Tagged: powermetal

. . . In the third part of this series, we'll cover a classic metal gem, wonder what would happen if a symphonic power metal classic put itself on a diet, and revisit recent history. 1. Judas Priest - Stained Class Numerous modern bands suffer from sterile and synthetic production. I believe it's due to an inability to experiment with tone in the studio because shrinking budgets push bands to record and mix as quickly as possible. Stained Class was an all-analog recording done for [...]

Man, I love power metal. It's a sub-genre that really doesn't seem to go over too well here in America, and I don't know why. I've heard people say its cheesy, but really, like we don't have any other cheesy things here? Or sometimes I'll hear that it's too "over the top", but have you ever watched WWE or any of that shit? Power metal seems like it would be made for Americans, but most American metal fans just don't seem to get it. Europeans, though, absolutely lose their minds over this stuff. [...]

"Of course, Neverlands vary a good deal" -J. M. Barrie as quoted by Alan Moore in Lost Girls . Recently, Arthur Von Nagel, via Facebook, linked me to an article on the Metal Pigeon blog about top 10 lists and, among other things, power metal. It's a flawed read, but a critical one. Pigeon takes the blogosphere to task for ignoring genres which receive less critical attention: classic metal and power metal. My associate Mr. Street-Jammer has also returned the importance of power metal to my attention. Though the genre rarely grabs [...]

For some reason unknown to most of us, this is the kind of power/prog metal that causes European audiences to lose their minds, but most American metal fans kind of shrug and give a collective, "Meh". I've read others' opinions on this and the most prevalent is that power metal often has classical roots, which are embedded in the European conscience, whereas American listeners are used to more blues based music. Whatever the case, if you dismiss power metal, you are cheating yourself out of some good stuff. For me, power metal is a more positive, [...]

. . . As metalheads, we've grown accustomed to a few things. One is that our music is awesome. The second is that most people don't like our music. At best they see it as a loud, angry, stupid joke. At worst, it's crude, evil, knuckledragging noise. To the average listener, we're inured to heavy metal's sonic violence. Sometimes, a bit of perspective is necessary. Listen to John Zorn's "Speedball" track sometime. Without commenting on the worth of the music, "Speedball" is what most people hear when they listen to heavy metal: clattering, formless, [...]

Nightwish are releasing their new album, Imaginaerum in one month. We heard it. It's really ruddy good. The crazy Finnish people have gone all Tim Burton on us!

. . . Constant critical acclaim for Faroe Island (part of the Danish kingdom) band Týr finally made me pick up Ragnarok years ago. My first reaction was of mild disappointment. After a couple of listens, I still couldn't make out what people thought was so awesome. I liked their overall sound and approach, but so many of their songs were mid-paced plodders with the same rhythm and nothing to really distinguish them. Since then, my opinion hasn't really changed with their successive albums. Each have a couple of great songs, but are ultimately fairly unremarkable. [...]

Is power metal really nothing but upbeat, cheesy music about dragons, swords, and elf maidens? I know that it isn't. Power metal is a big deal in Europe, South America, and Japan. The genre is taken seriously and the big power metal bands have large and dedicated followings. American fans have never taken to power metal. In my opinion, this is largely because of the tone of the music and lyrics. Cosmo discussed the perception gap and attitude differences in more depth than I'll get into here, but there's a link to his article below. I'm going to discuss some [...]

Two more underground metal bands are here and ready for dissection!

We have asked our friend and writer, Tom Dare, to explain to us the appeal of power metal many, many times. In all of his explanations, in all of his spirited defences and intelligent discourses on said genre, we're 99% that he has never once, once, cited modern-era Hammerfall in the positive. Make of that [...]

Para los que no conozcan Almah , deben saber que se trata del proyecto paralelo de Edu Falaschi, vocalista de Angra que introdujo un gran cambio en la dirección del grupo con su llegada, en mi opinión para bien. Lo que empezó como un proyecto en solitario fue tomando fuerza con el tiempo, debido a los periodos de inactividad de Angra y, por que no decirlo, a sus problemas internos. Hasta el momento han lanzado dos interesantes álbumes, un self-titled en 2006, con el que se daban a conocer, [...]

Swedish folk music for Vikings and Viking enthusiasts.

No sooner do we discover one promo photo so accidentally amusing we feel obliged to bring it to your attention than another comes along immediately. It's just like London buses. Only London buses don't look this silly. Or come with an equally preposterous video... Enbound From: Fort Knox Actually from: Borås, Sweden Age: 24(-carat) Cringe [...]

Falconer Armod Metal Blade 07 June 2011 by Tom Dare The ever-entertaining Falconer are usually a safe bet to return with a plethora of hooks and a collection of songs to warm the cockles whenever they announce a new album. The difference this time is that those hooks are all entirely sung in Swedish, and [...]

Veteran power/thrash metal band Helstar officially reunited a few years back and released their seventh album, Glory of Chaos , earlier this year on AFM Records. This new disc is harder hitting than the band's first post-reunion album The King of Hell (2008) and MetalCrypt described the new disc as " Power, speed and aggression, that's what it's all about. " Helstar are playing a short run of East Coast tour dates next month as part of their Summer Of Hate U.S. tour. HELSTAR Summer Of Hate [...]

HammerFall Infected Nuclear Blast 20 May 2011 by Tom Dare In a dark time, the noblest order of heavy metal was laid low. And lo, from the darkness, in a land of the far North, didst a warrior emerge to do battle with the minions of the night and raise high the banner of hope [...]

When Kamelot announced just over a week ago that their Norwegian vocalist, Roy Khan, was to leave the band due to "continuing medical and personal issues", power metal fans across Europe started to panic. Why? Because the now-singerless band had impending tour dates. Luckily for them, the band quickly announced that Rhapsody of Fire's Fabio [...]

Indestructible Noise Command was a Speed/thrash Metal band from USA. They formed in 1985 and were signed to Giant records. They split up after their second album "The Visitor" in 1990. Now, the band is back and ready to shred in support of their latest EP, Bleed The Line, and full-length, Heaven Sent, Hellbound. Read Revolver's review of the new Indestructable Noise Command single (and stream it!) and enjoy our exclusive interview, below!

Symfonia In Paradisum Edel Music 04 April 2010 by Tom Dare There's a band I'm not going mention in this review. In fact there's a box with their name on it, and every time I do I have to put a quid in for the Thrash Hits Christmas party. It's the band Timo Tolkki used [...]

You ever get really drunk and order a pizza? And even though you were so bloated you couldn't breath, let alone sleep, it was the greatest pizza ever ? In Paradisum is that experience, in album form. It's everything you might imagine: European metal (e.g., Helloween, Scorpions, Stratovarius, Rising Force , etc.), modeled distantly off European composers, playing heavily-distorted metallic symphonic music; so cheesy it's beyond semantics: tapped guitar solos and, ahem , symphonic chord progressions.... In [...]