[This is a request for band recommendations based on Blind Guarding, with a long-ass, annoying prologue and equally long-ass, annoying list of qualifications and parameters.]
So I hadn't listened to anything remotely metal-like since high school, or roughly 8 years, until this past summer. I was aware of Dragonforce, thought it was fun/stupid, and discovered it worked well as mindless background music for work. This led to increasingly metal-oriented Pandora stations, the content of which I thought was merely entertaining until I discovered Blind Guardian. I instantly loved them and they quickly became one of my favorite bands, regardless of genre.
The problem is that discovering my love for BG made me want to listen to similar bands, but I just can't seem to find any power metal that I like anywhere close to as much as BG. I've been searching this and other metal forums for ideas, but many of the suggested bands I've already crossed off my list. Thus, I've come here hoping that some of you guys will be fastidious and anal-retentive enough to read through the following list of similar or allegedly similar bands and my accompanying reasons for being less than enamored with them. I'll order them loosely by how much I've listened to them.
Again, sorry for such a ponderous and wordy first post, but since I'm (1) in law school (2) in Houston, TX, there's not exactly a ton of metal sub-genre knowledge at my social fingertips
BANDS WEIGHED IN BALANCE, FOUND WANTING
- Demons and Wizards: Probably my favorite non-BG power metal band (of course), but I don't feel like the arrangements are as cohesive and imaginative as BG's stuff. I guess this is may seem like sacrilege to some Iced Earth fans, but I honestly prefer the guitar sound of BG. Schaffer is obviously talented, but it sounds somehow over-rehearsed, IMO. Also, Hansi's vocals seem markedly different to me in his D&W work in a way I'm not sure I like.
- Hammerfall: I thought HF was pretty cool at first, but I've become less and less impressed with them. I tend to like their arrangements and general crunch, but the singer's vocals are kinda thin and they sound increasingly homogeneous the more I listen to them. Basically, I got lucky in hearing their best few songs before any of their other stuff.
- Edguy // Avantasia: Same basic problems as Hammerfall. I have to say that genuinely appreciate Tobias' ability not to take himself too seriously, something I really love about BG, e.g., their campy covers. However, with Edguy, this tends to drift into the excessively cheesy more than I can tolerate (see, e.g., the song about clowns). Plus, I've noticed a few times that their lyrics can be disappointingly homophobic.
- Iced Earth: Good, musically, but too many cringe-worthy moments for my tastes. I don't really expect that much lyrical craft from my metal, but it's just too hard for me to listen to songwriters in any genre who are so painfully convinced that they're writing some kind of poetry when they really, REALLY aren't.
- Gamma Ray: I've really enjoyed a lot of their stuff, but I tire of the 80's feel after a while. In doses, they're one of the most listenable bands on this list for me.
- Sabaton: I actually like Sabaton quite a bit. The singer has a cool voice, the war-themed lyrics are pretty interesting to me, and they have fairly good song structure. However, the guitarists are painfully lacking in creativity, e.g., they use the exact same annoying, Eastern-sounding minor lick in like 5 songs on one of their albums.
- And the rest (Hibria, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody of Fire, Helloween, Kamelot, Saxon, Primal Fear, just too name a few): The overwhelming problem that disqualifies most power metal bands for me is a complete lack of variety. It sounds like one band is producing 70% of the genre in a factory somewhere and then a sound engineer tweaks them into different bands. I find that this is especially true of singers. There are plenty of very "good" singers in this lot, but so very many of them seem tragically interchangeable.
So...TL;DR, what are some bands like Blind Guardian that don't suck?
So I hadn't listened to anything remotely metal-like since high school, or roughly 8 years, until this past summer. I was aware of Dragonforce, thought it was fun/stupid, and discovered it worked well as mindless background music for work. This led to increasingly metal-oriented Pandora stations, the content of which I thought was merely entertaining until I discovered Blind Guardian. I instantly loved them and they quickly became one of my favorite bands, regardless of genre.
The problem is that discovering my love for BG made me want to listen to similar bands, but I just can't seem to find any power metal that I like anywhere close to as much as BG. I've been searching this and other metal forums for ideas, but many of the suggested bands I've already crossed off my list. Thus, I've come here hoping that some of you guys will be fastidious and anal-retentive enough to read through the following list of similar or allegedly similar bands and my accompanying reasons for being less than enamored with them. I'll order them loosely by how much I've listened to them.
Again, sorry for such a ponderous and wordy first post, but since I'm (1) in law school (2) in Houston, TX, there's not exactly a ton of metal sub-genre knowledge at my social fingertips
BANDS WEIGHED IN BALANCE, FOUND WANTING
- Demons and Wizards: Probably my favorite non-BG power metal band (of course), but I don't feel like the arrangements are as cohesive and imaginative as BG's stuff. I guess this is may seem like sacrilege to some Iced Earth fans, but I honestly prefer the guitar sound of BG. Schaffer is obviously talented, but it sounds somehow over-rehearsed, IMO. Also, Hansi's vocals seem markedly different to me in his D&W work in a way I'm not sure I like.
- Hammerfall: I thought HF was pretty cool at first, but I've become less and less impressed with them. I tend to like their arrangements and general crunch, but the singer's vocals are kinda thin and they sound increasingly homogeneous the more I listen to them. Basically, I got lucky in hearing their best few songs before any of their other stuff.
- Edguy // Avantasia: Same basic problems as Hammerfall. I have to say that genuinely appreciate Tobias' ability not to take himself too seriously, something I really love about BG, e.g., their campy covers. However, with Edguy, this tends to drift into the excessively cheesy more than I can tolerate (see, e.g., the song about clowns). Plus, I've noticed a few times that their lyrics can be disappointingly homophobic.
- Iced Earth: Good, musically, but too many cringe-worthy moments for my tastes. I don't really expect that much lyrical craft from my metal, but it's just too hard for me to listen to songwriters in any genre who are so painfully convinced that they're writing some kind of poetry when they really, REALLY aren't.
- Gamma Ray: I've really enjoyed a lot of their stuff, but I tire of the 80's feel after a while. In doses, they're one of the most listenable bands on this list for me.
- Sabaton: I actually like Sabaton quite a bit. The singer has a cool voice, the war-themed lyrics are pretty interesting to me, and they have fairly good song structure. However, the guitarists are painfully lacking in creativity, e.g., they use the exact same annoying, Eastern-sounding minor lick in like 5 songs on one of their albums.
- And the rest (Hibria, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody of Fire, Helloween, Kamelot, Saxon, Primal Fear, just too name a few): The overwhelming problem that disqualifies most power metal bands for me is a complete lack of variety. It sounds like one band is producing 70% of the genre in a factory somewhere and then a sound engineer tweaks them into different bands. I find that this is especially true of singers. There are plenty of very "good" singers in this lot, but so very many of them seem tragically interchangeable.
So...TL;DR, what are some bands like Blind Guardian that don't suck?
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