Yeah, the Enchanter guy isn't the most polished singer, but remember, it's just a demo compilation. Still, I think the songwriting totally makes up for it. It's like Manowar + Fates Warning, just perfect. Hail! God of thunder! Hail, hail, hail!! Also, the heavy section that follows the quiet section in "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" is one of the single highest points in all of USPM.

WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES YOU SAY YOU'RE HOLDIN' ON
WHEN I TURN AROUND I FIND YOUR LOVE IS GONE
GONE AWAY
TAKE YOUR LOVE AWAYYYYY

familiar with Ashbury

I've paid attention to Eternal Champion and dig them for sure. Also a fan of Ashbury!

Ordered Endless Skies immediately. They sound like Legend (uk) mixed with Wishbone Ash. That dudes leads are really something, super fluid and tasteful.

I also finally broke down and ordered the 2CD version of Human Remains last week. I'll probably never spin the new album (that production, blegh) but I had to have those demos. Never heard them before, but if they were such a huge inspiritation for History of a Time to Come I know it'll be money well spent.

Still mad Ashbury got deleted from MA, taking my review with it...

Oh did they used to be on here? I was surprised when I couldn't find them at first, but the more songs I sampled the more I understood. I love reading reviews in anticipation of getting a new album though. If you still have it saved and could PM it to me that would be awesome.

Oh thank God, I was starting to wonder if I was going crazy because I swear I read that and then a couple of days later it just disappeared.

Check out Winterhawk if you're digging Ashbury http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILwWk4KTDOg

I think that album has the best duel lead guitar work in all of metal.

Really the only thing lacking on the album are the vocals.

Can someone recommend me a power metal album that is really big on the double bass and huge sing-a-long melodic Helloween hooks with a wailing police siren of a singer, but also brings loads and loads of distinctive, memorable speed metal riffs to the table, even playing them while the singer is doing his thing (it almost seems like a flower metal commandment--thou shalt not play riffs while thy singer's mouth is open)? Like the sound I'm looking for is if sometime in the late '80s there was a long-lost Helstar album that was never released and somehow Tobias Sammet got a copy in the late '90s, and between The Savage Poetry and Mandrake ripped off all the riffs from that lost Helstar album and used them to write an Edguy album.

That's a tough one but I would go with:
LOST HORIZON - Awakening the World
ONWARD - Evermoving

They were borderline, but I think metal enough to be included, considering a few songs on the album are pretty much 100% metal. And sorry, I lost the review in a hard drive crash a few years back. It's a really cool album, though. Really unusual mix of country/hard rock/heavy metal.

The vocals are really awful in places, the mix, performance and the arrangements. As you say, amazing guitar work, the album is well worth a listen for that alone.

That'd be Tony Moore-fronted Riot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZUysqemMmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvbFXo-M8ec

I already have Thundersteel, Immortal Soul, and Lost Horizon's entire output. But I'm looking for a very particular melodic sensibility Helloween and bands heavily influenced by it have, but with stronger riffage. This thought came when I was listening to Edguy's Mandrake and realized how weak the rhythm guitar on that album is much of the time.

God damn I love Immortal Soul.

Wasn't sure whether or not to ask this here or another rec thread, but do any of you guys have any recommendations for bands that play a "deathified" style of traditional/speed metal ala Arghoslent? Hell, even something that's basically Running Wild with harsh vocals will work.

The album that Sacriphyx just released has similarities to Arghoslent. It's very good, definitely check it out.

Some of the The Crown's older albums are melodic death/thrash with touches of traditional metal, I'd say.

"Eternal Death" and "Hell is Here" are my favorites.

Have you heard of Mefisto? Not running wild style but certainly 'deathified' speed metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OyWjacK4PI

Already have that Scanner album (it's awesome), Messiah's Kiss might be worth looking into. I'm not really crazy about that Angel Dust song, the singer does not have nearly the range and charisma that S.L. Coe did, even if he is probably technically superior.

Can't believe I only heard Othyrworld recently. This album is so good.

This one Cormorant track, Blood on the Cornfields always reminded me of Arghoslent. Kind of funny, considering the lyrical matter. Great band who are worth checking out (and whose music you can download for free off of their bandcamp), but only that singular track fits what you asked for and they're otherwise outside of the scope of this thread.

I interviewed Cormorant one time. Seem like nice guys, and yeah their music is pretty interesting.

The main guy just died like a month ago

regarding the vocals on Helstar's Nosferatu


GET OUT OF HERE!

The vocals are superb and I'd dare any other singer out there to do better. Rivera's style on that particular record is incredibly complex because the music shifts a lot therefore, he isn't as melodic as he is capable of being.

I would never go as far as to say that Rivera's vocals in Nosferatu are awful, but he certainly sounds a bit too flat and safe for his own good there. Still, the guitars more than make up for that.

Also, thanks to a little review by FSM, I've decided to check out Pitts Vs. Preps. Now, I know that the name is overtly weird, yet the band is anything but that. They only have one album, titled Below and Beyond, and it's very stripped down, rocking heavy metal with deep, manly vocals (and the occasional piercing falsetto) courtesy of Exhorder's own Kyle Thomas. It's not a mandatory listen or anything, but it's pretty fun. Here, check it out.

