"To Sleep, Perchance to Scream" is my favorite for sure. A really great example of how a movie clip can add to a song.

I really like "Benediction". Damn it's been too long since I heard this album in full, still destroys everything.

I've always felt this was maybe the blueprint for how Michael Grant did his vocals, whom I like a lot too. He definitely sounded a lot like if Rivera stuck solely to a deeper mid range, like he does on this album.

Well apparently Michael Grant stood in for Rivera in rehearsals for Destiny's End (Rivera and the band lived some miles apart), so given he spent hours practicing the guy's vocal lines I don't doubt there was some influence there.

Weird request but Im looking for power metal songs that leave you with a smile, but Im not looking for anything flowery. Something sort of

Stuff like Excalion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnzypCmjVA8

Altaria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf2CSXmCDk

Sounds like you could use some mid-era Iron Savior in your life! If that's a little too obvious, you also can't go wrong with groups like Heavatar, Hibria, Nocturnal Rites, and Vulvagun! :'D

Eh, Iron Savior sort of fits considering their latest albums like the Landing which is similar to what Im looking for.
Ill give some more examples of sort of inspirational stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS-NhkPFQz0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g74XJan24jU

I dont really consider Power Quest "flowery" so Im gonna throw this song in as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTORxEkOv8

So Omen's new album is out, I'm currently listening to it for the second time, and I have to say that it seems pretty good, certainly better than anything else they've done post-Kimball. Of course it's nowhere near those classic first 3 albums, but I don't think anyone really expected that. There are certainly some issues - a pretty bad drum sound, a slower pace than I'd prefer most of the time, and I'm not 100% sold on the vocalist (yet), but overall it's pretty solid, probably a 75-80% album at least in my current estimation. The riffs and leads are great (as one would expect from Kenny Fucking Powell), the overall song craft is pretty good, and that's almost part of the reason the vocalist irritates me at times - he's not really bad at all, but at some points I start to think "hey this could almost be on Battle Cry" and then become disappointed to hear a vocalist that's nowhere near Kimball. I do still think he's pretty good, though, if not great. All in all, certainly an album worth hearing and a cool achievement as the only listenable Omen album in 30 years!

For those who are curious, here's one of the better songs on the album, I'd say:

Kai Hansen announces solo album

Interesting and cool that he will give away the proceeds and rights (if I got that right).
Kai is one of my top 5 but he has disappointed me the past years with only a few moments that I like but nothing really like the 1985-1995 era, which is my favorite (I like -some a lot- later Gamma Ray albums as well, up to Majestic but I gave up hoping thereabouts). Maybe there will be something worthwhile here if he pushed himself to write something cool for one of his heroes... And I am kinda curious and intrigued about who will be guesting.

Joph, where did you get the Omen album? Buy it from a label or something?

Nah, I found a download. xP

Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction to find more Japanese HM/PM bands? It's a realm I'm not overly familiar with, but everything I do know is very good.

Stuff in the vein of Anthem - Hunting Time, Loudness s/t, BowWow - Warning From Stardust/III and Saber Tiger - Timystery would be greatly appreciated.

I'm also a big fan of Seikima-II so if there's anything similar to that I'm all ears!

You'll probably love Roll Over by Wolf.

Open the Attack by Sniper is also fantastic.

There's also this demo by a little-known band named Jesus that's actually pretty darn awesome.

Sex Machingun should fit.


If you like older stuff, check out Earthshaker. A bit more on the hard rock side.

Oh wow, new Omen material?

What I want to know is what the hell is going on with Tyrant and their new stuff that I think I've been hearing is "in the works" for 10 years now or something. With them being active again for the KIT stuff it rejuvenated some excitement, but I'm not holding my breath.

This new Omen is definitely better than I woulda expected. It is a shame about the singer, he's okay but just not that great. Some very cool guitarwork though. Drum/general mixing reminds me of Lords of the Crimson Alliance, but not quite that funky.

Great song with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) on vocals!

Freedom's Rise. I can see why people seem to agree it's Liege Lords worst album, the production is cloudy and Michaud just sounds flat out lost sometimes. I dig it though. Not as immediately gripping as Burn to My Touch but I kind of dig hearing them figure out who they are. Legionnaire was rad. Warriors Farewell was a highlight as well. I'm looking forward to playing this one again and loud. Was relegated to headphones tonight.

