Wait, he doesn't like high-pitched vocals, but he likes Guns 'n' Roses? Axl Rose's high-pitched vocals are one of their defining features.

I don't know the GNR that well so perhaps he meant he dislikes high screams and aggressive style of singing...

Not to mention their most irritating one. But yes, disliking high pitched vocals yet enjoying the Guns 'n' Roses is sort of nonsensical.

lol I didn't know that... well he said he dislikes Iron Maiden and high voices so... maybe he likes just the singer of gnr...

Right, so after years of experimenting with metal, I've figured out that extreme isn't really for me, and I need to stick mostly to older styles. So, I haven't really been "up" on traditional metal, epic heavy metal, speed and power at all lately. Could I get some help on some newer stuff?

(The only real limit is that I prefer American Styled power metal, and a little less overly high pitched and happy sound. Thrashy power metal is good too. I don't want LOTR metal, I want Conan metal.)

This may be a list but those are things I consider essential if we talking about US styled power metal. I am also including some traditional epic metal stuff in too:

Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction (the king of all USPM albums. Get it, love it, bang your head to it. Crushing riffing, soaring vocals of Harry Conklin - perfection!)
Vicious Rumors - Digital Dictator (another classic of USPM this one is kind of similar to the Jag Panzer disc but with more of a speed metal touch. Essential listening)
Liege Lord - Freedoms Rise (an epic, meaty slice of USPM. A little on the raw and barbaric side but very very good!)
Helstar - Remnants Of War (a totally classic metal gem. Speed/power at it's finest!)
Savage Grace - both albums (both are classics of US power/speed. Cannot go from with either of them)
Omen - Battle Cry (this is Conan metal at it's finest! NWOBHM touches, gruff and powerful vocals....you cannot go wrong with this disc!)
Warlord - ...And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun (a more melodic, somber take on the USPM genre. Still full of rockin' riffs!)
Manilla Road - Crystal Glory/Open The Gates/The Deluge (here I will write nothing except - GO LISTEN AND BOW DOWN TO THE MIGHT OF MANILLA ROAD! NOW!)
Attacker - Battle Of Helm's Deep (another classic USPM disc, this has great vocals and lots of varied riffing)

Those are some of my essentials. By no means the list is full but first get to know those and then we can talk more obscure stuff.

Edit: I know you wanted newer stuff but you should know those albums inside and out before you get into any new stuff methinks.

By newer stuff are you referring to the last year or two, last ten years, or what? At any rate, here are some good 2000s bands in the styles you want.

Crescent Shield - both albums
Cauldron Born - ...And Rome Shall Fall
Manilla Road - all their post-reunion stuff
Graven Rite - The Summoners Pit demo
Borrowed Time - everything
Twisted Tower Dire - Crest of the Martyrs
Christian Mistress - Possession
Vicious Rumors - Razorback Killers
Paradox - everything
High Spirits - Another Night
Razorwyre - Another Dimension
Rocka Rollas - Conquer EP
Satan - Life Sentence
Skullview - Consequences of Failure
Solitary Sabred - debut
Tales of Medusa - everything
Witchgrave - The Devils Night EP

That should get you started.

You both forgot Slough Feg And please, Jopherlerx, you know we don't like lists.

Man, you just have to check out Eternal Champion. These guys are pretty new but great potential I sense in them. Strong in the metal are they, perhaps, bring balance to it they shall.

Am I the only fan of Make it Dark around here? It's a perfect blend of US power and NWOBHM, with a healthy dose of speed thrown in.

Thanks guys! I'll look into everything when I can, time to sample metal is on the short side, with my car stereo not working, and the lack of appreciative ears around...

Doomed Cowboy - Check out all of Persuader's material, particularly Evolution Purgatory.

I'm finding more and more PRETTY MAIDS' "Motherland" album to be better and better than HELLOWEEN's "Straight Out Of Hell". Bought them at the same time and the Maids' record is incredibly consistent while Helloween's new one has some love handles I could do without.

