I've had their EP for a while and it's very worth getting (bought it directly from the band, just email them if you want a copy). They're also playing at Keep It True next year so they seem to be picking up some momentum. I'll definitely be buying that new full-length.

Wow I brushed this off earlier thinking it was some other band... but yeah this song is awesome. I'm not the biggest Mercyful Fate / KD fan but this is a catchy stuff. Sounds more Swedish than German, haha.

What is some good power metal with prominent bass playing that does something besides playing root notes very fast?

The first Avantasia has few but nice bass lines by Mr. Markus Grosskopf. He also shines in Walls of Jericho, but that's more speed than power.

Whoa, hadn't listened to that album in six years, but you're right, it has some nice basslines to play along with I didn't remember at all.
Ha, it's so cheesy and good; I had totally forgotten.

Keep the recommendations comming if ye've got more though.

Hibria?

Pharaoh and Tarot have pretty prominent, well done bass parts. Check out Be Gone or Suffer Our Pleasures, respectively.

Checked out/skipped thru a couple Hibria songs on youtube and while the music is not bad, the bass is simply following the guitars, that's kind of the opposite of what I've asked.
Pharaoh is square and repetitive beyond what I can stand and Tarot kind of gave me the vibe of trying to sound ballsy but ends up falling as lame.
Still, thank you both guys for taking the time to recommend something.

Can't believe I still remember the lyrics to Avantasia.

???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKPZBugBbgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdfFqiRonO8

they have tons of crazy bass parts, just not 100% of the time, and certainly not every song.

Pro tip: skipping through a couple of songs on Youtube is not a substitute for actually listening to an album, and may make you look like an idiot.

But... people against piracy tell me it is.

Hey guys, do you know anything that closely resembles Sabotage era Black Sabbath? You know the deal; intricate compositions coupled with punchier tunes, heavy as hell, groovy riffs, and almost screamed clean vocals. It's just that I really, really like that album (probably my favorite Ozzy era record), and would like to know if there's anything similar to it.

Briton Rites' full-length is the closest thing I've heard.

So i just listened to pharaoh. I kind of have had them in the back of my mind for a few years now after hearing about them here, just sampled a few tracks and they blew my damn balls off. Well composed, intense, riffy, but still majestic power metal? The vocalist is one of the best PM vocalists i've heard out there, and the production is perfectly meaty and organic for the type of music. Incredible material, and I thought they were just overhyped.

I don't think anything is like that album. There are plenty of retro-Sabbath wannabe bands, and then bands like Briton Rites or Pagan Altar which are simply other old school musicians playing similar styles, but nothing really seems to capture the arcane, apocalyptic melodies and weirdly climactic, complete feel of that album for me...so yeah, I guess this wasn't a helpful post except to praise Sabotage.

And yup Pharaoh is probably in the top 3 or 4 best bands active in the scene right now. I know Oblarg and a few others don't agree, but there are few bands that have that kind of songwriting skill for me.

Oh, too bad I guess I did check out For Mircalla though, and it's pretty cool (thanks Joph!), so at least there's that.

What are the general thoughts here about Angra's Aurora Consurgens?

That's a cool album. I like Aqua even better though...without Falaschi I somehow doubt they'll be as good. One can hope though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBeBSHzxvB8 New Urban Breed/Morgana Lefay/Bloodbound project, Trail of Murder. Lighter and more rockish than any of those bands, but Breed's attention to great melodies knows no bounds. Shame they don't have any of the real standout tracks on youtube though.

Yeah, I've been listening to it more since yesterday through YouTube. I already gave it a passing listen some time ago, but the album really grows on you once you give it your full attention. Aqua is great too, but I believe the best Falaschi fronted Angra record has to be Temple of Shadows. Well, it must be their best in general me thinks. I don't like their stuff with Matos.

Trail of Murder is sounding pretty nice. Like you say, they emphasize rockier tempos and simpler riffs much more than anything else I've heard with Urban's vocals on top of it, but it's still great. Just catchy metal that's easy on the ears while still retaining its heaviness, not to mention that Urban sounds fantastic, as always.

Checking out this Trail of Murder stuff at the moment. I just hope if will have more to offer than just good vocals.