Not for nothing but the packaging is gorgeous. First album I've ever owned from Black Dragon. The inner sleeve has two KILLER illustrations.

I gotta get Master Control.

Master Control is the only Liege Lord album I have, and while "Fear Itself" and the title track are both amazing I found the rest of the album to be rather forgettable.

Huh. Well I don't hear that every day. I'd recommend checking out the first two, especially if you don't mind quirky vocals. The guy before Comeau basically always sounds like he's just singing for the first time and isn't quite sure how he's doing it or if he can keep it up. It's kind of charming! Burn to My Touch is pretty fucking killer. They sound hungry.

No idea if this is gonna work, but let's give it a shot. I'm currently listening Candlemass' King of the Grey Islands. Hadn't heard it in a long time, but when Of Stars and Smoke passed I realized how much I loved and still love the chorus to this song. I'd really like to hear some heavy or doom (I don't like power metal, but if you think it fits, go ahead) songs with a similar epic chorus. I think it's just the melody that gets me everytime. I'll let the music speak for itself (At 4:25):



I realize Candlemass is doom metal, but I just think the request fits better in this thread.

Thanks for the Japanese recs guys. Wolf, Jesus and Earthshaker were enjoyable, though I wasn't impressed by Sniper the first time around. I'll give them another go.

I have actually been aware of Sex Machineguns for years (much longer than any of the bands I mentioned), but I could never get into them. I only remember Aijin 28 and Tekken 2, are there any albums you'd recommend so I can give them a proper go?

I forgot to mention previously that I'm fully aware of Ningen-Isu so I don't need any introduction to them!

Have you checked out the early stuff from Loudness and you just weren't into it? I had no idea what you meant by Loudness s/t, I had to go look. Their first like 7 are insanely consistent.

As far as Liege Lord, I'd put Freedom's Rise just about on par with Master Control. The riffs are classic, the songwriting is a bit more mature overall - if Freedom's Rise had a better vocalist, it would be better than Master Control to me. Master Control is very, very good, with all its crazy riffs and leads and razor-sharp, heavy-as-fuck production, but there's a lot of meh choruses on it. Freedom's Rise is really, really strong USPM. Burn to my Touch is good too, but the songwriting there feels kinda rushed in places.

Interesting. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with both, and hearing Master Control for the first time. I wouldn't say any of it sounds particularly rushed that I've heard so far. Freedom's Rise just sounded less certain. Younger, and for obvious reasons. I also thought it was quite a bit more basic compared to the complexity of Burn to My Touch. That's not a downside for me at all, just a contrast. I actually love Michaud's vocals. Like I said, he ALWAYS sounds like he's surprised to hear himself singing and kind of just hoping he can keep it up through the end of the song.

They have some fucking killer lyrics don't they? I love bands where the bassist takes a heavy role in the music and lyric writing. Vinci was saying a lot of the same things as every other USPM band, but he has a bit of poetry to him. I love that the only band they thank or mention in the notes are Savage Grace. God damn what a tour or show that must have been!

I haven't actually listened to any of their albums except Loudness:

http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Lo ... ness/17972

I may have sampled a song or two from their earlier albums, but if I did I can't remember them at all. They are on my list of bands to go more in depth with eventually though.

I wasn't sure if you were looking for specifically an awkward 90s sound or if you wanted some of the pure stuff Loudness and Anthem were cranking out in the early 80s. Both of them started off with INCREDIBLE runs.

For Loudness I would highly recommend The Law of Devil's Land and Thunder in the East. Devil Soldier is also one of my personal favorites but it still has a lot of 70s touches, not sure if that would appeal to you.

70s touches is fine by me, so I'll check all of those out!

I do prefer the pure 80s sound but as it was the only Loudness album I'd heard I thought I'd just chuck it in with the rest of the examples.

Oh man. You're in for such a treat. I still need to hear more Anthem myself but Bound to Break is fucking PHENOMENAL. Loudness is one of my favorite bands period, these days. I stumbled upon The Law of Devil's Land in a local used record store and it set me down a whole path.

