"Speed metal" is really more of a type of song than it is a proper metal sub-genre. Ignoring retro bands that distort the narrative, most speed metal bands never wrote albums full of speed metal songs. The closest exception might be something like Whiplash's Power and Pain, and that's only if you consider Bonded By Blood riffs with less palm-muting to be speed metal.

In any case, Griffin's Protector of the Lair grows with every listen, one of my favorite albums in the general speed metal ballpark now. A little awkward at first how they transitioned from USPM to speed/thrash and ended somewhere in between, but it actually comes off pretty unique. In a vague way there's almost an outsider, proto-first wave black metal thing going on instrumentally, sort of like the American equivalent to late 80s Living Death, like the sliding and tremolo picked riffs in Infinite Voyage, or those brief Pagan Fears chords in the intro of Cursed be the Deceiver, or some of the weird stuff in Tame the Lion.

Anyone got any recs for what I call "AC/DC metal"?
I.e. bands such as Krokus, Bullet, Railway, Trance etc.

You guys heard Convict's album? The one with the real stupid name that came out on Grudge records. Another project of the main man behind Piledriver. I happened to find it locally on vinyl. I snatched it because of the Grudge logo more than anything. It's so fucking weird. No idea if it's good or bad. I think I might love it but it may be complete dogshit?

Also, I listened to that Angel Sword album almost in its entirety last night and it does rule.

DEFENDER are an awesome band. I usually compare them to METAL CHURCH as USPM power/thrash, and I don't really see METAL CHURCH as a speed metal band. But then again, I don't care much for the "speed metal" tag in general.

I think Rebels Beyond The Pale is a great album, but it feels like the singer is intentionally trying to sound as nasally as possible. On one hand, it's pretty off putting , but each time I listen to it it bothers me less, so maybe it's not that big a deal?

I honestly loved the vocals more than anything else the first time I heard them. They're the oddest combination of nasal and gruff. I like bad vocals though. I just do. Black Writs by Gotham City is an excellent example.

It took a second listen for the rest to click. I want to own it, I think.

(This just in: Devil Soldier, the song, is one of Loudness' masterworks.)

I really don't know what to think about Convict. I've listened to them a few times over the years and my reaction is always just a sort of "huh, neat" without really clicking, but with the definite possibility of being a grower. In fairness though, that was my reaction to Barbarians of the New Earth and Lords of the Crimson Alliance as well, so it could very well be a grower.

Speaking of Piledriver, one of the great unsung tragedies of metal is that the guitarist who (presumably) wrote the riffs to the debut album (apparently) never did anything else. That main riff in "Witch Hunt" is a total classic - simple but perfect. Immaculate riff construction.

Convinct has piqued my interest in Piledriver. I love the vocals on Make My Day. They actually carry the b-side which is way light in the pants. They could have made a muuuuch stronger record if they spread out all the heaviness on the front end a little better. Still, I really dig it. Especially the A-Side, and the track Manic Obsession.

What the fuck is up with Piledriver's second album? Ed Pursino performs? That has my interest. Same deal for Original Sin. Ed Pursino posing as a female? I bet the riffs KILL.

Nah, what happened is David Defeis and Ed Pursino ghost-wrote a few albums for $$ in the mid-80s for Piledriver and a couple of other bands, which were probably all studio-only projects. Piledriver for example didn't become a real band until the 00s. Some of those ghostwritten songs later appeared on Virgin Steele albums, like "The Fire God" from Stay Ugly turning up in Atreus Part I.

Unfortunately, Stay Ugly isn't very good. Doesn't have a patch on the debut, and they basically only play songs from the debut live.

Stumbled across a band called Street Child this afternoon. All they ever released was a 4 song EP in 1989, which isn't terribly interesting itself, but it was reissued with 3 demo songs in 2010 and they're pretty damn good. Vocalist sounds like a restrained Blaze Bayley and the riffing, while identifiably 80s heavy metal/USPM, is fairly unique. The last of the demo songs is a short acoustic ballad, none too special, but they had something going with the other two songs. Shame they disappeared.

pfft. Agent Steel, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Rage, Running Wild, Savage Grace, etc have written albums that are entirely or almost entirely speed metal. Personally I think a lot of speed metal does cross boundaries with power and thrash metal, but I still think it's a term worth using that denotes a pretty particular style...essentially sped up heavy and/or power metal that's not as aggressive or "dirty" sounding as thrash.

I haven't wanted to listen to any European power metal other than the two Lost Horizon albums lately. Just fucking perfect albums.

