Power Metal

[Life Sucks]

Does anyone here like it? I downloaded various power metal songs and tried to get into it, but I just couldn't. Some of the songs actually had really good guitarwork, but the cheesy operatic vocals ruin it all for me. So I actually don't really have anything against the style of music instrumentwise, I actually kind of like it, but I can't stand operatic vocals. Are there any powermetal bands out there that don't have such a vocal style? If so, please make some suggestions.

 

[Orion Crystal Ice]

Hmm.... I can't say I understand the cheesy thing really about the operatic vocals, as personally it's always really rocked for me hearing a good, naturally high singer blast the mic - ever since I started listening to Queensrÿche..... but I can definitely recommend you some great bands and songs to start with that have more grit in their vocal stylings:

- Grave Digger. Songs: "Excalibur", "William Wallace", and "Valhalla"
- Rage. Songs: "Set This World on Fire", "Who Dares", and "Black In Mind"..
- Running Wild. Songs: "Riding The Storm", "Masquerade", "Victory"..
- Falconer. "Mindtraveller", "Upon the Grave of Guilt", "The Clarion Call".

Enjoy, tell me what ya think :Spin:

 

[J.]

I'm no expert on power metal, but I've heard my fair share through various compilations, videos, and a few full lengths.

It's pure velveeta. Some may like the cheesy vocals and overblown arrangements. That's fine. I just like my metal with more gumption.

 

[Starbreaker]

I latched on to most all power metal I heard in the 90's, as here in America there was a serious drought of good melodic metal. But as the underground exploded further I find myself being more picky with my power metal, and dismissing many bands I previously thought to be "the good stuff" in lieu of heavier and/or more diverse acts.

But in addition to Orion Crystal Ice's list (nice, good to see Running Wild, Grave Digger & Rage mentioned!) I can name a couple other bands that you might like.

1. Nocturnal Rites - Afterlife. Their previous stuff is the stuff you may not like, as it was a different vocalist. But the album Afterlife is tuned lower, and the singer is a little grittier. I personally love this record. Check out "Genetic Distortion Sequence".
2. Helloween - Walls of Jericho/Helloween. You find these together on the same disc/etc. these days. This was Kai Hansen on vocals. He can sing in the higher registers, but does have loads more grit associated with his voice than their next (and probably most defining) vocalist, Michael Kiske. Check out "Victim of Fate", and "Murderer". Hell, all the first five songs are good with minimal warbling.
3. Wardog - Scorched Earth. This is kinda cheating. They're not really power metal, more like power/thrash, but they have elements you may like. And the vocals especially are not thin. I recommend everyone to check these guys out. I think this record came out in 1996 on Metal Blade.

 

[LuminousAether]

Personally, I abhor power metal. The extremely melodramatic cheeseball vocals make me want to cry in abject horror. I guess you could try Blind Guardian as their singer sounds more like Freddy Mercury than Kip Winger, but they are still almost laughably bad. Just avoid power metal like I do if you don't like the vocals.

 

[Slaughter Of The Soul]

I don't like power metal.I hate this vocals that they have, they seem very childish and female to me. Thought i like very much the guitar solos and some riffs and sometimes to keyboard work.
Grave Digger is something different, i would consider it as speed metal not power metal.

But, the only power metal band i like is Sonata Arctica, but i don't know why...lol

And i like something of Dimension F3H, they are very strange,i quite like them...

 

[Orion Crystal Ice]

Uhh.....well, gee.

ummmmmm....... *looks over at his 20-plus stack of power metal CD's* heh

*throws on some Rhapsody and runs*

 

[dragonfu]

some other powermetal groups to try are gammaray, deamons and wizards, iced earth, and especially jag panzer(great guitars go to the web site and hear the classical work :Smokin: ) and masterplan.
some powermetal vocals do grate on your brain but so do some of the operatic death and black metal bands. some of the bands called power metal only have a few songs of that type but get pigeonholed so a lot of people won't give them a try.
i have read reviews that say recreation day is death metal and carnival diablos is thrash but i really can't classify them.

