Some good shit right here.

I dunno, Demon Bitch have yet to fully click with me. There's a lot I can appreciate, but they're a bit too...silly? Self-consciously silly, especially in the vocal department. But no doubt they can bring the riffs, so I'll probably "get" them eventually. I do like how they seem like they're desperate to get all the riffs out, like if they don't play AS MANY AS THEY CAN AS FAST AS THEY CAN they'll get backed up and explode. They remind me a lot of Sacred Oath, actually.

The vocals actually remind me of Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philly fronting a Mercyful Fate-esque project. That sounds disparaging but from me that's basically the highest compliment possible. Bandcamp is blocked here at work but you should see if you can listen to "The Microdome" on their page. It's not quite so rushed sounding (although we both agree that frantic feeling rules!) and totally enveloping with the atmosphere. They just do everything I love.

I haven't played Sacred Oath in a minute. The debut is a RIFF MONSTER and I love the super breathy vocals.

I never got into Judas Priest the way I did Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath. The first album I loved from them was Painkiller (yeah yeah). Defenders of the Faith is pretty cool. Where should I go from there? I mean I've heard Stained Class, Screaming for Vengeance, Sad Wings of Destiny etc but I haven't given them enough attention.

What about giving them enough attention this time?

The more I listen to SWoD the more I'm impressed by its flow. Yeah, I know the tracklist isn't the same on all versions but the one that starts with ''Prelude'' and ends with ''Deceiver'' has the best album flow I've ever heard. Every track on there sounds just right where it belongs.

"Unleashed in the East" is like a better recorded version of many of the better tracks from their early years. It's really essential.

Care to list that out? The one I have starts with Victim.

Hit up Painkiller again.

Painkiller - insane, they blew their load right away. There's no other way to put it. The album is never like this one again. lol
Hell Patrol - boring
All Guns Blazing - boring
Leather Rebel - awesome
Metal Mayhem - almost rivals Painkiller, but I find the spoken "Here comes..." chorus to be kind of boring and lame after Rob shrieking everything else. Maybe some kind of darker/disembodied voice could have been cooler? Still a cool track.
Night Crawler - solid fun
Between the Hammer - solid fun
A Touch of Evil - I still hate it, could be the keyboards
One Shot at Glory - solid but kind of ends with a wimper (with this tracklist at least, think my CD is different than what I have here). It kind of just treks on what half the other songs were doing, just expanded a bit more with cooler solos and parts.

It's really not bad and maybe higher than the 70's% for me, since I feel that's what I'd fairly give the Helloween Keeper albums now and probably some other stuff. I'd certainly take Painkiller over a lot of Euro power thesedays. And for 1990 I love how they feel like they didn't give a fuck about what everyone else was doing. There's just a lot of moments where they almost step over this edge to create something utterly insane and more dynamic, but back peddle and mostly remain in the safe zone. Just imagine if Painkiller and Metal Mayhem were the main blueprints for the rest of the entire thing.

I actually like Hell Patrol and All Guns Blazing quite a bit!

So I have a likely quite unhealthy addiction to bands like the following. And I kindly request you all to help me worsen it. Basically I'm looking for progressive metal in the original 80's form - versatile and often highly melancholic vocals, calculated guitar harmony and reasonably sturdy riffing, somewhat floaty songwriting, and so on and such but really, any kind of prog metal derived from the oddities of that period are welcome. Prog USPM is sorta what I'm getting at. I'm aware of Fates Warning, Queensryche, and Crimson Glory. I'm looking for more obscure stuff.








^Yes, I am aware of Sacred Blade.

















You get the idea.

There's really nothing that sounds remotely like A Crystal Vision, and I fucking love it! I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite song though. Maybe The Ferryman's Lair or the title track?

Stillborn Machine, you might like Realm and Toxik (moreso the second album for what you're looking for).

You're kind of all over there though... like I could also maybe recommend Enchanter (Defenders of the Realm), Cauldron Born, and Arch era Fates Warning.

And Screamer - Target Earth.

I know all of these ones, particularly enjoy Enchanter, Fates Warning up to 1988, and Born of the Cauldron is my favourite USPM album.

Although I don't own the album physically, I'm used to the following tracklist:

1. Prelude
2. Tyrant
3. Genocide
4. Epitaph
5. Island of Domination
6. Victim of Changes
7. The Ripper
8. Dreamer Deceiver
9. Deceiver

Someone mentioned Sacred Blade and so far I'm really fond of them. Space-y-out of this world stuff with unique, varied vocals and somewhat laid back yet to-the-point kind of riffing.

I love EVERY song on Painkiller... EXCEPT: TOUCH OF EVIL. That song is just boring as hell.

The best thing ever would be if they could have replaced it with Warlocks "Touch Of Evil" instead, because that song would fit so well into the Painkiller tracklist! Doro does the performance of her fucking life on this track, but hearing Rob Halford on this song would make me go fucking nuts

Painkiller is god. I will not suffer the opinions of someone who incorrectly lists "Metal Meltdown" as "Metal Mayhem".

If it's a CD just start playing it on Prelude and let it go until you've heard every song. It's so much better this way it's a joke. Obviously the order the songs were intended to be heard.

I'm way too used to starting Sad Wings with "Victim of Changes." I love that one as an opener, too - that long, slow, bluesy dirge.

Hell Patrol and All Guns Blazing boring? What the fuck is this shit. I feel dirtier for having read that.

Touch of Evil is really good! YOU'RE POSSESSING MEEEEEEEE

I am looking for vocalists similar to Vasilis Georgiou (Sunburst) and Anton Darusso (Wings of Destiny).

