I second this! Great speed metal with occasional thrash elements at times. Loved their last album, and can't say the case is different with this new one. Oh, and Armor Column is also fucking amazing!

I am going insane on the amount of great stuff coming my way this past week. Glad you like Armor Column, great album and getting better each listen. The album as a whole reminds me of RAM's first album but far heavier. Vocalist is a dead ringer that is for sure. As for revenge, I really like the direction they are going with the darker tendencies, especially on the last two albums. The first time I heard this band was with their death Sentence album and it was way more melodic, and definitely Maiden inspired speed rarely delving into darker riffs. Now they are getting thrashier, and their songs are becoming more mature. Its criminal these guys are not more well known.

Well, after roughly 15 years of not listening to it in any way, I just today re-discovered my joy for uplifting, euro-power metal...
So, what are the classics I need to pick up if the last album I enjoyed back then was Gamma Ray's "Land of the free"?
(not keen on shredding and speedy solo-ing stuff though, high pitched vocals are also more of a minus to me)

Well what exactly do you mean by "high" vocals? 'Cause you mentioned Land of the Free and Kai Hansen sings quite high on that.

Timeless Miracle are absolutely goddamn essential Euro-power metal. I don't care if barely anyone's heard of them and they've only released one album.

Sonata Arctica, on the other hand, are a huge, huge name in the industry, and their Ecliptica, Silence, and Reckoning Night albums are absolutely essential. The Days of Grays and Stones Grow Her Name are a bit more unusual and divisive, but they're damn fine albums in their own right, too. (In before Empyreal yells at you to listen to Unia, too. It's worth listening to just to say you have, and if you like it, it was that much more worthwhile!)

Edguy are a bit on the hard rock side these days, but their '95-'04 material is absolutely mandatory listening if you're looking for Euro-power metal. As for everything since Hellfire Club, it's largely inconsistent with an amazing track here and there.

Avantasia, the side project of Tobias Sammet from Edguy, is another wellspring of amazing material. I don't think they've released a single bad album, though Angel of Babylon is probably the weakest. By that, I mean it has the fewest maddeningly catchy songs.

Dreamtale are a bit more obscure, but they, too, have some phenomenal tunes that will never leave your brain. Their debut, Beyond Reality, and their newest, Epsilon, are probably their most consistent works, but I'd recommend all of their stuff.

Power Quest are wildly inconsistent, but when they're at their best (e.g. Neverworld), you'll not find anything better in the genre.

Same goes for Iron Savior and Persuader. Both are essentially Blind Guardian clones with hit-or-miss albums, but when they hit, they really fucking hit. The songs linked are perfect examples of their best work.

Kamelot may not hail from Europe, but they clearly fall in the Euro-power metal style and are one of the big names. The Black Halo is generally seen as their greatest, but I'd also recommend Epica and Ghost Opera.

Lastly for now, if you're looking for something like Gamma Ray, Seventh Avenue may be up your alley, seeing as they're obviously a Gamma Ray worship band. The albums you'll want to check out are Eternals and Terium, though Southgate and Between the Worlds have some great tunes, too.

DEADLY BLESSING - Ascend from the Cauldron
SCREAMER - Target: Earth
TALISPHERE - demo
CAULDRON BORN - (Both studio albums)

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. I discovered Revenge a couple of months ago, when Vendetta hadn't come out yet, and I noticed very clearly that it was only the newest album that seemed to be going in that certain direction. These two new ones are insane though. Really good stuff!

By the way, you Sortilege lovers should check out Zouille & Hantson if you haven't already. They're not on the archives for some reason, but I do believe it's some sort of new project. The album is self titled. I see that Chase Le Dragon has been re-recorded at least.

Just ordered the new AxeHammer album. Excellent follow-up to their Wind Rider release from 2005. Great blend of catchy US power, and speed sounding very, very 80's I can even hear some Euro power undertones here and there. I can safely say that this album would fit somewhere in my top 10 of 2012 if such a list existed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yowbf0l0ovo&playnext=1&list=PLVAQJUBQ1LyDFWobvEPGu9MrDyKoWyvVV&feature=results_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzD8VbBuIg

You beat me to allot of stuff here!

I would also Recommend;
Neonfly

Battle Beast (although they are more traditional metal)

Nocturnal Rites (their newest album isn't too great though.)

Wisdom

Stratovarius have ALLOT of good keyboard solos and are one of the best Neoclassical metal bands out there.

DGM are a progressive/power metal blend. Saw them live supporting Symphony X and are simply amazing!

Freedom Call, not sure if they are too high pitched for you though.