Sorry about the list, Tony. But you should really figure out how to spell my username

Plenty of people are destroying mine all the time and that's just a little "r"

I know it's from Canada but do not discount Eidolon, they sound just like a good USPM act.

The only problem in the case of Eidolon are the vocals. They had some less then stellar vocalists. But the music is always awesome. Agressive as hell, razorsharp riffing bordering or just being outright thrash. Some of them feature growly vocals if that is not problematic. Eidolon is essentially a very aggresive power/thrash act. Love them.

Oh Eidolon rule! Love those guys!

Anyone else loving Giant X's "I"?

A song that I want you all to hear!
Nostradameus' "The Vision"
Haven't heard PM from Sweden this good in awhile.
It has a Kiske-era Helloween vibe that I dig immensely. The playing is refreshingly raw if you compare them to stuff like Hammerfall.

Stylistically, USPM includes power metal from Canada as well. There were plenty of USPM bands from Canada in the 80s, generally of the white collar persuasion - Zions Abyss for example is excellent. It might make more sense to call it "APM" or "American Power Metal" but, well, the USPM thing stuck, so here we are.

well, here you go with Ironsword Early Manowar, early Maiden, a bit Manilla Road thrown in, all glazed with a somewhat "thrashy" approach,
rough vocals and full on Conan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRQFivNPI1g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8qKdlZPveM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNtsbNwx6Gg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpIatcdazG0 (ok, this one features more lovecraftian lyrics than R.E. Howard ones )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skgWmvFPhxI

I just checked these guys 'cause Solstafir posted his tape on Facebook and they're really good! I made a RIP of their YT songs lol. Scrobble or die! Elric is pretty metal and it's always to have some Moorcock steel! Also OMG, what a lineup

one band i would highly recommend in the speed metal genre is Anvil. theyve been overlooked for over 30 years and recently got a lot of recognition. Metal on Metal is a forgotten classic and should be held in higher regard than it is.

Speed metal? Speed metal?? I would say a lot of their stuff is borderline doom metal.

Not by me. I've been listening to them since 1982.

You don't say?!

Nope, they are held in just the regard they deserve. They are a low second tier band.

Whoa, slow down there, chief. I agree that their discography viewed as a whole is pretty spotty, but a few of their albums, like Forged in Fire are definitely either high second tier or even low first tier stuff. Extremely catchy, great sense of melody, awesome riffs and memorable vocals. Really just all-around enjoyable heavy metal. Yeah they sometimes up the tempo or slow things down, but they never leave the comfortable realm of regular ol' heavy metal. And that's not a bad thing! It's unfortunate that they only just now got popular due to that documentary, because honestly their best days are long past. They're not terrible now but just kinda eh.

Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire are really cool. I don't care about "tiers", but I'll happily listen to those records. Fun hard rockin' speed/heavy metal with great playing and, er, distinct vocals. Everything I've heard after that has been kinda lacking, but whatever, they've worked hard enough for their new found success even if it's not strictly musically based.

Honestly they were pretty boring when I saw them at KIT last year, too. They had an hour set but played as if they had two, with a drum solo and Lips wanking around on the guitar with his dildo. I don't even think they played "Forged in Fire", which was really disappointing. I would have much rather just heard them slam through as many songs as they could in the time they had, like every other band.

I have only seen live clips, but I can't figure out why they don't have a second guitarist. It sounds horrible live, doing those heavy, slow songs with just one guitar (and, as I perceive it, a quite incompetent bassist). Performances like this makes me cringe, it's so bad I can't even watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 1Juw#t=83s

Never was a big fan of Anvil. They're not bad, but they're not exactly very memorable, either.

They used to always play with a second guitarist and it's only relatively recently they stopped. Lips has said their last guitarist stopped caring and they just cut ties more or less. This performance sounds a bit better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVHR-yP3OA

How do you guys feel about the post-Maiden Di'Anno band Battlezone? I personally really like their first album. A solid NWOBHM-like effort with some speed metal numbers and a great epic "The Land God Gave To Caine". The second album seems a little watered down to me but still solid piece of classic heavy metal. I have not heard their third effort but supposedly it's a Pantera-like effort not really similar to the other records.

