I can't tell if you hate it or not.

It was kind of long but I can dig it. Something with a bit more harder edge maybe?

I don't know what "pure" neoclassical metal is, but here's a couple of Yngwieish bands:

One of the best albums of 2016. Metalheads into Epic Metal should listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ny5of7Mxag

Man...no matter how much ott extreme shit I listen to, nothing beats stuff like this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More retro-metal, went in expecting not much only to replay the song 5 times:
Sacred Leather* | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cW9L8GmiNM
Now that's a fuckin' name!

Also found this while looking around:
Validor | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SyGdCgDAGM

I'm quite liking this. By 'pure' nc metal, I meant that bands with crazy shredders without keyboards, symphonic stuff & any other power metal shenanigans but then later I just went "fuck it, give me all the bands."

Is there a reason no one ever talks about or recommends RAGE?, for a band with a shit ton of albums they're very rarely spoken of here, what's their best albums?

I've spoken of Rage! Sadly they ran out of steam some ten years ago. All albums are great, the best albums are in my view are those from Perfect Man up to about Unity, where they started to kind of repeat themselves. Maybe that's why nobody's taling about them, there's really not much to say, and nothing controversial. They are a fantastic band.
Haven't really listened to the latest album with the new line up, maybe they'll get in shape again?

I'm partial to the albums with Manni on guitar. And Ghosts, amazing songwriting and arrangements on that album.

Here's the problem with Rage: they release a song called "My Way" on the last album and the chorus was literally "It's my way or the highway!" That level of creativity, even amid the banalities of German metal, is just not good enough for me. They've been on that boring trajectory for a long time now.

Since I've been in the mood for Japanese metal again (Anthem, Wolf, Show-Ya and Saber Tiger for those who care) I wonder which Loudness album I should hear first. Never checked out too much of this band although I know they're one of the best examples of Japanese heavy metal. Any advice?

1. The Missing Link
2. Trapped!
3. Black in Mind
4. 10 Years in Rage
5. Secrets in a Weird World
6. Unity
7. End of All Days

These are my favorite Rage albums. The band has fans of basically 3 different eras. The first rough classic German speed/heavy/power, the more europower which fits in the Helloween/Running Wild trajectory (my favorite) and from there to the new era with Smolski. I stopped following them around that time.

I'll come back later to discuss Rage! They're my least favorite of the big 3 Germans (as in Kreator/Sodom/Destruction --> Helloween/Running Wild/Rage) but they have plenty of great, GREAT songs if you like Peavey's voice, which I understand is a rather acquired taste. I've spun the shit out of the first two albums in my list and every album there has at least 2 dynamite songs. I also think their Lingua Mortis classical album, which was one of the first before it became a thing, is actually very good and miles ahead of what much bigger names did. Finally, Ten Years in Rage is an album that features unreleased songs, so it's a legit album. Love the medley closer as well, has some pretty fantastic stuff from their first ten years. It's a nice way to get an idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcHrtIL5Bw

Rage is a good band. I mostly like their late 90s and early '00s stuff, though the really old stuff like Perfect Man is certainly lots of fun. Unity, Soundchaser and Welcome to the Other Side are all classics in my book, and Ghosts is quite good too. They fell off a cliff after Soundchaser though, and didn't recover until 21, which was actually pretty solid. The songs from that new album didn't impress me at all though, and I haven't gotten around to listening yet.

The stuff before Thunder in the East is clearly their best. That album is a notable drop in quality - it's still fun, but it's highly-commercial and rather tame.

Thunder in the East is masterful. A perfect example of how to make huge arena-rocking tunes without sacrificing heaviness or speed. The guitar tone is godly. Heavy Chains is everything.

But yeah, their early stuff is incredible. I'd check out the first five. You'll probably prefer The Law of Devil's Land and Disillusion the most. That's where they dropped pretty much all 70s influence and tightened everything up. The debut is killer though. Lots of holdover 70s Scorps influence. Some speed metal is still to be found though. Devil Soldier heavies up a LOT from the debut but still has a few touches of the 'eavy 70s.

Edit: I recant that Devil Soldier is heavier than the debut. Both albums put their foot down a bit more on the b-side, especially the end of Devil Soldier. But overall I think it might be even more Scorps influenced than the debut! Start with Disillusion. I can pretty much guarantee you'll love it. Plus, how gorgeous is the artwork?

Edit 2: Loudness night. Thunder in the East could be their best album. It really is an exercise in balance. So much power and muscle but also huge poppy hooks. I fucking love it. If you dig this side of the band don't sleep on Hurricane Eyes and Lightning Strikes. They're both underrated.

How is that a problem with Rage?? On crappy lyric line on the last album versus 30 years and 22 albums of great music. Were you drunk when you wrote this comment?

I've been disagreeing a lot with Empy lately, but this time he's right on the money: Dynazty, despite their atrocious name, is a really fun band. I've only gotten their two latest albums, and now I think I'll have to search for the others. "The Human Paradox" and "Divine Comedy" are so fuckin' catchy, I can't stand it. Except I can.