Van Canto are something very different, in that they are an A Capella Power metal band. They do allot of covers and you may not like the female singer. But they are very very cheesy.

And finally;
Sabaton are one of the best Power Metal bands out there. They have allot of amazing upbeat songs and quite a few emotional ones to.

Hope you find these to your liking!

This is a good time for metal, no doubt. I wasn't a fan of Axehammer's debut but this sounds much better. Is anyone familiar with Bud Tribe? They're coming out with an album in a few weeks and I'm pretty excited about it. Their name sounds like a stoner metal band or something but actually they're a heavy/power metal band comprised of veterans of the 80s Italian scene, from bands like Sabotage and Strana Officina...now to be perfectly honest I'm not much of a fan of the 80s Italian scene, but Bud Tribe actually are very good. The singer sounds almost like Big Boss in that his range is much lower than usual and he's got a similar mercurial style, shifting from rougher melodic growls to powerful cleans at the drop of a hat. Otherwise they're not terribly flashy, at first I thought the songwriting was rather average, but their songs are very well composed and over time I was surprised to find myself coming back to the second album over and over again.

Here's one from their second album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FbrNJ8CBvM

And here's one from their upcoming album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVyhgqbvs4k

^ That track from their second album is fucking excellent! I need to track down more of your recommendations. Can't say I'm as enthused by the track from their upcoming album; they seem far better suited for dark, intricate heavy/speed than for uplifting hard/heavy with a faint hint of speed (I hope the former dominates their output rather than the latter). That singer is awesome, and both his approach (except for the more aggressive parts) and the effects applied to his voice evoke Johan Längquist on 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' to me. And that track! It's right in line with stuff like Veto or early Stormwitch or good-day Pretty Maids, with just a hint of Mercyful Fate in the dramatic, mean approach to heavy metal. Between this and A Tortured Soul, which you recommended some time ago and I now truly love, I'm beginning to think you have a knack for this kind of stuff. If the comparison even makes sense and if there's more stuff in this vein coming to mind, please teach me, master!

Wait a minute... there was an Italian scene in the 80s?!

THANK YOU SO MUCH
this is what i was looking for
Talisphere are like Oracle except the guitarist doesn't think he is better than he actually is, and I fucking love Oracle
I have heard Cauldron Born before and I will listen to the other 2 soon, but Talisphere are exactly what i was fucking looking for, scratches that itch.

Trick Or Treat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvlo2EInyyQ


Lancer (I just found out about these guy today.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3qImjnDR8Q




No but those links you posted sounded good, I will have to check them out.

I love how he clearly mentions that he's not really looking for ultra-shredding and fast solos or high-pitched vocals, yet you guys go out of your way and mention dozens of bands that feature all three.

Land of the Free is pretty much what you said you're not keen on though, and high-pitched vocals / ultra fast guitars is pretty typical of euro-power, so not sure what you really want here.

Anyways, I'd recommend Saint Deamon's both albums. Straightforward and catchy, not relying on uber-fast playing or ultrasonic wails.

Also, Andromeda from Sweden is pretty cool, especially Extension of the Wish.

Try some Falconer to see if you like it. Firewind too. (I only really like Premonition out of those guys)

Armageddon (Swe) is much better as a power metal band than as a Melodic Death one. Check Embrace the Mystery.

Oh, and Powerwolf. The band's pretty ridiculous but lots of fun as well, the guy can sing too. Look for Bible of the Beast.

That's all I got for now. If you detest very high vocals, I recommend you stay away from every Italian power metal band, save for Dogma and Icy Steel (which are not representatives of the euro-power scene in the first place).

Vulvagun!

edit: wasn't meant as an additional Europower rec. Just, Vulvagun.

That first song is awesome as hell. His deeper register goes perfectly with the thrashy riffs, and the song never ceases to hold my attention. The second song didn't really have that 'punch in the face impact' like the first, but I will be keeping my eyes on the new album. Good stuff Failsafe.


I am always keeping a vigilant eye on the 'New Additions' section and I came across a new Power/speed metal (More emphasis on power this time around) band called Wülfhook from the wastes of Michigan who are giving away their demo stuff at http://www.reverbnation.com/wulfhook for free. The production is very good for a demo and these guys can really play their instruments. Vocalist is damn good too going for those falsettos with no problems. They are working on a full length, and if these songs are any indication, they are worth keeping an eye on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcI11bLyMYU

I wonder when Vulvagun will get a new album out. It's taking too long, damnit!

Great! Glad you like it man.

Especially the first version of Extension, with Lawrence Macrory on vocals.