The vocals could be better on some tracks, but on other tracks they're out of this world. Come on, "The Curse Has Passed Away" destroys all.

Is there anything in the world greater than ancient, dusty, heavy metal demos? I'm over the moon with this Hell reissue.

I was expecting "quirk" but the intro track alone held more surprises than I was expecting for a whole album, and that's without any hint of Hallidays weirdness!

Once he finally joins the show though...wow. He may have rivaled the King himself for sheer theatrics. The spoken word intro to Blasphemy and the Master is one of the greatest I've ever heard. And the multi-tracked opening of Macbeth is stunning.

I've said it before, but Rivera's vocals on that album are perfectly fitting and, yes, really fucking good. VirginSteele_Helstar summed it up nicely, but it's also pretty obvious that he's getting into character on that album. His performance has got a weird, undead quality to it that is just awesome. Those conceptual songs wouldn't work half as well if he sung in the same style as A Distant Thunder.

I happened into this thread rather randomly, and I see this Endless Skies being compared to Legend and Wishbone Ash, which I find quite intriguing. Doing a search on the archives, there is no band with the name Endless Skies, and the only album named Endless Skies is from a stoner band named Mangrove, which I'm assuming isn't the right band, considering this is the heavy/power/speed thread. So I need some information. Is Endless Skies the name of the band, album, or both? What is their discography?

Endless Skies is the album title, Ashbury is the band name. I've dubbed it "gentle wizard rock" and I'm not regretting my purchase. Vengeance is the heaviest of the lot for sure, and I wouldn't mind if there were 2 or 3 more in that vein but what you get instead is very good. Madman is so fun to sing along with.

Maybe someone has asked for this yet,but I've spent some time reading this thread and I haven't find anything so this is my request:I love Blind Guardian's "Somewhere Far Beyond" and "Imaginations from the Other Side" and I've been looking for bands that sound similar to theese albums for a long time but the only similar thing that I've found is Thomen Stauch's new band (Savage Circus),can anyone recommend me more bands that sound similar to those albums?

Already know and love that Sacriphyx album, and while I do hear a few similarities, I think it's more in line with stuff like Rotting Christ and Varathron. Also, not a big fan of The Crown, not quite what I'm looking for.

---

I know and enjoy Mefisto, though it's still not what I'm looking for. I need to dig out my CD of theirs though, haven't listened to them in some time!

Exactly. He's clearly trying to sound aloof and aristocratic and hypnotic, especially on tracks like "To Sleep, Perchance to Scream" for the Dracula effect.

I want to give Doro a listen, but I've never listened to them. I have only heard a couple songs so I don't know which album to try. I don't have high hopes as it's not really my style. I just feel like they are big enough to at least listen to one full album. I'd like an album with most focus on the instrumentation, and not just catchy choruses. I have an impression that they are the opposite, with focus on choruses, imagery, "look I'm a female and I'm so metal", etc. This is not something I'm after. I would rather have some great riffs and a solo than hearing the same chorus sung with backing vocals 5 times in a row.

I personally love Warlock's album but I don't like too much the ones from Doro,so I would recommed you one of the first ones.In my opinion all of the Warlock albums are okay,but if you're looking for albums in concrete "Triumph and Agony" or "Hellbound" are probably the most famous.If you're looking specifically for albums of the Doro period try the early ones.

Yeah, I was going to suggest Warlock's Hellbound. Haven't heard any of the stuff after she went solo. Seems silly retroactively dismiss a heavy metal legend with a killer voice just because some people buy records based on tits.

Your request was phrased in a very douchey and dismissive way.

Edit: To be honest I'm not sure I'd even bother. Warlock/Doro got well known making big, simple songs with killer hooks and decent riffs. It's party metal, basically. Maybe with a bit more muscle than something like Screaming for Vengeance, but if you're looking for complex riffs and dynamic song-craft you already know it's the wrong tree you're barking up.

So there's a new Vicious Rumors coming out soon. Anyone heard anything off it? I liked their last one pretty well, and Warball is actually kick ass. So I'm sure this will at least be solid if nothing else.

Also how good is 90s Virgin Steele? Fucking awesome shit. I know they get worshiped here like nothing else this side of MR, but I always like rediscovering them after a long while. I go through periods where I don't listen to em, but hot damn do they pen some of the most original, kick ass metal out there...romantic, epic keys mixed with pulverizing USPM riffing and out of this world vocals. Just amazing. "Blood and Gasoline" is so killer.

Totally agree with you. I also like how emotive their music gets me. It's a subjective thing, sure....but come on, how can one not get moved by dark numbers such as ''Child of Desolation'', ''Summing The Powers'' or up-lifting-to-the-max material such as ''Blood and Gasoline'', ''Crown of Glory'', ''Victory is Mine'', Veni, Vidi Vici'', ect? They better hurry up re-releasing The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part 1 now so I can buy it.

What did Tad Morose sound like before they hired Urban Breed by the way? I rarely see people mentioning the band's earlier stuff so I'm curious.