Power Metal

[mr NOT]

I had a discussion yesterday with an mate of mine, about the term powermetal and in the end 8 guys where contributing to the debate and we still didnt figure it out. Off course 1 guy in a Dragonforce T-shirt didnt agree to anything we said , but the rest agreed with me.

I could be wrong, but I think powermetal is something bands started to name their own music that is actually neo-classical, symphonic or progressive metal. I don't know where the term comes from, but powermetal to me should sound very fast, loud and aggressive. It has the words “power” and “metal” in it, yet bands that supposedly play powermetal to me are not heavy, powerfull or very very metally.

Without bringing the bands down, I would call it soft metal or just melodic symphonic hardrock/metal or something. Wikipedia says it’s melodic speed metal. But that same guy names Fates Warning as power metal as well, so I don’t know if that information is reliable.

I was just wondering, what is power metal to you guys? To me it’s just an empty word.

To the Wikipedia poster it’s speedmetal on LSD from what I read.

 

[Shredgirl]

Hmm, why did you name the thread 'Power Quest' though?

 

[mr NOT]

Hmm, why did you name the thread 'Power Quest' though?

Shit, I am at work and doing 20 things at the same time :s I can't edit it !!!

 

[mr NOT]

Hmm, why did you name the thread 'Power Quest' though?

nm, "go advanced"

 

[moleSG]

I disagree - I'm personally of the opinion that Symphonic / Power-Prog are more subgenres of Power Metal than vice-versa, or Power Metal not being an actual term. Power Metal is used to describe the type of metal that is fast and melodic. It did grow from speed metal, but now a lot of Power Metal bands are much less focused on speed and more on being dramatic and melodic.

It actually grew from Heavy Metal such as Dio, and there are plenty of pure 'Power Metal' bands that formed quite early on - such as Blind Guardian or Manowar.

 

[Symphony]

Very good question.....and one that has been asked many times over the past 10 or 15 years I think.

I always thought of bands like Vicious Rumors as "power metal" but the lines are blurred somewhat these days.

We did come across this exact issue with some reviewers of the "MOI" album, which is why I insisted that the word "melodic" be used in all the promotional material this time around....despite the fact that "BA" is a heavier record

 

[Shredgirl]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo, you said the forbidden word Steve!! The so called purists will tell you that "melodic" is not a real term because all Metal is melodic.

 

[mr NOT]

I would place vicious rumors into that spot sooner as well.

And I also think the term power metal doesn't create half the right expectation to the music for an outsider than it actually should.
There are a lot better terms for the melodic music "power metal"actually is I think, which would also be more appealing to a wider range of potential fans.

 

[mr NOT]

I disagree - I'm personally of the opinion that Symphonic / Power-Prog are more subgenres of Power Metal than vice-versa, or Power Metal not being an actual term. Power Metal is used to describe the type of metal that is fast and melodic. It did grow from speed metal, but now a lot of Power Metal bands are much less focused on speed and more on being dramatic and melodic.

Shouldnt it get another suitable term than if it grew from power metal, speed metal etc?

Oh and Manowar is true heavy metal. (so they say...)

I think we are from the same period in time.

 

[moleSG]

I don't really think the name Power Metal is off-putting myself.
If people can't look past a name to try out the music, that's their loss IMO.

 

[moleSG]

Oh and Manowar is true heavy metal. (so they say...)

Fair enough, my bad. Was just one of the first examples that came to mind.

 

[mr NOT]

I don't really think the name Power Metal is off-putting myself.
If people can't look past a name to try out the music, that's their loss IMO.

I totally agree with you. But I am sure most musicians don't. Since they make a living out of selling it.

 

[moleSG]

Shouldnt it get another suitable term than if it grew from power metal, speed metal etc?

I don't think there's much of a need myself to split music into very small subgenres depending on what it sounds like.
Power Metal is a fairly large term, which can describe a lot of different bands from Sabaton to PQ to Helloween, and I'm OK with that.

Guess it's just personal opinion.