Power metal in 2016 is off to a great start. The new Sunrise is just super tight, nimble, energetic stuff with great heartfelt hooks - like a heavier, more agile Stratovarius at times. And the new Arrayan Path is super cool dark, muscular, melodic metal like a lot of bands don't make anymore - super intricate, well done songwriting. I still gotta hear the new Brainstorm, too. This year is looking great.

Can anyone list the 10-20 most essential USPM albums? I wanna check which ones i'm missing.

I'm by no means an expert, but I'll try my best:

Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
Cirith Ungol - Frost and Fire
Helstar - Nosferatu
Helstar - Remnants of War
Manowar - Battle Hymns
Manowar - Into Glory Ride
Liege Lord - Freedom's Rise (also the third one probably - haven't heard it though)
Metal Church - Metal Church
Metal Church - The Dark
Savatage - Sirens
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory
Crimson Glory - Transcendence
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
Flotsam and Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver
Flotsam and Jetsam - No Place for Disgrace
Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
Manilla Road - Open the Gates
Omen - Battle Cry
Omen - The Curse

Probably missing a ton of important stuff and limited to two albums per band. Perhaps a more complete list should be added to the OP or something.

Anyone know of some technical power metal bands or albums?

inhumanist's list isn't bad, but as I fancy myself something of a 'USPM expert,' I'll include a list of my own along with a short description.

In no particular order:

Omen - Battle Cry: "blue collar" USPM of the highest order; primitive, barbaric, and aggressive, JD Kimball crushes everything in his path with his savage vocals, and the riffs aren't anything to sneeze at, either.

Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian - As far as I'm concerned, the best USPM album, but it's extremely progressive and difficult to get into. Give it enough time, though, and you'll join the rest of us in worshiping it.

Enchanter - Defenders of the Realm Compilation - Fates Warning mixed with Manowar is the most common description, and it's pretty accurate. Incredible stuff, my review title of "manly yet mystical" is fairly appropriate; highly arcane but still very savage and ballsy.

Manilla Road - The Deluge - Manilla Road are known for being epic heavy metal, but this album, while retaining the epic feel, is more power/thrash. I also consider it Manilla Road's best. Excellent, tight stuff.

Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II - while it's got a tad more keyboard and maybe somewhat more ballads than some bands, it pulls it off perfectly, combining sorrow, passion, aggression, and who knows what else into a stunning USPM epic. Their best.

Matthias Steele - Haunting Tales of a Warrior's Past - extremely competent, fun power/thrash with a singer who's completely insane inasmuch as he's all over the place, from piercing falsetto to restrained midrange to soaring baritone. He is just incredible (hence my review title, Anthony Lionetti is god). The songwriting is in similar vein, constantly changing what's going on but always in a fresh, flowing manner. Excellent.

Cauldron Born - Born of the Cauldron - technical progressive metal that's more in line with Fates Warning and Enchanter, another insane vocalist here and songwriting from Howie Bentley who is master of riffs and just throws around crazy leads and weird, dissonant riffs that somehow work in an extremely complex, brilliant way.

Slauter Xstroyes - Winter Kill - more progressive stuff - you can see I'm a big fan of that style - with yet another insane vocalist, another band with technical riffs that just constantly slay. It may not seem as immediately enchanting or complex as Fates Warning or Cauldron Born, but give it time and you'll realize it's a subtle, brilliant epic.

Satan's Host - Virgin Sails - huge, menacing power/thrash riffs, one of Harry Conklin's best performances (and, given it's Harry FUCKING Conklin, that's saying a ton), and mature, diverse songwriting that shows they're not afraid to go in slightly different directions while still maintaining that same occult, malevolent core.

Metal Church - Hanging in the Balance - I'm not sure if it's 100% USPM "as such," but you've got heavy/power metal/hard rock that is bested by none. Again we see the mature, diverse songwriting I mentioned in Satan's Host (what do you think made me remember this album?!), including ballads, half-ballad, quarter-ballad, rockers, a folk epic, and who knows what the fuck else. Mike Howe is at the absolute top of his game and so is the rest of this band, this is just such a magnificent album.

That's 10, so that'll do for now, I think.



I mentioned two earlier in the post, Cauldron Born's Born of the Cauldron (and check their other stuff too) and Slauter Xstroyes' Winter Kill (their second album is also great). I can't think of others that are really overtly technical, but if you like Cauldron Born and/or Slauter Xstroyes, I can rec you some more stuff.

Since I agree with most of what's on inhumanist's and Jophelerx's lists. I will just add a few.


"Ra Pariah" by Apollo Ra
Only after you get Crimson Glory's self titled and "Transcendence" and want more similar material.

"Ample Destruction" by Jag Panzer
This one is kind of a mixed bag for me. There is a couple of really awesome tracks but some that don't do anything for me. But I know some people around here hold it in really high regard.

