Damnation from the debut is one of their best songs in their catalogue. Such an epic song with a great relationship between the noble savage lyrics and proud melodies.

I definitely think it's weird to love one of the big two (Arch) albums from FW, and not like the other. I think they're both very different moods, sometimes I'm in the mood for one and not the other at all, but by the end of the day I love both just about equally. I can never decide which one I like more. I think the debut is pretty good too, not nearly as epic, but solid traditional stuff.


Not bad, vocalist sounds a little UDO-ish, heh.


Hell yeah, took me quite awhile to actually like them, but I can't get enough now. Sometimes I'm in the mood for them above FW and vice versa, love the heaviness to Enchanter. Great vocalist too.

Hey, this is great stuff.

Whatever you do, then, stay far away from Redemption.

Easily some of Ray Alder's worst vocal work, ever.

This Opposite Earth sounds pretty cool, surprised I haven't heard of it before. Othyrworld sound good from what I've heard but I haven't been able to find a rip of it anywhere.

Screamer and Heir Apparent have been growing on me a lot lately, I think I'm definitely starting to prefer WCUSPM over BC. Been spinning Matthias Steele's full-length a bit as well, such an excellent album. I especially like the falsetto Lionetti does on "Father Has Risen". A shame there's not more stuff like this.

I'll have to check out Opposite Earth if they're being whispered in the same hushed breaths that brought me Othyrworld. Listened to it again on the way to work. It's just so fucking powerful. I'm still going to try to snag Sacred Blade's debut from their website but I believe, now, that it won't be as good. Between Dominator and Beyond into the Night of Day I'm going to be living in space. How fucking good is Reach for the Sky? That pre-chorus makes my day.

You reminded me I need to give Heir Apparent more spins. Graceful Inheritance really impressed me when I first got it, but it came in the same shipment as new Manilla Road so naturally it got backburner treatment after initial listens.

Sacred Blade's album isn't as good as Othyrworld's, the production isn't as good, the vocal performance isn't as good, and though most of the tracks appear on both, the additions and removals on Othyrworld's improve the flow and overall atmosphere greatly. Still, Sacred Blade's album is still awesome and the songs that were removed were really good, they just didn't fit the cosmic theme. "Salem" especially fucking rocks super hard.

Well I originally doubted you because...how often do these guys get better with age? Defenders of the Crown... (arguably) Voyager...??

But now that I've heard Othyrworld I completely understand. The flow of the songs (and within the songs) is just so fine-tuned. The Pilot knows exactly what he's doing, and I'm sure he didn't have that same level of confidence and experience in the early days of Sacred Blade. The really scary part about Othyrworld is how damn good the parts that don't sound like metal are. I forgot which song it is but one of them has an opening riff that sounds really bright and contemplative, it sounds like something Earth would jam for 45 minutes straight if they accidentally wrote a happy song.

I hope Opposite Earth is good, because it happens to actually be readily available and cheap. That's rare for shit I find out about in this thread.

Anyone want to hit me up with that Othyrworld album?

Been exploring some stuff I overlooked today, Destiny's End and Oliver Magnum are both really fucking awesome. And Stormwitch is better than I remembered.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/othyrworld

That's where I got mine

Just heard Manilla Road's ''War in Heaven'' which is a cool song. I should give this band a second chance.

Really listen to "Open The Gates" and try to get past the production and first impression that the vocals might give you. Its such a powerfull, epic album. I had troubles getting into them over the years untill this album clicked with me.

Sacred Blade is still awesome, failsafe is completely drunk when he talks about the production. It's pretty damn good. "Salem" is amazing. But yeah Othyrworld is more of an experience.

Hahaha go to hell. The Sacred Blade production isn't bad but the Othyrworld production is obviously superior. I actually have both albums on CD.

I just can't figure out why you always dog on it, lol. In comparison to 80's stuff I think it's top notch. Othyrworld's mix is amazing though.

Speaking the obvious here, but I really really wish they'd do more. I need more lyricz and track titlez with z's.

Because it's a significant difference between the Sacred Blade and Othyrworld albums, duh! The former's production isn't bad by any means, but in comparison it's definitely lacking.

On a different topic, I've been planning on marathoning the entirety of Black Sabbath's and Dio's discographies because WHATEVER MAN, and it's really jarring every time Sabbath switches vocalists when you chain them like this. I was just getting used to Dio being awesome, and BAM! Ian comes in and I feel kinda let down. Even though it is Ian Gillan.

Been listening to some Slough Feg lately, seems like some pretty cool, catchy, melodic stuff. ("Down Among the Deadmen" anyway, haven't heard anything else yet). I really like the vocals, something about that wavering vibrato seems really charming. Anyone else a fan of them?