 

[Fourka]

i don't like power either. It just doesn't express me...
But for a reason I like Megadeth and Running wild.
What matters in music that you listen to is what expresses your feelings as a person. According to my opinion, people that are "good*" and like metal music, tend to listen to power and not so much to black and death. People that are "evil*" and "nuetral*" are not expressed so nice and well by power but black and death sounds better for them because this music (as well as the lyrics) expresses hatred feelings and misanthropic feelings that are more close to the "evil" ones. Or if you are heh, stoned (in general...day and night) then it is difficult for you to listen to metal at all...you need something more relaxing...and this is how it goes i think...

*I hope you don't misunderstand these terms. I am talking in terms of AD&D alignment...lol...it is a nice and effective way to say who is who and why...

I think I missed the point... :Smug:

 

[dragonfu]

What matters in music that you listen to is what expresses your feelings as a person. According to my opinion, people that are "good*" and like metal music, tend to listen to power and not so much to black and death. People that are "evil*" and "nuetral*" are not expressed so nice and well by power but black and death sounds better for them because this music (as well as the lyrics) expresses hatred feelings and misanthropic feelings that are more close to the "evil" ones. Or if you are heh, stoned (in general...day and night) then it is difficult for you to listen to metal at all...you need something more relaxing...and this is how it goes i think...

i like all types of music and go by my particular mood. it could be lacuna coil, the haunted, kataklysm, girlschool, christgrinder, vivaldi, bukka white, royal hunt, or hermano! does this mean i'm a nice psycotic, bi-polar, agraphoric, transsexual, agnostic, with a bi-pedal octopuss comleex and a dyslexic cereal killer with evile chocolate cravings

 

[Fourka]

i like all types of music and go by my particular mood. it could be lacuna coil, the haunted, kataklysm, girlschool, christgrinder, vivaldi, bukka white, royal hunt, or hermano! does this mean i'm a nice psycotic, bi-polar, agraphoric, transsexual, agnostic, with a bi-pedal octopuss comleex and a dyslexic cereal killer with evile chocolate cravings

LOL!!! Of course not!!! (But who knows...lol...i'm joking!) I too listen to rock sometimes or to Pink Floys for example, but what I like BEST is what expresses me and what I am. For example, I am not into rap AT ALL, so you can think of what I am NOT...(I'm not gonna tell you now cause this post will turn to an essay :Smug: ). Or, another example, I like Vintersorg, and I like Dismal Euphony as well, and I like Summoning...so again you can have an additional information of my character...I think this is how it works...If I turn to listen to Britney then I bet your thoughts about me would change. And it has to change to say the truth...At the end of the day you cannot escape from the inner personality "thing". Everything depends on this...but for sure I am not a psychologist and you are not "a nice psycotic, bi-polar, agraphoric, transsexual, agnostic, with a bi-pedal octopuss comleex and a dyslexic cereal killer with evile chocolate cravings" LOLOL

 

[dragonfu]

thanx for the vote of confidence http://www.psychward.net/

 

[Incendiare]

I'm not really a power metal fan. I downloaded some Sanctuary a few days ago to give it a listen since it's 1/2 of Nevermore.

Bands like Blind Guardian just seems to upbeat and happy, you know, singing about Hobbits and fairies. Not that metal is only about death, suicide, drugs, et cetera. Depends on who's doing the vocals.