I doubt it's up your alley. It's pretty much hard rock/metal mostly focusing on the vocals. The music is really good, and very well written/catchy, but if you're looking for instrumental showing off/prowess then you'll probably be disappointed.

So.... which pharaoh album you guys recommend for a first listen?

The thing about Sabotage is that it incorporates a lot of prog rock influence into its sound, heard even more prominently on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - pretty much every Sabbath-style band these days focuses on the sound from the first four albums. To be honest I've never liked Sabotage as a whole that much, though a few songs on it are killer. It just goes way too far up its ass a few times too many for me to really love it, unlike SBS, which manages to be progressive without wasting too much time.

Agreed with failsafeman, although I think Sabbath Bloody Sabbath suffers from the same problem to some extent. Sabotage is essentially a couple of excellent songs, the bottom of the heap being considerably worse than on SBS. In truth, inconsistency is a problem with all Ozzy albums past Master of Reality, though with SBS and Vol. 4 it's not a major problem.

I'd call "Changes" a major problem!

In seriousness though I think that inconsistency was due to record label pressure; the norm back then was for a major band to release a full-length (or more) every single year, and it's clear that for whatever reasons (drug abuse, interpersonal conflict, lack of inspiration, the mental taxation of sustaining the bleak mindset required to write such music, or all of the above) Sabbath just couldn't keep up. Hence we get albums like Vol. 4, which is just hugely bloated (both in terms of worthless songs and over-repetition within the songs in general) and has at best 30 minutes of solid material. If you ask me, I think the first four albums only have about three albums' worth of classic material. With a little much-needed pruning and clever editing, their early stuff would have been way better, in my opinion.

Probably the longest night. I think it's likely the most consistent, and has the best vocal performance on it. The two most recent Be Gone and Bury the Light are a bit more technical instrumentally but there are a couple of tracks where Aymar sounds kind of annoyingly strained/constipated for me. Plus the songwriting seems to be the best on TLN, but really any of those three would be a good starting point.

Which are the most over-repetitious Sabbath songs on Vol. 4? I'm interested to hear. I think all the actual songs (barring 'Changes', of corpse) are great. I certainly don't think they really needed to edit themselves, to be frank (Anthony Iommi...), those records are all under 40 minutes or so... and they certainly had enough riffs/momentum/instrumental and songwriting prowess to keep things interesting. In general the Dio stuff is much shorter on ideas, I'd say... they got a bit more conservative with structures, too.

In fact, the looseness of those albums is a big part of their appeal. And it's often the case with pioneers: they don't have set guidelines so they tend to go a little crazy (though I'd certainly never call those madcap ideas "bloated" or whatever).

Well without going into excruciating detail for each song, "Supernaut" is the one that springs first to mind. It seems to be a fan favorite but I just find it tiresome after the first couple of minutes. It's nearly 5 minutes long and has 2 riffs. Granted, they're good riffs, but c'mon, the song would've easily been ten times as good with another riff or two and/or a shorter running time. Fucksake, they even do this long fadeout at the end with nothing but the same old main riff going on, and on, and on, and on.


It's not that the ideas are madcap, it's that they're short on them. I'm generally on board when Sabbath do weird stuff (like the synths and piano in SBS) but it's when they just decide to keep repeating themselves over and over that I get tired.

There's just something really intense and personal about Sabotage for me, like you can tell they put a lot of themselves into it when writing it. Despite the fact that it's a bit inconsistent, and has "Supertzar" which I never much cared for, it's one of my favorite albums ever.

That Trail of Murder album is really growing on me you guys. It's like Tad Morose except a little more radio friendly and upbeat, and without the doom and gloom that band usually had. Totally killer, air-guitar, sing-along old school heavy metal to the bone. I am loving it.

I recently discovered the US band Orchid. I was wary, thinking they would be just "one more band that sounds like Sabbath", but they do seem to take more from the Sabotage/SBS mould than do other bands, as Failsafe and I were discussing some time back. Their album Capricorn grows on me more all the time. It is maybe a bit doomier than what are after, but I'm almost positive you'd enjoy it all the same...

For something more upbeat, try early Orange Goblin. They seem to have gotten more stripped down and almost punky later, but Frequencies from Planet Ten and Time Travelling Blues have a lot of that trippy, spaced out groove that was present on Sabbath's best albums.

