhapsody.
Ehm, this is not what happened.
In 2006 Rhapsody became Rhapsody of Fire to avoid some trademark dispute.
Then they split around 2009, though the main chunk is still called Rhapsody of Fire whereas the spinoff is called Luca Turilli's Rhapsody.
The trademark dispute was with the Rhapsody streaming service - I don't think it was ever announced, but I suspect the streaming service paid them money to change their name since the band definitely came first.
People not familiar with metal music may find it interesting to learn that actor Sir Christopher Lee - or, Lord of the Rings's "Saruman" - was an active part of the power metal scene in the later stages of his life.
I listen to Power Metal only because it is the closest genre to classical Heavy Metal (Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne,Motörhead, Judas Priest) and almost no band sings classical Heavy Metal anymore.
Trad revival is a big thing these days. But I think there is something subtle about even older power metal that sometimes makes it a bit different from something you'd class as "plain" speed metal. Its a bit hard to put in words precisely. But that is why I love the genre so much. I am not so much into pure speed metal or thrash metal.
For those who like metal and are open to more experimental and avant garde, progressive styles I highly recommend the 2023 albums by Thantifaxath and Blut Aus Nord. But the best metal album of 2023 (surely! IMHO) is Terrasite by Cattle Decapitation. These bands are producing complex, esoteric, heavy music, no dragons.
The Power Metal genre is less popular here in the US for sure. For example as great as the playing is for bands like Rhapsody my friends and I always found them too silly to get into.
Some other bands make the cut of course. But why this resistence to the genre in general?
My working theory is one of culture: Songs about dragons and shit probably resonate a lot better if you grew up in a places filled with castles and shit. That is simply not the US and very much is Europe.
Many of the bands. Sticking to power metal and just from the top of my head: Rhapsody of Fire and related bands, Avantasia, Blind Guardian, Sabaton, Kamelot, Iced Earth, Gloryhammer, Ayreon and related bands (not quite power metal but the overlap in audience is large I believe)...
I would even guess that in this genre, more albums are concept than not.
My favourite band: Dream Theater. Their (arguably) best album is a concept album, they have a few. Also Insomnium’s latest “Anno 1696” is a concept album.
I'd like to use this thread to spread the word of our lord and savior Powerwolf. I discovered them just over two years ago and they immediately became my favorite band: their mix of themes, aesthetic and impressive vocals are amazing. Plus they're a ton of fun live and sound just as good :)
I dunno, I got one of their albums on Google Play Music (before Google killed it) and it just didn't grab me the way Hammerfall or Grand Magus did. The album I picked up is 'Blessed And Possessed', so I dunno, maybe I just picked up their 'Demolition', to make a Judas Priest parallel.
Which of their albums would you recommend to start with?
I know that unique word count is not a perfect way to measure "sophistication" of the lyrics, but I still find it funny that the "best" metal band has less than a half of Aesop Rock's vocabulary given how some metal fans look down on hip-hop. (That's not an attack on them, I'm a huge fan of both).
I hate to say it but this made me laugh. I know it's not what the author is saying, but it certainly aligns with my experience of the gender ratio at metal shows...
I listen to a lot of genres that end up with shows full of bearded dudes with crossed arms, nodding (myself included, to be fair). But metal shows tend to be #1.
I have to say, despite my closest approach to power metal being doom/stoner rock, I am very much enjoying everyone geeking out on their preferred niche genre. No matter where you look, there's history to learn and jargon to master.
[+] [-] scop|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikub|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aerhardt|2 years ago|reply
When I was a kid I loved some of their classics like Mirror Mirror, but I wasn't as much into them as some of my entourage, as I preferred other styles of vocals. Recently however I've come to appreciate them again because Spotify suggested "Sacred Worlds" from the album Edge of Time. I love fully orchestrated metal - Metallica's S&M with the San Fran Symphonic or Nightwish's Once with the London Philarmonic - and "Sacred Worlds" is an absolute banger within this rare subgenre.
[+] [-] Helmut10001|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NamTaf|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tornhoof|2 years ago|reply
Let me remedy this https://youtu.be/i-IcX_bccFc
[+] [-] ykonstant|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtlmtlmtlmtl|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nihilius|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] znpy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hypercube33|2 years ago|reply
One of my favorite things about metal is how diverse it is and sometimes it just gets silly even if it appears absolutely serious - I think seeing the bands when they are having the most fun let's them try things you won't see in their music or videos or even on a regular tour.
