So has anyone heard Dawnbringer (US), I listened to their new album, and it's pretty great, I'm only not sure about the vocals. But it's definitely very original and worth checking out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQpwXQQ0saA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdrEcxmC-zk

Yeah, I have this album. Very damn cool. You should check High Spirits too, it's a more accessible and a bit more catchy Dawnbringer.

Yeah, seems cool, rockish vibe and pretty memorable.
That also led me to checking out Superchrist - heavily influenced by MH, especially on vocals, but not a full-time worship like Chrome Division

I have the disc for In Sickness and in Dreams somewhere. Keep meaning to buy Nucleus, from what I've heard it's pretty good. I love Chris Black's stuff.

nucleus is indeed the bee's knee's and was a pleasant surprise as i generally hate new bands doing the whole retro-shebang

also, recently heard helstar's king of hell...while overtly modern sounding in terms of productions and the chugga chuggas /double bass, it is indeed a crushing metal record with some great songs

Speaking of Helstar; a couple days ago, when I bought Asphyx's The Rack, I also saw Helstar's Burning Star in the CD racket. Do you guys think I should buy it? Take into consideration that the only album by them that I have heard (and own) is Remnants of War, which is pretty cool, although it didn't precisely blow me away.

I think "Burning Star" is kind of rare, but I have a feeling someone here mentioned they reissued it within the last few years or something though and yeah I guess it looks really cheap on Amazon.

The album itself is pretty good though, just don't expect the complex/thrashy kind of Helstar, but some of the songs like "Run with the Pack" are classic.

You need "Distant Thunder" though. I used to think Remnants was my favorite, but Distant is a lot more explosively awesome. I know what I'm listening to on the way to work today!

It must be a reissue, yeah. And about what you say regarding it's complexity; should I expect something more, let's say, accesible? And by "accesible" I mean "more similar to the NWOBHM".

And yes, I have heard Distant Thunder, and it's actually in my wanted list (with a whole fuckton of other stuff).

Burning Star, Run with the Pack, Towards the Unknown, and Shadows of Iga are all absolute classic songs that are up there with the best Helstar ever made. The first album is in much of a more traditional, straight-ahead metal direction than anything else they did, but it's just as good.

Just a heads-up about the Helstar disc: a weird but true story, it seems that Century Media completely shit the bed on the 2009 re-releases of Burning Star (BS) and Remnants of War (RoW). There's a thread somewhere on here about it, and I can confirm, having just bought the RoW disc. Despite the packaging/booklet/disc art saying that you're getting BS there's a good chance the disc contents will actually be RoW. Likewise for RoW, its disc will have the BS content. I don't know if all discs are affected, but if it's the 2009 release that has the generic black slipcase cover you may get a lemon. A shame, but I guess Century Media was too busy pushing whatever their latest crap is to care about Helstar.

Nah, the copy I saw in the CD store just had the original album cover. Looked completely normal to me.

It seems Christopher Amott has left Arch Enemy. Now, I don't really give a damn about them, but Christopher released 3 albums under the name Armageddon and the last two are really fun modern power metal. It's been on hold for almost 10 years so hopefully this means that he means he can get around to releasing more material. On a side note, his solo album is actually pretty good. Not metal in the slightest bit though.

Anyone else think that Cities - Cruel Sea gives off a total DoomSword vibe?

I have only listened to Embrace the Mystery so far, but it was great, and I certainly wouldn't mind him releasing more stuff in that vein, and hopefully with the same guy who sang in the release I mentioned, as he kicked quite a bit of ass.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Burning-Star-Helstar/dp/B0026MF4KG/ref=pd_sim_m_h__1

Other people have reported this, so yeah, you're probably right. I recently got Nosferatu by these guys, was impressed by it and that's how I noticed this. I'll be getting some of their other stuff anyway.

Hey guys, I haven't posted in here for quite a while, but I have a fairly specific request that I'm not making a lot of progress on elsewhere:

I'm looking for dark, heavy, and preferably fast progressive power metal similar to Manticora (esp. "The Black Circus" and "Safe"), Caravellus ("Knowledge Machine"), and Symphony X's "Iconoclast". I was also spinning Nevermore's "The Obsidian Conspiracy" and some of Iron Mask's "Black As Death" this morning, and I found that they were hitting the spot too. Sinuous, writhing guitar parts with rougher clean vocals (some harsh vocals don't hurt). This seems to be something of a niche that isn't overfilled, and I want to dig into any cracks.

Other albums that I've tried that haven't worked for me are Communic's "The Bottom Deep" (generally too slow), Sons Of Seasons' "Magnisphyricon" (little too symphonic/not heavy enough), and some Dark At Dawn and Tad Morose.

I realize this is specific and perhaps a bit confusing, but I'm willing to sample anything. I'm pretty well-informed, and probably more obscure bands are better bets, but throw out any suggestions just in case.

You might want to check out Arida Vortex, Ashes to Ashes, Black Destiny, Black Majesty, Bloodbound, Hibria, Iron Fire, Skullview, and/or The Shadow Theory.

Even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for, you're still in for some good listenin'.

Have heard most of those but not all. I can say that though Black Majesty, Arida Vortex, Bloodbound, Hibria, and Iron Fire are all decent to good bands, none of them are really proggy enough or dark enough for what I'm searching for at the moment. For sure I'll check out the others, thank you!