That song is spine-chillingly awesome, and I'm loving that vocalist's tone! I'll check out that free demo right away. Thanks!

This new Axehammer mix sounds ultra wonky with my bookshelf speakers. Huh.

Also love Screamer, wonder if Voivod listen to them at all with the new album title haha

You know guys, I'm here, listening to Sabbath's Tyr, and I started to wonder..... Is there any band with a sound that resembles Tony Martin era Black Sabbath? And especially Tyr, which has a lot of old school heavy/power metal in it.

Very generally speaking there's a lot of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond-influenced metal coming out lately, Portrait and In Solitude and such, but those are mostly in a heavy metal idiom rather than the power metal of Bud Tribe or A Tortured Soul. These days bands have access to so much metal you can usually find vague references to just about anything you want to, but to me it seems harder to find a band that sounds very similar to another. The genre as a whole is so much broader than when bands were limited to whatever they could hear on the radio, in person, or on tape and vinyl that finding two bands with the same cocktail of influences is harder than ever. Just a shot in the dark here, have you tried Onward's third album? All three are good. The first is the most traditional, sounding very USPM-y, the second is more progressive, but the third is the most experimental, incorporating even some black metal influence here and there and reminding me, generally speaking, of Bud Tribe and A Tortured Soul. Michael Grant being a baritone helps too, of course. Unfortunately the production is dogshit, but what are ya gonna do.

No, but I will now. I don't even think I had heard of Onward until now. I've just given a listen to one random track off of each album on YT: their third album's title track, "The Last Sunset" from the debut, and "Where Evil Follows" from the middle album. The first thing that comes to mind is that they certainly have in common with the other two bands the fact that they're awesome! It's not quite the exact same style or spirit, but it's okay, I'm not really looking for clones anyway (would an MF clone even work?). They operate in the same realm for sure, though, and there's a common vibe that I really really like, something dramatic and melancholic, for lack of more specific terms. Onward seems to be a bit more classic power metal oriented, with a bit less of a bite and a bit more of a focus on the (not necessarily as dark) emotional side of things, if that makes sense, compared to an album like 'Lucifer's Fate'. Diverse stuff comes to mind at different times indeed, from Helstar, to Hollow, to Rhoads-era Ozzy, to MR to you name it, but the band has its own identity and sounds genuine. In any event, this is a great find for me, so thanks for that!

What you said about the variety of styles and potential influences out there nowadays makes a lot of sense, but I haven't explored enough recent stuff yet to have a good picture of the current metal scene at large. Well, I have a lot of catching up to do, as I'm only just starting to seek out recent bands again now (having essentially given up looking for them past the early 2000s), and it seems I've been missing out like crazy. Not so long ago I was still under the impression that genuine and genuinely new greatness in the heavy/power/speed field was an endangered species, if not a thing of the past, but it seems I was simply looking in the wrong places or not hard enough. Either that or I'm becoming way easier to please, but I doubt it.

The funny thing is I'm not super into Mercyful Fate / King Diamond, good stuff but not among my favorites... yet I really dig most of the bands that are heavily influenced by that sound.

But yeah we need a nice throwback on pure 80's USPM someday. Liege Lord, Omen, Sacred Oath, etc, the blue collar stuff especially. There's bands like Ballistic or Steel Assassin I guess, but it's still definitely not the same to me and I can't really think of any modern bands that sound like a major throwback to that stuff specifically. If people can do it with thrash and whatnot, surely it can still be done eventually...

Suddenly "Open the Gates" just blew my face off, totally in the mood for this. The production is pretty crushing in comparison to "The Deluge" even if it came out before it.. with that said can anyone remind me which Manilla Road albums have been remastered and what the preferences were? I think I remember talk of some favoring original mixes or vice versa.

Love when Mark sounds freaking pissed!

Thanks for the many recommendations to my request. I never though that I could again (after my very early metal days as a
kid many, many moons back) find myself enjoying that kind of music, haha. Honestly - voals in the higher range was something
I used to dislike for 15 years or so (save for Eric Adams!) but after re-discovering Gamma Ray myself and now listening to the
many youtube links you guys posted I must admit that this is like entering an unknown yet somehow familiar terrain.

I didn't liked all bands you posted but Power Quest, Freedom Call and Startovarius (a band I formerly thought I would hate
and never took a listen to) were totally great and I think after finishing this post I will head off to Amazon and do some buys.
Seems like after nearly two decades of Thrash, Black and Martial Industrial I somehow came back "home" to where i started
as a kid and this feels awesome. The cheese and, well, "goodness" (in a lack of a better term) just fills me, haha.