I do like DiAnno's solo album Murder One. That album has some sweet tunes on it; pretty much all of it is at least enjoyable if not flat out killer. Shame he didn't really follow up with many more albums like it.

I like that one also. Some solid speed metal burners on that one. "Marshall Lockjaw" is one amazing tune. I figure you have not heard any Battlezone Empy? Try the first two albums - they are quite good traditional metal releases. Try the opening track from the debut - some powerful stuff here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sNCrIQ_GEo

So I saw a clip of this power metal group called Cyntia, made up entirely of Japanese chicks. And now I'm desperately trying to find it so I can download the shit out of it.

I was totally not expecting anything anywhere nearly that energetic and catchy.

I saw Manilla Road live last night.

Incredible

Partial setlist (what I remember/recognized):

Queen of the Black Coast (Metal)
Cage of Mirrors (Metal)
The Ram (Crystal Logic)
The Riddle Master (Crystal Logic)
Crystal Logic (Crystal Logic)
Necropolis (Crystal Logic)
The Grey God Passes (Mysterium)
Stand Your Ground (Mysterium)
Only the Brave (Mysterium)
Haunted Palace (Mystification)
Up from the Crypt (Mystification)
Death by the Hammer (Mystification)
Open the Gates (Open the Gates)
Heavy Metal to the World (Open the Gates)
Witches Brew (Open the Gates)
Divine Victim (The Deluge)

highlights other than the music: shaking Mark Shelton's hand and getting a nod from Hellroadie when I was yelling Mysterium lyrics, because apparently nobody there had listened to it/knew the lyrics. I was standing right at the front

I also got to see Eternal Champion's debut live show. Talked to the lead singer afterward and told them they better not go the way of Isen Torr. He said once some lineup instabilities are figured out they'll definitely be putting out an album. In case anybody missed these awesome TX dudes who play epic trad metal and have a lot of potential:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e19mNlth4Yg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HN4uFLrDbc

Head's up for anyone else who's been waiting: SKR has Satan's Life Sentence stocked now. I just ordered my copy along with Paul Chain Violet Theatre - Detaching from Satan and Corsair - Alpha Centauri EP.

I'm hoping the Satan album lives up to their incredible legacy. I still haven't heard Unity yet but every other album has been killer. All the reviews have me hyped for Life Sentence to say the least.

Does anybody know of something that is like Aethra's 2003 demo Tales from Distant Skies and Far Beyond?


specific qualities:
- the demo production: not super produced- Endearingly amateur sounding.
- fantasy themes
- wistful, bittersweet, melodic, still epic sound
- slower for power metal

A few more things that may guide a recommendation: I dislike what I've heard from Rhapsody, like Blind Guardian a LOT, dislike almost all really fast power metal like Sonata Arctica.

That's too bad; you must have caught them on an off night because blasting through as many songs as possible is exactly how I would describe almost every Anvil set I've seen. They do often do the "White Rhino/Drum Solo" thing though and Lips always "wanks" at the end of the set it seems.

I really like some of the stuff they did after Forged in Fire but the albums are certainly inconsistent. I think my favourite Anvil song has got to be "Paper General" from Strength of Steel though...unbelievable tune that I've only heard them pull out live once or twice.

Edit: And I think I must have seen Anvil at least ten times now, mostly before their documentary thing suddenly jacked up the price to see one of their gigs (!!), and i swear they have played the song 'Forged in Fire" at every single gig, so it's really odd they wouldn't play that one in Germany last year of all places....

The Immortal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To-fvva9If8

hey guys, time to stop everything that you're doing, because new Slough Feg track at 38:30! and an interview with Mike Scalzi preceding it at 14:35!

http://podcasts.radiovalencia.fm/time_m ... 2.1300.mp3