I totally agree with you. But I am sure most musicians don't. Since they make a living out of selling it.

Fair enough, can't argue with that.

 

[Kingface]

Funnily enough a similar sort of topic came up when I ended up chatting with a few people when I was queueing to see Sabaton & Alestorm at Sheffield back in October last year. We started discussing about whether Sabaton are "Heavy Metal" or "Power Metal"...and we eventually decided that they are "Heavy Power Metal"

 

[Indestructible]

I was just wondering, what is power metal to you guys? To me it’s just an empty word.

Power metal to me is regular Heavy metal with faster tempo(speed metal) and more melodic or symphonic than regular Heavy metal.

 

[1928]

I just made my fourth attempt at explaining my definition of power metal and I can't do it. It's too convoluted for me to articulate properly.

 

[Cronopio]

Well, to me power metal symbolizes the 'happier' and somewhat more 'pompous' approach to heavy metal. It's all good, though.

 

[Cello]

I just made my fourth attempt at explaining my definition of power metal and I can't do it. It's too convoluted for me to articulate properly.

+1

To me it's just a feeling I can categorize bands in for myself. I wouldn't try to convince someone to abhor to my personal definition of the genre, cos it'll be different for everybody.

 

[RedFox742]

We did come across this exact issue with some reviewers of the "MOI" album, which is why I insisted that the word "melodic" be used in all the promotional material this time around....despite the fact that "BA" is a heavier record

As a longtime proponent of the term "power metal" (because I find that I tend to love most anything classified under it,) Steve, I have to confess it always annoys me a little bit when bands say "melodic metal" when their entire fanbase knows they're playing power metal. Even Helloween, whose promoters coined the term, are guilty of it frequently.

I know WHY it's done--because power metal can mean everything from Manilla Road to Fairyland, and because the name can carry a negative connotation that causes potential fans to reject it. But because I tend to use the term to mean "Red, you will like this!", I get tweaked by attempts to dance around it! (But I do totally understand. Don't expect me to stop saying it, though!)

Definition?

Power metal is any heavy metal created by a band formed in or after the mid-1980s with clean vocals and a emphasis on creating an "epic" sound in one way or another, whether this be with highfalutin/fantasy lyrics or with instrumentals that convey a sense of the heroic/majestic/grand/deeply-emotional, and frequently with both.

That's what I say. That best encompasses all the substyles of the genre.

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Oh man this thread is a can of worms for a genre obsessive like me

I think powermetal is something bands started to name their own music that is actually neo-classical, symphonic or progressive metal.

Firstly and personally, I like the format "power metal" without running them together or giving each a capital - like how people put "Powerquest" that makes my eyebrows raise too, heh . Secondly, neo-classical, symphonic metal and prog metal actually all stand up on their own as legitimate genres with individually unique stylistic elements, motifs and themes. Sure there are crossovers, fusions and overlaps as well as shared foundations/influences all of which bands borrow, and take an approach to music from other genres and blend them together to make something new, but to clump together Virtuocity, Within Temptation and Nevermore all under the same label is ridiculous to me! They're all too different based on the merits of their own school of music.

I would call it soft metal or just melodic symphonic hardrock/metal

I think this is the problem a lot of the time. When people don't see common reoccuring elements between bands or fully get what makes one genre different from another it's easy to assume it must be something new and therefore requires a new classification. But this flips the other way...on the other extreme where does the classification end when you have genres like "Death 'n' roll" (or "Heavy Power Metal" or "Extreme Power Metal" )? Sometimes it seems it can go too far.

As for power metal's true definition? Well RedFox is closest to the mark for my money but it's so difficult to nail down given the expanse of material it encompasses and the little subgenres that branch off from it. The trouble is when people have "their own idea of what the term means to them personally". Nothing really wrong with that subjectivity if it works for you, but from an objective standpoint I can't help but being irked when I see someone call Slipknot/Bullet for My Valentine "heavy metal". But subjectivity vs. objectivity in music is entirely another can of worms