It's gotta be Edguy. I mean, when I saw them live, Sammet was super entertaining, grinning all the time and making stupid faces (the whole band, really, but especially Tobias Exxel).

High Spirits - Another night.

I'd personally say Whiplash 'Power and pain', that always puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step, much more than Gamma Ray or anything like that (which I used to love but can't stomach any more).

Dragonforce-Sonic Firestorm.

Also Sunrise - Trust Your Soul. None more flowery.

Nuit Noire - Fantomatic Plenitude

Especially because of the song I am a fairy.

I haven't heard much by the band, but the song Frozen Sky by Conquest is one of the happiest sounding songs I have ever heard. I'm not a fan of the vocals but damn that intro...

That Stratovarius album with the dolphins on it.

That album mostly makes me want to kill myself.

My pick would definitely be Epiclore's "Labyrinth Alpha". Chilling and positive flower metal from Joensuu, Finland: http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Ep ... pha/139674

something from Xasthur

I'm gonna add Insania - Fantasy (A New Dimension) to the list.

Those Cannibal Corpse songs in major sound like death metal versions of Pelican circa City of Echoes.

Really? They actually get kinda emo-y.

You guys. The answer is obviously Fairyland.



WE JOURNEY DEEP INTO THE MAGICAL LANDS OF FANTASY!

Those lulling vocals, pillowy soft guitar tones, major-key synth arpeggios way too high in the mix... plus, the band is called Fairyland, I mean, really.

This Dismember song takes the cake.

Anything by Freedom Call, pretty much. They got rainbows, unicorns, fairies, all that good stuff.

This song, specifically.

probably something by Judas Priest or Iron Maiden.

Dunno about albums, but Rise and Fall by the german H (and both of the 'Keepers' by extention) is the official soundtrack to my happy, cheerful moments. Kiske has (had?) this incredibly happy tone in his voice.

Instantly thought of Freedom Call.
It's funny because it's the band that got me into metal when I was 13.
Still have their albums. Sometimes everyone needs something so fucking happy that it's making you wanna ride a unicorn and fight a dragon, with rainbows in the background.
Their concerts are pretty fun too, I mean, when you're had enough beers.

Luca Turilli's album, "King of the Nordic Twilight" is pretty damn happy. Great album too.

Non-metal band Die Toten Hosen named an intro, an instrumental passage and an outro "Happy Metal parts i-iii" on their live album Bis Zum Bitteren Ende (1986):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM-JT2qbFGc

Happy Metal Part I (00:01-01:18)
Freitag der 13 (01:19-04:45)
Happy Metal Part II (04:46-05:22)
Betrunken im Dienst (05:23-07:36)
Happy Metal Part II (07:37-08:24)

Happy Little Boozer - Korpiklani, obviously.

And a lot of Fintroll songs. Polka Troll Metal all the way !! (though i do admit, thye tend to spoil it occasionally with some dark sounding shit.)

And I second the newer Heavy Devy stuff.

I would say that "Vodka" is even happier, but the winner for me is "Juodaan Viinaa" which is actualy a cover, but it is happy as fuck.

So much happy power metal out there. I'll second all the mentions of Freedom Call, Power Quest, Gamma Ray, Dragonforce, Sunrise and so on so forth. I'll also second High Spirits, a real happy, feel-good record.

Here's some more happy, teeth rotting power metal albums. Beware the cheese:

Heavenly - Sign Of Winner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6e7pIe4Do

Aquaria - Luxaeturna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7tvWWt1-Eo

ReinXeed - Welcome To The Theater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-56KfTBvR0

Golden Resurrection - Glory To My King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBgSK1htv_w

AC/DC always put a big smile on my face, so maybe something by them

Spoil? You mean like Ur Jordens Djup and bits of Nifelvind? I thought that stuff was great; while I enjoy their more light-hearted fare, you can only take any style (happy or not) so far before it starts to get tired. The darker Finntroll songs were a really creative way to explore their core sound under a completely different atmosphere while still maintaining that "dark fairytale" vibe. Nedgang and Slagbroder =

While Sonata Arctica has a lot more depth (especially in recent albums) beyond the typical "happy power metal" sound, they have some really great, energizing anthems like Ain't Your Fairytale and Silver Tongue.