 

[Psychonaut]

I'm not huge on power metal myself. I've dabbled in it, I guess, but I dislike a lot of the really high singing as well even though the music is usually pretty good. I do like Gravedigger, Running Wild, and Lost Horizon, though. Dream Evil is pretty good too if you're looking to try it out. I don't know if you can count Primal Fear but they're good stuff to but I have a feeling you're talking more about Stratovarius, Rhapsody, Elvenking, Edguy, Sonata Arctica, and stuff like that. Oh yeah, I like Kamelot's last few albums too. I guess I'm just extremely picky about it.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

since i consider myself a huge power metal fan, i have to say this: when it comes to POWER metal , then we must talk about the u.s.a. power metal scene, why noone is talking about that scene ?
power metal in europe is DEAD for me, all bands are just copies of Helloween, or Stratovarius ,with no power at all , just cheesy songs, with some exceptions (Shadowkeep), the DIVINE power metal bands Europe had were:Helloween, early Stratovarius, Heaven's Gate (first 2 albums) , Attack, Running Wild, Defender, Adramelch, Gamma Ray, and some others
u.s.a. had the BEST and more ORIGINAL power metal bands this world has ever faced :Helstar, Titan Force, Fifth Angel, Metal Church, Destiny's End, Jag Panzer,Sanctuary, early Queensryche, early Fates Warning,Oracle,Oliver Magnum, Deadly Blessing, Gargoyle, and many many others (most of them with one album only).

 

[nergal_S]

i don't like power either. It just doesn't express me...
But for a reason I like Megadeth and Running wild.
What matters in music that you listen to is what expresses your feelings as a person. According to my opinion, people that are "good*" and like metal music, tend to listen to power and not so much to black and death. People that are "evil*" and "nuetral*" are not expressed so nice and well by power but black and death sounds better for them because this music (as well as the lyrics) expresses hatred feelings and misanthropic feelings that are more close to the "evil" ones. Or if you are heh, stoned (in general...day and night) then it is difficult for you to listen to metal at all...you need something more relaxing...and this is how it goes i think...

*I hope you don't misunderstand these terms. I am talking in terms of AD&D alignment...lol...it is a nice and effective way to say who is who and why...

I think I missed the point... :Smug:

I am a very nice caring, loving person (or i try to be) and i listin to %80 death and black metal %10 power and prog and %10 classical.

 

[St. Vitus]

Does anyone here like it? I downloaded various power metal songs and tried to get into it, but I just couldn't. Some of the songs actually had really good guitarwork, but the cheesy operatic vocals ruin it all for me. So I actually don't really have anything against the style of music instrumentwise, I actually kind of like it, but I can't stand operatic vocals.

I'm sorry to hear that. But unfortunately (for you that is), those vocals are integral to the power metal style. It doesn't matter to me if you don't like them, I certainly wouldn't expect everyone to like the same thing...

Are there any powermetal bands out there that don't have such a vocal style? If so, please make some suggestions.

You could try Kamelot. Roy Khan has a lower-register voice, reminiscent of Dio. He doesn't try to go beyond his own range like many other power metal singers do. Falconer is similar in this regard.

On the other hand, there are bands such as Running Wild, Rage, and Grave Digger who are power metal at the core but certainly do not have anything resembling operatic vocals. Give them a try.

 

[None_So_Vile]

i just can't get into power metal, ive tried my hardest but i just cant stand the cheesyness and the annoying vocals, i like my bands to have a serious note to them, ive never been able to take power metal bands seriously

 

[Life Sucks]

Thanks for the replys. I'll check out the recommended bands. Some of the power metal bands I checked out but didn't like are Primal Fear, Luca Trulli, Rhapsody, Candlemass, Sinergy, Blind Guardian. I particularly liked Rhapsody's instrumentation, but the vocals completely ruin it for me. I guess I'm really picky when it comes to vocals. For example, even though I like Iron Maiden, I even find Bruce's vocals to be boarderline operatic/cheesy for my tase.

 

[Neslepaks]

Some of the power metal bands I checked out but didn't like are Primal Fear, Luca Trulli, Rhapsody, Candlemass, Sinergy, Blind Guardian.

Candlemass isn't power metal, but doom metal. Candlemass is actually the founders of the modern doom metal scene. And how the fuck can't you like Candlemass or Blind Guardian?