I like later Slough Feg much more than, say, Traveller. The Animal Spirits is definitely my favourite from them, Hardworlder and Ape Uprising are pretty cool, too. It seems the closer they get to hard rock, the more I like them. That song at the end of The Animal Spirits with Bob Wright is so good!

Hmmm, I wonder if you guys who like early Riot (particularly, Rock City) have heard the first Montrose album? It seems like the Riot guys were massive fans of that... you can hear its influence all over the said Riot album.

I think almost everyone is a fan, at least one or two albums. Down Among the Deadmen is a weird one for me because it has a bunch of my favorite songs from them, and then a few that tend to just grate on me (Heavy Metal Monk being the worst offender). I tend to listen to Hardworlder, Ape Uprising!, and The Animal Spirits the most. Hardworlder is just too fucking fun. Its not even all that heavy but it feels like you've been sucked into a comic book that kicks ass. Ape Uprising! and The Animal Spirits really tickle me in the right places from a production standpoint. I love that old gritty guitar tone he's using these days, and the Thin Lizzy worshipping moments just floor me (the ending to Simian Manifesto, anyone?). I'd also rate Atavism as one of their best, although I don't listen to it as much. Its just so concise and jam-packed full of energy and high octane riffage.

I'm gonna check out Montrose, Acrobat. This is definitely not the first I've heard of them but its the first time I've heard that association. I need to get some of those old Riot albums. Fire Down Under consistently puts me on my ass.

DAtD is one of the best. Can't get into the hard rock direction as much. Ape Uprising was really cool...

Slough Feg is a strange band for me, because I usually like their individual songs as opposed to full albums. Traveller, Ape Uprising!, and Hardworlder have the highest amount of great songs, from my observations.

Speaking of Slough Feg, they released some clips from their recent Live Album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QeQvslKvaA - Tiger! Tiger!

There's a couple more as well. Awesome audio quality on these.

I've been digging the live album. Shame the London's setlist was vastly inferior to what Poland got. As for Slough Feg's albums, I almost enjoy them all equally. The only dimmest moment from them was the second half of Twilight of the Idols where it felt a lot less engaging than the first few tracks.

Marry me Martin!

My favorite is probably Traveller or DatDM, but all are amazing really. They need to tour the fucking east coast, damnit!!

It looks pretty similar to what they played in Bradford, and to a bigger crowd than the Polish one... which seems surprising.

Solitude Aeturnus "Where Angels Dare to Tread" is insanely badass, almost reminds me a bit of early Liege Lord (especially when they get into the chorus).

Gonna have to dab into their later albums eventually, but for now the first two have me completely hooked.

Is Howie a fan? Haha. He should start up a third band and play this style... Briton Rites meets Cauldron Born.

Just broke my "Try and only buy one album a month" rule for the 4th time. Just bought: Of the Sun + Moon/Beyond Into the Night of Day from Othyrworld. I really should stay away from here... but I won't.

So I'm new to power metal and I want to explore it more. Can you guys suggest me bands that are like blind guardian, ensiferum and MANOWAR. Thanks.

Are you saying they played Warriors Dawn and Tiger! Tiger! at the Bradford show? Although the setlist was awesome enough already, I really wanted to hear those two songs as well. One song they didn't play at all which I wanted to hear live was Insomnia.

What's Steel Prophet's best album?

Check out their early demos, especially "Inner Ascendance". From what I've heard of the full-lengths they're not very good.

"Inner Ascendance" is definitely their best. Somewhat darker Arch Warning-esque stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84gH7DfRvQU

What happened afterwards, we will never know.

Just heard that song. Pretty cool; nice wailing vocals, energetic riffing, I dig it. Time to check more of the band out : - )

Slough Feg pisses me off, I discovered them a fucking week after they played in my town (Warsaw, the gig that is on DVD). Seriously annoying shit.

also no need to get this tone, dude.

Haha that sucks, man. I've had similar things happen to me, but never so blatantly.

Anyone? I ordered it originally off the strength of the opening track (Hair Trigger) and the Brian Ross/Satan association. I only had time to listen to the first 7 songs this morning but so far there are at least 2 or 3 I like more than Hair Trigger, and only one attempt at a "commercial" track that's mercifully short. This album is just so surreal to me, to think that there were still bands pumping out incredibly well done NWOBHM in the mid-90s. I can't imagine what kind of reception this album got...

I wanted to link you guys to After Dark and Struck by Lightning but they aren't on youtube. This thing needs a review.

I've been really digging Zandelle today, "Twilight on Humanity" and "Vengeance Rising" are both really cool. I'm surprised I haven't heard anything about 'em here, some pretty solid USPM.

I personally enjoy the Messiah album, i am vehemently anti christian but even i can appreciate the well written lyrics.