Any more recs are much appreciated!

And how about Vulvagun? Don't mind the stupid name, as they play epic, thrashy power metal with a dark edge and just a bit of a progressive twist. They only have released one album by now, called Cold Moon Over Babylon, and even though kinda overlong, it's still a terrific piece of scorching metal with driving riffs and awesome, Dickinsonesque vocals. Check it out.

I've got the 2009 reissue of Remnants of War and it's definitely still ROW! From what I can tell the 1999 reissues of the first two Helstar albums aren't so hard to find, though, so they're definitely a safer bet. I'd definitely recommend the Rising from the Grave set which has A Distant Thunder and Nosferatu along with a reasonable quality live show DVD (ie: not worth paying for on its own, but a worthy addition). I had an early CD pressing of Nosferatu and this one definitely has a better master: more low end but still very clear.

Thanks, I am actually pretty well acquainted with them (got a promo and reviewed before release). I spun this again this morning to check it out. It's decent, and lyrically/thematically is fitting, but again, it's not fast or proggy enough.

Since yesterday I've been listening a bit to Angel Dust's Bleed and Enlighten the Darkness, and besides saying that they're both awesome records, I'm gonna ask you guys a question; in what way, shape, or form is the "melodic power metal" tag they have here justified? They are much heavier than what that denomination would imply.

It's melodic and it's power metal--whether or not it's heavy doesn't really affect its genre placement.

I know, it's just that when someone says "melodic power metal" I imagine something more akin to, say, this instead of the steady, groove laden, crushing style of power metal Angel Dust practice.

Make sure you check out Border of Reality, too - it's just as good.

Speaking of heavy German power metal, are Messiah's Kiss awesome or what? Dragonheart is a pretty good album (a bit inconsistent, but I can deal with that), but holy shit I just keep going back to their debut - every song on this thing fucking kills. Mike Tirelli is fucking incredible, and the rest of the stuff is damn solid, too. Just listen to that glorious interplay between the guitars in Light in the Black...

I shouldn't like Battle Beast as much as I do.

You love it. Search your feelings; you KNOW it to be true!

Hey Oblarg, I just decided to check out Messiah's Kiss based on your mention of them, and I gotta say..... Thank you. May your life be blessed along with that of all your loved ones. In other words; this shit kills.

I'm spinning Warrior's Fighting for the Earth again, and it just hit me how completely fucking impressive the vocals here are. Perry McCarthy sounds like a pissed-off Blackie Lawless, with all the grit and twice the range. He hits every fucking note with ease, and damn does he have character. He sort of reminds me of Carl Albert in spots, too.

I think that demo sounds very ahead of its time and it sounds more like 80's metal to me than late 70's stuff. The vocalist sounds really energetic indeed.

I'm pretty eaten up with my sole Doomsword album at this point, Let Battle Commence. At first it felt like it might be a bit too dense or lengthy, but I've listened to it probably 3 or 4 times consecutively in the last two days which I hardly ever do with new albums. It's disturbingly catchy for as little as they have going on per song. They've got an amazing ear for knowing exactly when to change up a riff, and there are some damn good ones. I love that main riff on In the Battlefield, the bending part sounds like something taunting from Iommi.

I think I'm most smitten with the vocals though. It's been awhile since a new band had a vocalist that I found totally unique and worthy of worship. This dude's inflections and emotional tone is just fucking moving. Especially on Heathen Assault when he's talking about all of England awaiting the terror from the noooo-OOOO-oooorth.

Count_V swears that Let Battle Commence doesn't hold a candle to Resound the Horn, so I just ordered that one to find out.

yep, Resound the Horn has better content. LBC has got that dense, big, epic feeling in the production and stuff, but Resound has the riffs and the vocals and the dynamics.

I've really enjoyed the new one, best since Resound imo.

Ah Doomsword. I still think Let Battle Commence is better than Resounding the Horn. Haven't gotten around to any of their other albums.

My first taste of Doomsword was The Eternal Battle, and I remember not being moved by a single moment on that album.

Some people just can't get into them, it seems. I think Eternal Battle is a bit hit or miss, but it's got some great riffs and some good songs. The last album never really clicked for me.

I only have Resound the Horn and The Eternal Battle but I do enjoy both. I will admit that the vocals on Doomsword's latest album was lacking but it's still an enjoyable record overall. I really need to get the rest of their albums.

Yeah put me in that camp. I haven't tried terribly hard, but I've been pretty bored every time I've listened to them. Just background music to me.

I think their S/T, Resound the Horn and The Eternal Battle are all pretty damn great, not something I play that often but I certainly enjoy them when I do. But Let Battle Commence struck me as a little too laboured, in that "Hey, we're an epic metal band... let's make it EPIC!!". You know, a little too self-conscious but not bad. There were some great moments but they were mostly really cool vocal lines rather than riffs or whatever. I remember it having some production issues compared to the others, too.

Yeah I think it was too style-over-substance as well.

Anybody else know of Death of A Demon? Mediocre name, I know, but their is music is great. They play somewhere in the vein of old Sabbath and a Danzig mix. Here are a couple of tracks; Oblivion and Black Eyed Woman.