Georgiou:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kn4C1x2QSxw

Darusso:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7ZPcScwZc5E

I would also entertain suggestions of vocalists similar to Jarmo Paakkonen (ex-Excalion) and Matt Marinelli (Borealis).

Edit: I'm basically looking for vocalists that have strong voices and stay within their range. Mathias Blad from Falconer is another example of this.

Sacred Blade is awesome but it's a rare case of a redone album being even better with the Othyworld release, but I do miss Salem. It's even way more "spacey" in comparison to the original Sacred Blade release, definitely check it out.

I love "Salem" for just how vicious it is (those falsettos) but in retrospect it would've been out of place on Beyond into the Night of Day. "Right Ascension" and the other new tracks make up for that thankfully.

Haha yeah I can't deny it. "Salem" was straight up USPM which I would have loved more of.

The Othyrworld album has to be like 95% material or something for me. It's not always something I go to, but when I do it melts my brain. There is absolutely nothing else quite like it.

For a while it was my favourite metal album and while it's fallen since, I wouldn't rate it anything lower than a 90%. I actually got to talk with Jeff Ulmer over Facebook before his passing, pretty chill dude.

Looking at some of James Rivera career
That's some Power Metal Resume if you ask me
Other than slow 90-97 years the man seems to love his metal!
And I do too
Helstar
Vocals (1982-present)
1984 Burning Star Vocals (as "Bill Lionel")
1986 Remnants of War Vocals
1988 A Distant Thunder Vocals
1989 Nosferatu Vocals

Destiny's End
Vocals (1997-2001)
1998 Breathe Deep the Dark Vocals
2001 Transition Vocals

Seven Witches
Vocals (2002-2005, 2007-2011)
2003 Passage to the Other Side Vocals
2004 Year of the Witch Vocals
2011 Call upon the Wicked Vocals

Distant Thunder
Vocals (2003-present)
2004 Welcome the End Vocals

Vicious Rumors
Vocals (2005-2007)
2006 Warball Vocals

Helstar
Vocals (1982-present)
2007 Sins of the Past Vocals
2008 The King of Hell Vocals
2010 Glory of Chaos Vocals
2014 This Wicked Nest Vocals

Malice
Vocals (2010-present)
2012 New Breed of Godz Vocals

Maybe try King's Ransom if you haven't heard of them.

I know them too.

I mean if you're already digging this deep you've basically already hit bottom. You could check out some really obscure stuff like Optimus Prime, Chozzen Phate, Solar Eagle, Myrmidion Creed, and Spectral Incursion I guess, but past a certain point you've already heard basically all the good stuff.



Zion's Abyss, Dead Calm, Taramis, Oliver Magnum, Matthias Steele, New Religion, and Drive are a few others that sorta fit but which you may or may not already know.

@Stillborn Machine, you posted a lot of stuff I've never heard of so I don't know how many of these will be unknown to you, but:

Arrakis (only a few songs known unfortunately, a bit of a pomp-metal thing with all the keys and stuff)
Avant Garde (very Fates Warning influenced)
Inferno (kind of light prog/power/tech-thrash like Osiris)
Lord Bane (kinda obvious but just in case)
Mephisto (not exactly prog, but definitely some Fates Warning influence, longer songs, and I just like how soft/cute the performance is)
Notre Dame (quite a bit of keyboard and balladic stuff I don't really like, but the metal parts might be what you're looking for)
Secrecy (also a bit better known, but some of the very best melodies in all of metal for me)

Aware of Lord Bane, Inferno, Mephisto, and Secrecy, will check out the others. Thanks.

The ones in the first paragraph along with New Religion, Dead Calm, and Drive I'm unfamiliar with. I'll find what I can later. Thanks.

So the new Hammers of Misfortune is actually really, really good. They lost me for a good while there after Scalzi left and all, but this new one sounds like it'd fit right after The Locust Years (and is generally heavier than that, besides). Shout out to Metantoine for the review, otherwise I might have left it on the back burner for a bit. I've gotta check out the recent Vhol album now after this.

Thanks for the shout out I've only heard the new Vhol 1 or 2 times but it's even more varied and weird, I should check it out again myself. Weird how I thought Dead Revolution was so much better than Digital Resistance.

Du Rocka Rollas, kan du hjälpa mej med en grej?
I saw a live video on youtube with a power metal band from Gävle, but I forgot the name. They were somehow related to you. The singer/guitarist was a somewhat chubby bearded dude. They are not on the archives (I think). Any bells ringing?

And while I'm at it, have you ever considered working with Rob Lundgren? He's an amazing singer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7YdubSBshA

Try listening to Christer Andresen (Keldian - Journey of Souls), Mikael Holst (Timeless Miracle - Into the Enchanted Chamber), Gabor Nagy (Wisdom - Judas), Lars Säfsund (Enbound - And She Says Gold), Eizo Sakamoto (Anthem - Black Empire), Heri Joensen (Týr - The Lay of Thrym), Attila Dorn (Powerwolf - Blood of the Saints), Daniele Scavoni (Spellblast - Nineteen).

Thanks for the response. I am familiar with most of those, but I've only listened to one song by Enbound and I've never heard of Anthem.

Been working my way through Paragon's discography these past few days. Their first 3 albums didn't really do much of anything for me, but holy crap, Steelbound and especially Law of the Blade fucking kill.

Never found them terribly good until some of their later albums; Revenge, Forgotten Prophecies, Force of Destruction, and Hell Beyond Hell.

Have you heard Law of the Blade? It's their best imo.

Law of the Blade was amazing from start to finish. :V

Don't remember which probably isn't a good sign for it.