I love Bow Wow as well but their discography is daunting as hell. I listen to Asian Volcanoe the most. It's like Warning From Stardust without as much experimental weirdness. Those dudes are total 70s holdovers and they rule so hard.

I've listened to Warning From Stardust the most from Bow Wow, which is an incredible album. I've listened to III quite a few times and while it's good, I think WFS is better. I have also given Era a spin once and it seemed pretty decent though I'll have to give it a few more listens.

I'll check out Bound to Break, Hunting Time is also the only Anthem album I've listened to.

While this isn't strictly metal (prog rock), if you like the 70s vibe, I'd whole heartedly recommend La Songerie, In The Night, Requiem and Sanctuary by Novela, if you haven't heard them. La Songerie especially is fantastic.

They're one of my favourite bands and any chance I can get to promote them the better!

G'day

Haven't been around in ages. What do you guys think of Judicator?

I've only heard this one song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dmbKkUyS0Y

But i think it's great, good riffs, excellent vocal lines and catchy chorus, is the rest of their shit garbage?

Judicator's cool, in that Blind Guardian-esque German power/speed metal kind of way. The only album I'm very familiar with is King of Rome, and it's quite good. The singer's no Hansi, but he's very good in his own right and the riffs are great. It's cool stuff; I don't know about any of their other albums, but King of Rome certainly isn't garbage.

Thanks to whoever name-checked Black Viper from norway a few pages back. I'm snagging that demo tape today. Caligari Records has it for $6.50 if anyone else is trying to get down.

I was hoping Starlight would rule but their song "Too Drunk, Too Fast" is too slow.

Edit: Since Starlight are lame I ended up grabbing "Vessel" by Trial on tape. I've heard this albums kills but it's always been a bit pricey. I'm pumped to finally hear it.

While you check out Bound to Break might as well check out Gypsy Ways and No Smoke Without Fire.

Two bands to check out:

Ravensire from Portugal, good heavy metal signed to Cruz del Sur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsd9uJryMh4

Psychework, with ex-Machine Men dudes, same singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2bRjz1O2UI

Sitting here listening to Zuul's To the Frontlines. Really enjoyable album, may need to track down a copy of it.

So Black Death (Resurrected) absolutely ruled live. I didn't get to stay for the entire set because they kept having technical difficulties and I was looking at a 6 hour drive home, but man. They made me a believer where the new shit is concerned and I never expected that in a million years. They played 3 new songs and each one was great. Looking at their page now, it seems a lot of the "new" stuff was written back in the day so I'm not as surprised I guess, but it's still really refreshing to hear an ancient band that comes back and knows exactly what the crowd wants. Sicky was B.B. King'ing it, had a stool behind him to rest on constantly. He is still every bit the showman though. Loving the crowd.

Demontage also slayed. Hopefully most of you guys are up on them, don't let the black metal label fool you. They sound more like a possessed version of Brocas Helm. Or USPM mixed with Greek black metal. They were playing on borrowed time and borrowed gear and still murdered the joint.

Hey, this is a little late but thanks for the recs. I'll be sure to check them. I actually listened to that Sacral Rage album but it didn't click with me as I expected. I admit I do like Helstar but I really have to be on the mood to listen to that sort of thing. With Satan's Host is the same story, I do like them but I need to crave that sound in that moment to fully appreciate it.

I feel like this year hasn't been that great for the heavy/power genre unfortunately. Or at least that's my opinion. Nothing quite like Blind Guardian's BtRM. But yeah, I'm hoping for a return to true form from the genre.

This has been a great year for power metal. The new Avantasia, Arrayan Path, Sunrise, Paragon and Mob Rules absolutely kill. There are more coming out too like Eternal Champion and Demon Bitch in the more trad side too. Lots of awesome stuff, I'm sure there's even more I'm missing, too, like the new Brainstorm I didn't get to yet.

Well I'll have to look into Arrayan Path now. I actually liked the new Avantasia a lot. Sunrise I legitimately disliked when I heard the debut, I'll give them another chance for sure.

I didn't mean to say the genre was dead, because it obviously isn't, but where are the "The Revenant King"s and "Life Sentence"s or even the "Under The Gray Banner"s of 2016?

I think there's still plenty of time to find more albums like those, and I think the ones I listed are pretty much in the same ballpark anyway.