"Irae Melanox" by Adramelch
Not exactly USPM, but probably the closest thing Italy has to offer for the style.

Thanks for the replies, sadly i already own all those recs, though i put Flotsam and Metal Church in the thrash category. And added Riot's Thundersteel to the essential list.

I thought there were some hidden USPM gems i didn't know of.

Throes of Sanity-The Upheaval
Attacker-The Second Coming
Vicious Rumors-Welcome to the Ball
Chastain-Ruler of the Wasteland
Aska-Avenger
Winter's Bane-Heart of a Killer

Also Matthias Steele's Haunting Tales is getting put out on cd at the end of the month. Can't wait to finally get a physical copy.

Oh yeah, Adramelch's Irae Melanox is absolutely spectacular and worthy of a top 10 list, I just didn't add them since it said USPM and they're from Italy. Fantastic, fantastic stuff, though.

The first thing that came to mind for me is Cauldron Born's debut, Born of the Cauldron. Jophelerx happened to mention it in the post right after yours in a response to someone else, too, and edit in a reply to you at the end as well. Could give a good few of the bands/albums mentioned in the recent posts a listen and they might fit.

Of course, "technical" means something different to a lots of people I've found, so giving examples of what specifically you wanted could help a lot with folks here making good recommendations for sure! Either way, tons of fantastic stuff mentioned recently that's worth checking out


I might have missed it a few pages back or something, but Tarot (Aus) put out a debut not long ago that I just found out about and gave a listen to yesterday and goddamn is it ever fantastic. I heard some of their earlier demo stuff and enjoyed it, but this is really far and beyond that. It's really epic, magical sounding heavy metal/hard rock of a certain kind - the Bandcamp blurb mentioning Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Uriah Heep. I also didn't realize that the guitarist/vocalist for The Wizar'd (who I love) is the same guy here on guitar/vocalists/organ/keys. Not really surprised about it after the fact. I saw Metantoine gave it a glowing review, and I think that it's something that more of y'all might really dig!

Pharaoh's last few albums are extremely technically endowed and accomplished. Those are definitely recommended if you're not just looking for old 80s stuff - though the songwriting is very old school, the production is polished and the guitars incorporate modern technical riffing a bit more advanced than a lot of old bands did.

I should check out Tarot. I'm just waiting for the Finnish Tarot with Marco Hietala to put something out though - hurry up!

How about Angra - Aqua?

Super obvious maybe, but IMO it's really good and pretty technical.

Hey, I didn't edit it, it was in my original post! Get it right, man!

Oh shit, you're right, my bad. I think that I went down a bit too far after I got to your familiar looking (and well done, mind you) list and the rest of your post got sorta glanced over for me. Whoops

Thank you everyone for the recommendations! I'll definitely start checking out the bands you've all listed.

Stigmata was great. Looking forward to the new one, which I didn't even know about. Not familiar with Sunrise but sounds good based on your description.

Adding to the USPM albums, all these people forgot two of the best.

Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance
and
Fifth Angel - Fifth Angel

Then why didn't you post a list and ask what was missing? Bit lazy are we?

Awesome thanks for the heads up.

Great recommendation! This is really good stuff. Thanks!

Mainly because i'm not that much of an expert in the genre, for example i had no idea people considered Flotsam & Jetsam, Metal Church and 90s Virgin Steele as USPM.

Super legit Spanish heavy metal. Awesome vox and great soloing. http://frenzymetal.bandcamp.com/

These guys emailed me last night. Listened to two songs and it ruled so much.

Hehe yeah, same. I'm too busy to review these days but I'll add them to my list.

That's my standard response: "I'll add you guys to the list".

Fuck yes. One of my absolute favorites! The second album is solid, too.

Some idiot has just given "The Spectre Within" a 6%.

"there's nothing progressive or spectacular to be found in 'The Spectre Within'"

Who does he think was playing progressive metal in 1985? It came out before Watchtower's debut!

I think I remember this clown from some stupid posts a while back. Anyone have the power to ban him before he pollutes the site any more?

I find amazing the amount of effort that goes into screening reviews for formatting, not being track-by-track, every little detail, trying to keep the archives clean of unholy bastardized untrue metal bands and at the end of the day they will let any idiot with proper formatting submit such obvious shitty reviews that help nobody except the reviewer himself.

6% for The Spectre Within. Because it's not "progressive". That's one damn serious argument right there. How the fuck dare they?

There are TONS of metal bands that are popular on this forum that I hate. But I wouldn't go around reviewing them giving them single digits unless I had an airtight case.

If he can't hear the difference between Iron Maiden and what Fates Warning were doing at the time (obviously inspired by Iron Maiden in their formative years) then maybe he should leave the music reviews to the big boys and girls.