Hard to put in words, so just keep it with "Damn, I like some of this more than I had ever thought I could do again!" So, again - Thanks, guys!
(btw - Sabaton was the only one of the posted bands I really knew before and like since a few years)

So beer_snob was kind enough to introduce me to this band, Evil Invaders, in the chat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGGYscmeYRM&noredirect=1

I was pretty impressed. No doubt someone has brought them up in here already, but for those of you that missed it, they're Belgian speed metal, and from what i've heard it's some pretty aggressive, rip-roaring stuff. Hope i get to see them live in Europe this year.

Excellent speed metal! Thanks for the heads up. Check out Revenges new album if you haven't DRD. These speed heads never quit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hA3AsbYgcg

Is anyone here familiar with Amon-Ra? It seems like something you guys would like, and I came across it because it is being reissued on vinyl soon (though I wish it was on CD). I've only heard a couple of tracks so far, but it's fairly typical heavy/power metal from 1992 (with a bit more keyboards than normal).

I'm currently listening to it here: https://soundcloud.com/byronnemeth/sets but I think you can download it for free on his website.

I bought a copy of that amon-ra album from shadow kingdom a couple of months ago on cd for somewhere around $10. Tell you the truth the three demo songs added to the end are probably the best stuff on the album.

Can anyone recommend some really good power metal bands with a more of a grunt or a baritone sort of voice. Sort of like the vocalist for Pharaoh or Iron Savior? I know some like Falconer have a phenomenal vocalist or bands like Thaurorod.

Check out Tad Morose and Wuthering Heights.

Am I the only one who thinks: the deluge/open the gates/voyager > crystal logic?

Yes for the Deluge no for the others imo

I think Crystal Logic has a lot more layers and dimensions than people tend to give credit for. I still feel like I'm noticing new things each time I spin it. The Deluge I find to be a very immediate and rewarding album, right up front with all it's cards on the table. So for that reason I probably prefer Crystal Logic just a hair but it's hard trying to objectively compare two albums I consider perfect. And Open the Gates is most perfectest of all!

Griffin's debut finally opened up and invited me in this morning. For some reason I woke up NEEDING to hear it and was utterly satisfied when I followed through. I had been kind of wishy-washy up until this spin, I think I was trying to force the album into a box that it just won't fit. It's not a very aggressive album at all, and a lot of the riffing sounds like straight up traditional heavy metal which was exactly what I needed a dose of. Love the vocalist too. I think maybe it took hearing Protectors of the Lair a few times to put this one in perspective.

Yeah, their second album definitely lacked a lot of magic or something. The first just blows it out of the water.

Re: Manilla Road
@Xeogred: Funny thing is it's pretty much the exact opposite to my ears: 'The Deluge' sounds much sharper and more abrasive than 'Open the Gates', whose production job I'd call mellow in comparison. As for which originals to get, that'd be all of them, and none of the remasters, but "remaster" is a dirty word in my dictionary, so maybe ask for a second opinion on that one.

@Jonpo: Opposite view here as well: out of all the 80s MR classics, 'The Deluge' was the last one to fully reveal its divine awesomeness to this metalhead; I think it's the least accessible of the Crystal->Abyss golden streak. 'Crystal Logic' and 'Open the Gates' were the instantly rewarding ones in my experience; as for the latter's perfection... well: "Heavy Metal to the World", sorry dude.

As for Griffin's debut, it's a fine little album, but it suffers from a mean case of the "Dreaming in Red" Syndrome, in the sense that "Heavy Metal Attack" is so many leagues ahead of all the other tracks combined, noticing them can be a challenging task. The sophomore album lacks this "issue", but also the must-have quality that comes with it. It's probably useless as I'm sure most of you guys already worship at its altar on a daily basis, but just in case someone isn't yet, I'd recommend one album which is pretty much the answer to the question 'what if an entire album had been made on par with "Heavy Metal Attack"?': Wild Dogs' 'Reign of Terror'.

By the way, failsafe, I can't thank you enough for recommending Onward. Since my last post, I've now DL'd all three albums, looked into the band's history, and added them to the top of my "do-want" list. With all the ties they had with the Helstar realm, I feel stupid for not noticing them earlier. Also, the late and indeed great Micheal Grant used to be in that band, Legend Maker (no relation).

Anyone know of something that sounds similar to early Elvenking (up till The Winter Wake) and Spellblast?

Try Vexillium, the vocalist sounds a little like Damna from Elvenking, but he actually sounds good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeXj3EhiqgQ