How about some more power metal like Ark?

[adaher]

It's really a matter of perspective. I've heard Stratovarius referred to as prog metal just because they use keyboards.

To some people, if you're not singing about knights and dragons, it ain't power metal, it's prog.

 

[mtlheart]

It's really a matter of perspective. I've heard Stratovarius referred to as prog metal just because they use keyboards.

To some people, if you're not singing about knights and dragons, it ain't power metal, it's prog.

Then some people haven't a clue. Power Metal is a style of playing metal. Lyrical content has nothing to do with it.

 

[Yngvai X]

It's really a matter of perspective. I've heard Stratovarius referred to as prog metal just because they use keyboards.

To some people, if you're not singing about knights and dragons, it ain't power metal, it's prog.

To most people I see, as long as the vocals are not death or black, the band gets called prog or power metal.

 

[adaher]

Then some people haven't a clue. Power Metal is a style of playing metal. Lyrical content has nothing to do with it.

And on the converse side, a lot of people will call it prog just because it has keyboards.

Of course, what really cheese me is people who will call a band like Ark "80s metal".

Modern metal has as much to do with 80s metal as 80s metal did with 70s metal like Rainbow and Deep Purple. Sure, it was certainly influenced by it, but it wasn't even close to the same thing.

 

[mtlheart]

Of course, what really cheese me is people who will call a band like Ark "80s metal".

Modern metal has as much to do with 80s metal as 80s metal did with 70s metal like Rainbow and Deep Purple. Sure, it was certainly influenced by it, but it wasn't even close to the same thing.

Yeah, that irks me too. Almost as much as people labeling just about anything "Power Metal."

 

[adaher]

Yeah, it's like, "Hey, a guitar solo! It's the 80s!"

 

[Pellaz]

Ark @ PP was amazing. If Glenn could get them back together,

I hope he remembers to get some REAL heavy duty drum heads......

--And make sure the dressing-room is well-stocked with corpsepaint.


"You're not going on STAGE looking like that?!"

--someone backstage*​

"Of course I am!"

--Jorn Lande​

Yeah, that irks me too. Almost as much as people labeling just about anything "Power Metal."

Even funnier: The Book of Metal, a big A-Z 'encyclopedia' book put out by Metal Hammer from the UK, lists ALL of the bands like Iced Earth, Helloween, Edguy, Gamma Ray, etc. as "thrash metal."
Must be a Brit thing.
(The book is actually quite lousy in many other ways, but it was on the "ludicrously cheap" rack at Borders Books. )

---
* I think it was Jim Pitulski

 

[adaher]

I was checking the House of Blues site back when Nightwish and Sonata Arctica were supposedly going to tour the US together.

The House of Blues had them listed as "alternative".

Actually, I'm cool with that. Metal is the new alternative ever since Nirvana.

 

[ashaman7122]

LOL. I usually like Barking's posts, but this is was funny. Oh well, I guess everyone's allowed a foot on the mouth faux pas once in a while.

Some more than others...

...(I should know)...hehe


Rock on!

 

[edgeofthorns]

To me, Ark is a progmetal band. I would agree that Ark is one of Jorn's strongest moments, but the Mundanus Imperium project did nothing for me.....at all! For some reason or the other, it bored me to tears. It would be great if Glenn could get the Ark boys together again to play for PP!

On another Jorn note, I really dig the Millenium s/t album that he did......it has a very mid to late 80's Whitesnake sound to it! For some people that's not a good thing, but I love it!

 

[ragingsaxmachine]

Power metal, to me (even though I love it) can usually be defined by its lack of uniqueness from bands of the other genre. Freedom Call, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Helloween (to name a few)...they all have various "power metal" songwriting elements that are present in almost every song, unless they change styles (and a couple of them did). Does that mean I don't love them? Of course not. But power metal bands usually follow a certain formula for their music, and rarely is the formula ever unique. To me, Ark is far more separated from this crowd than some people give them credit for.

To me, Ark is proggy but they at least have some unique distinction from the prog metal band crowd. Sad to say I can't say that for Circus Maximus.

My bro has a hard on for Ark--Glenn, please bring them back to ProgPower!

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

--And make sure the dressing-room is well-stocked with corpsepaint.


"You're not going on STAGE looking like that?!"

--someone backstage*​

"Of course I am!"

--Jorn Lande​

Whoah! As opposed to Dimmu Borgir, I thought that was Maniac from Mayhem. Quite similar. Mayhem are actually now probably crappier than Dimmu Borgir just on principle.

He actually has blonde hair.

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

I don't think power metal should be confined to "having the same sound" as other power metal bands.

 

[ragingsaxmachine]

Well, I didn't say they always sounded the same. But you gotta admit that Gamma Ray and Freedom Call are pretty similar sounding. The fact that they have the same drummer also doesnt help their case.

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Not that those bands don't sound similar, it's just that I don't think being power metal should mean it can't have a different sound than the "standard" bands and still be power metal. Seems like a cheap excuse for making the same old drivel to me.

 

[Met-Al]

I agree, Pumpkin. Not every power metal band plays it by the numbers. If that were the case, we wouldn't have bands like Jag Panzer, Angel Dust, Steel Prophet, Blind Guardian, Rage, Tad Morose, Savatage, and Brainstorm. However, I do believe that Ark is a progressive metal band. Their music transcends several boundaries and serves as a showcase for the technical prowess of its members. Only the cream of the crop can can do both with their music, whereas most bands lumped into the genre only do one or the other. If you're looking for reccommendations, I would highly suggest you check out Attention Deficit, Clockwork, Destiny Dreaming, and Freak Kitchen. I believe all of these bands, like Ark, were/are doing their own thing while tearing it up on their instruments.


Stay metal. Never rust.
Met-Al

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

I got some Freak Kitchen tracks a while ago because J-Dubya kept pimping them, and I thought the band name and album titles were really cool.

Aha! hahaha, I just realized what I've got. Tracks from the very first album and the 2005 album. There's a bit of a difference. I had just heard the newest ones.....and it's like prog-adult-contemporary-nu-metal. ^_^ And seriously....the songs I listened to from that have the cheesiest lyrics EVER. No Edguy or Stratovarius can possibly stand up to the cheesy might of Freak Kitchen. So this is what J-Dubya listens to over PoS . It's decent though.

Anyway, stuff from 'Organic' sounds really nice and has the same jazz influences that I liked in Ark. I'll pick it up sometime.

Edit: I just have to give some more points to Freak Kitchen for having the cheesiest lyrics ever, just a selection...."I'LL BE YOUR ONE GIRL GUY AND, YOU'LL BE MY ONE GUY GIRL, BUT THERE'S ONE THING I FEAR THE MOST........THE INFIDELITY GHOST."



Okay, now I'll spend Prog-Power VI hiding from J-Dubya.

 

[Demonspell]

They call him porno daddy! Freak Kitchen can be extremely fun to listen to, but Mattias just tries too hard to amuse with his lyrics. As for Ark, they're progressive at least 90% of the time. And I have to give equal time to their lyrics, especially with some of Jorn's inflections: "And weeeeee're gonna daaaaaaaance!" (cheesiness of that line aside, Resurrection is fucking incredible.)

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Yeah.....Ark have the cheesy pop element also.

 

[Walter_Langkowski]

I'll give you a $1 to find any reference on the net for Ark as "power metal."

Glenn H.

I was just starting to count the number of posts before someone brought that up.

Great, great album but in no way is that Power Metal. Prog would be the closest description.