In case anyone is into video games and power metal and lives somewhere near Madison WI there is a festival called Mad With Power my wife found last year that falls into the bucket of how is this even a thing but it's a joy to experience.
There are also a few metal cruises I've been on that are absolutely not what you'd expect and are mostly people hugging everyone and have things like cupcake decorating classes.
[+] [-] taneq|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] valzam|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justforasingle|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] feldrim|2 years ago|reply
0. https://www.metal-archives.com/
[+] [-] btown|2 years ago|reply
On a semi-related note, when talking about large genre-specific corpuses, https://vgmdb.net has a fascinating scope definition across all things game and animation adjacent, including both the massive doujin (fan-made) music scene and the full discographies of many j-pop artists and composers, all annotated by franchise adjacency with (often) full staff credits: https://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22321
It’s a fascinating corpus and one I’d love to analyze deeply one day.
[+] [-] camel-cdr|2 years ago|reply
[0] The midgard (Nazi online shop) sales record was leaked, including personal information, so I won't link it here
[+] [-] aerhardt|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aerhardt|2 years ago|reply
Kudos to the author!
[+] [-] generationP|2 years ago|reply
Ehm, this is not what happened. In 2006 Rhapsody became Rhapsody of Fire to avoid some trademark dispute. Then they split around 2009, though the main chunk is still called Rhapsody of Fire whereas the spinoff is called Luca Turilli's Rhapsody.
[+] [-] Bahamut|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crtified|2 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee#Music_career
[+] [-] DeathArrow|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dazzawazza|2 years ago|reply
Take those to BandCamp/Metal Archives and look for "bands like" these and you'll see there are hundreds of UK, Canadian and Swedish bands.
There is also the ever awesome Jorn (Swe) still putting out amazing Heavy Metal.
Hope that helps. No need to listen to power metal ;)
[+] [-] pjgalbraith|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] YeGoblynQueenne|2 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_of_traditional_heavy_...
This should probably be your next stop:
https://www.youtube.com/@NWOTHMFullAlbums
And here's a small selection of some of my favourites from that new wave:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsmrGn_1E13fBQkyefFGu...
[+] [-] Semaphor|2 years ago|reply
That’s just not true, at all. Just look for the "trad[itional]" genre. I don’t enjoy it, but there are a lot of releases there.
edit: Or just combine heavy metal and either hard rock or thrash on something like RYM, that should also give you a lot of those. Here’s Hard Rock + Heavy Metal for the 2020s: https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2020s/g:all,hard%...
[+] [-] mindcrime|2 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/@NWOTHMFullAlbums
[+] [-] powermetal|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asadotzler|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fallinditch|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|2 years ago|reply
And you can't forget their Chicken Sonata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFxDOV6IwHk
[+] [-] LesZedCB|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RajT88|2 years ago|reply
The Power Metal genre is less popular here in the US for sure. For example as great as the playing is for bands like Rhapsody my friends and I always found them too silly to get into.
Some other bands make the cut of course. But why this resistence to the genre in general?
My working theory is one of culture: Songs about dragons and shit probably resonate a lot better if you grew up in a places filled with castles and shit. That is simply not the US and very much is Europe.
[+] [-] 082349872349872|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tmoravec|2 years ago|reply
I would even guess that in this genre, more albums are concept than not.
[+] [-] mynegation|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wodenokoto|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toastedwedge|2 years ago|reply
I would wager it was a case of life getting busy, unfortunately, as happens to us all.
[+] [-] agubelu|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tmtvl|2 years ago|reply
Which of their albums would you recommend to start with?
[+] [-] agravier|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iosonofuturista|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tgv|2 years ago|reply
> Country, Nr of bands
> Spain, 1
[+] [-] aerhardt|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] max_sendfeld|2 years ago|reply
https://medium.com/@WolframHempel_82303/symphonic-metal-band...
[+] [-] golergka|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smrq|2 years ago|reply
I hate to say it but this made me laugh. I know it's not what the author is saying, but it certainly aligns with my experience of the gender ratio at metal shows...
I listen to a lot of genres that end up with shows full of bearded dudes with crossed arms, nodding (myself included, to be fair). But metal shows tend to be #1.
[+] [-] awaythrow999|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] at_a_remove|2 years ago|reply