You have to understand that they started out as a glam band and then evolved into a PM band. That's why their name is so terrible.

early Rage suffers from poor vocals but is some cool speed metal, mid Rage has better vocals and pretty good riffs, but the songwriting can suffer at times. Newer Rage (early 2000s) was imo probably their best in terms of songwriting/overall quality, but since then they've gotten more generic and uninspired.

Yeah, I only heard their newest album but it's super solid. Just full of energy and catchy songs. It's tough to even pick favorites, though "The Human Paradox" and the title track are awesome. It's basically what stuff like later Dragonforce or Masterplan was going for, I think.

Nahsil is dead on about Rage - exactly what I'd say about it.

Heavy Load is all you need

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKa7lnb_3g

This is the closest sounding thing to Dark Quarterer that I have ever heard. So damn close, it is eerie. Like a sound somewhere between their debut and War Tears. The band is an Egyptian heavy metal group called Black Swan Theory.

Does anyone have the 2012 remaster of Cloven Hoof - Dominator?

If so, is it any good? I'm sure it can't be any worse than the original, at least.

I'm sitting at work at 5am, cup of coffee in hand, sober as I can get - and yeah, that's their problem. Awful, bland lyrics. Nothing interesting to say. Nothing interesting to sing about. 30+ years as a band and this is what you get? I've got Devil Strikes Again lyrics on darklyrics up right now in my other internet browser tab. I...just...can't. It's one thing to have those shitty German humor/broken English lyrics (Helloween) but this...



Yawn. Not a memorable melody to be found either.

That's one fucking album that even most of their fans agree isn't good. Hardly proof of much of anything.

Would like stuff similar to this

I like that Rainbow complains about Rage's lyrics (when they're usually pretty good) despite being a massive Sabaton fan. I thought you liked shitty, unoriginal bland lyrics!

Yeah I was skimming through the lyrics of some of my old favorite Rage albums and they're mostly fine for the genre, and better than some lyrics by Helloween or older Edguy, etc to compare to bands from the same country. Not exemplary, but good enough for sure, certainly not a detriment.

I like Sabaton and their last album, too, and y'all know I don't usually care about lyrics, but good lord I will never forget the poetic genius that is "Hold your ground when you're fighting those who fight." Ranks up there with Rhapsody's "DARK MANTIS!! DARK FATE OF ATLANTIS!!"

I have the vinyl reissue that Buried by Time and Dust Records did. It doesn't really sound significantly better or worse than bootleg CD version I've heard, though my equipment isn't fantastic. I think the original production suffered too much for it to sound any better. I'm curious to hear the original LP but I don't feel like shelling out for it. Apparently, the 2011 CD version the band released themselves is awful, but I have not heard that one.

IIRC the original masters have been lost, so the CD reissues have all been ripped from the original vinyl and then tinkered with from there. The 2012 remaster is a bit better than the original, but that's hardly saying much. It's unfortunate, because if you really listen carefully, there's a lot going on that's easy to miss - guitar interplay, cool basslines, etc. The compositions are fairly complex, but it's all submerged in that awful peat bog of a production.

It's worth the struggle! I swear by the third song I've either completely adjusted or it gets noticeably better. This album is so special, it's a shame some people will never really understand.

Really? I remember reading on a forum somewhere, before it was released, that the vinyl reissue of the album was going to be sourced from the tapes, which were in the process of being baked at that time. I wonder if something went wrong.

Regardless, it's quite the album. Reach for the Sky is too good.

^ This is where my main confusion lies. I was under the impression that the masters had been lost too, but I also read that the remaster was done from the masters.

Sources found here:

http://thecorroseum.org/forum/viewtopic ... 4&start=15

and here:

http://www.nwnprod.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 84c2b07503

Both from quietus (though I'm not sure who this is).

I wanted to hear the remaster because as failsafe said, there's a load of cool shit going on that's marred by utterly terrible production.

I guess it doesn't matter too much anyway, because I can't seem to find it anywhere regardless.

After seeing Saxon again the other week, I picked up their last two albums and really I'm once again surprised by this band's consistency and quality. Their later era has its fans but, honestly, I still think they need more credit... I mean, if Maiden or Priest had put out stuff of this quality people would shit their pants (hell, people shit their pants over Maiden's boring stuff). I actually avoided these last two... for whatever reason I thought they'd be boring (the song titles, maybe) but I shouldn't have doubted Saxon.

Well fuck if I know, I've heard for years that the original masters were lost or ruined, but maybe someone dug them up somewhere? IIRC the "remaster" doesn't sound that much better, but unfortunately it's packed up and hundreds of miles away, so I can't check it right now.

Fair enough, I was under the same impression as you until I came across those forum posts.

Maybe I'll manage to get hold of it at some point and find out for myself, at least it can't be any worse than the original (or so one would hope).

Does anyone know?

Evidently not. :V

Disclaimer: not a power metal fan at all. Operatic vocals and cheesy lyrics don't usually do it for me. However, I love both Nightfall & Somewhere Far Beyond by BG as well as The Odyssey by Symphony X. I'm in the beginning stages of writing a fantasy novel and I need something similar to these albums to get me in the right mindset to create. Eternal Champion's album also gets me there. You know, albums that take me over the hills and into the annals of other worlds, stuff that screams high fantasy and adventure.