And yes, for me, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is surely the best Sab album and I wouldn't change a damned thing about it. I used to not really enjoy "Spiral Architect" but, you know, in the context of the record and as the finale, it does actually sound great and very appropriate.

I'm too much of a fan of Ozzy era Sabbath to really want anything altered at this point. Sure, some songs aren't that great, but usually even they have their charms. It took them until SBS to make a perfect record, though.

Already know and enjoy Orange Goblin, though I will make sure to check out Orchid. Thanks a lot Abom!

Hey again guys. I've been meaning to post this for a while, but anyways. I asked for some recs a few pages back on bands similar to Grave Digger, with those gruff vocals, and fast riffage. However, I pretty much only got Rebellion out of it, which I had heard before, and am not that big of a fan of. Somebody also recommended a band called Solar Fragment, which I wasn't all that hyped about either. So I'll ask again for some more recs relating to this kinda stuff. I've already looked through the whole Similar Artists to Grave Digger page, so I know every band on there. But are there some other more unknown bands like these?

One of the Similar Artists, Iron Savior, has three bands similar to them: Persuader, Savage Circus, and Dark Empire. All of them should be right up your alley.

You should also check out Wuthering Heights. They're pretty inconsistent, but when they hit, they hit HARD.

Another group of interest is Seventh Avenue. They're basically a Grave Digger/Gamma Ray worship band, and they have some really great tunes.

Paradox are a bit more on the thrash metal side, but they should do just fine.

Manilla Road are a must-listen for all metal fans, but especially for you.

Thanks for all those recs. I've heard of all the bands before, but not checked out all of them. Manilla Road in particular is one that I should check out. It's just that last time I checked them out, I seem to remember that I didn't like it at all. But maybe I was drunk or something.

Thanks for taking the time!

Keep the recs coming!

Eh, Wuthering heights are one of my favorite PM bands along with lost horizon, virgin steele and Blind guardian. But you're basically right imo about some albums being better than others; the first two have more of a distant, folkly prog vibe melded into a more laid back form of power metal. Shade, I'd advise you to listen to everything, but from your request, check out 'far from the maddening crowd' and especially 'The Shadow Cabinet' and 'Salt'. Cetlic-esque meaty folk/power riffs combined with symphonic and prog touches, and the unique and ballsy vocals of erik ravn. Also, do yourself a favor and check out messiah's kiss. It's stomping, traditional power/heavy; Dragonheart and Prayer for the dying are their best, apparently 'metal' has a bucket of cheese dumped on them with big choruses and more melodic guitar work; but it still has good reviews by unicorn and empyreal.

Oh yeah. I remember seeing Messiah's Kiss mentioned a few pages back as well. GREAT band! I've heard some Wuthering Heights stuff, and that one track "Desperate Poet" was a really nice one! I remember checking out pretty much everything that last vocalist has been involved with. Liked Astral Doors a whole lot, and I think Lion's Share too. But you guys are on the right track, and I like where this is going! If you remember some more, don't hesitate to show me!

Be Gone. Speak to Me, No Remains, Telepath, Cover your eyes and Pray and the title track are personal favourites.

But really, everything from The Longest Night is great. The first record has it's moments, especially the title track.

I briefly checked out the new one as well, and it didn't sound bad at all. I had also heard a lot about Pharaoh, but never realized how good they were until now.

Ok, the Longest Night shall be....thanks.

ShadeOfDarkness - I also REALLY recommend Manilla Road. Check out The Deluge or Voyager for an excellent heavier PM.

About the being drunk thing, I´m not sure, I always thought the only way to really get into manilla was to first listen to it while drunk .

Although I know everyone took a large, collective dump on Running Wild's last album, anyone interested in his new band Giant X? There's a song in this article. Doesn't sound amazing, but decent enough. Kind of short if you take away the sample at the beginning.

Been jamming Deceptor (UK) a bunch lately which I happened upon from the SK bandcamp page. You guys heard this stuff? Thrashy heavy metal I guess, there's a lot of mid tempo stuff that keeps me from just calling it thrash. Soothsayer EP is pretty rad and actually has a little blasting but I really like the track from the new album SK has up on their page.

http://shadowkingdomrecords.bandcamp.co ... f-delusion

http://deceptor.bandcamp.com/