Theocracy - Mirror of Souls.

It's full of falsettos and layered vocals, with lots of synth organs and chugging to top it off.

It's also about loving Jesus.

And it's great.

While I don't know if I would necessarily use the term "happy" I feel that Alcest has a very serene and peaceful aura that comes across as very positive ... other than that, however, my library is pretty much devoid of "happy" music even if a great deal of it brings me happiness and contentment otherwise.

I find a lot his stuff to be incredibly relaxing; not "happy" by any stretch of imagination, but definitely serene.

Torche-HARMONICRAFT

while also joining the lines naming Freedom Call and Power Quest, I will ad these guys:

Unicorn from Italy. Totally uplifting and happy power metal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUuDPE95K0

Together with Freedom Call and Power Quest one of my fave groups of that certain sub-genre...
(I have a big soft spot for some of the bands playing such music probably silly to many here)

There's clearly two sides in this discussion. What's happier, power metal or folk metal? More of a folk guy myself.

They're not the least bit metal at this time but Anthema's We're Here Because We're Here is a very uplifting album, if not an outright happy one. It doesn't bounce off the walls but songs like "Thin Air" and "Everything" seem to have a mix of optimism and contentment about them.

I don't find those last Anathema albums happy or uplifting, but I'll agree that they are not as depressing as some of their earlier albums. Musically I don't find it as cheerful as the power metal material mentioned above.

Anathema have definitely taken a more positive lyrical approach for those last two albums. Whereas "Shroud of False" (1998) began with the sentence "We are just a moment in time", the song "A Simple Mistake" (2008/2010) mentions "we're not just a moment in time".

As for "Energy", the fact that it sounds like the one Coldplay song that I know is enough to make me forever unhappy. I think the lyrics to that song are somewhat too new-agey to my taste.

The "authors" or narrators, Stan Ambrose, Patrick Curry, Maren Svenning and Joe Geraci are from a different register than the authors which we find around and on Cynic albums. But both bands do cite Eckhart Tolle; Anathema in "Presence" (indirectly by Stan Ambrose) and Cynic in "The Space for This".

Cynic have been at this spiritual thing longer than Anathema have. Anathema for sure always had the mourning and death theme (as is expected of doom metal), and when they started dwelving in "Eternity" it was without any references to eastern philosophies or new-age philosophies constructed from them.

Epicloud by Devin Townsend. Devin outright said he was trying to make a really positive, happy album with that one, and the music 100% reflects that. The attitude he's got on it makes certain passages of music that'd sound really pissed off on a more negative toned record sound really happy instead, like that Lamb of God-esq riff that closes More!.



I'll agree with you on Alcest not really being overtly happy, but them being so beautiful sounding could make a listener really happy.

While Epicloud is a very positive album, I wouldn't exacly describe it as a explicitly happy album. For me it has a more comforting "everything is going to be alright/the universe is a beautifull place" kind of feel. Partially because of the lyrical content and partially because of certain accents in certain songs. take the song Save Our Now. It's about happiness. Lot's and lot's of happiness. But to me the song doesn't "feel" that happy to me. It's about how we should strive to be happy, and that ultimately all we want is to be happy. But the world is a tough place, and things will fuck up, and you will feel shitty sometimes, but don't give up.

If this was the "most positive album thread" I would agree with you though.

Eh, probably any album by Skylark, they have some of the happiest albums and lyrics ever, which isn't to say the band is any good (It isn't).

That. is. amazing. There are parts there that sound like pop-punk and then other parts that sound like metal rockabilly. Hahah, oh man...awesome.

I'd love to hear some Bolt Thrower or Skeletonwitch in this same vein.

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVe8yvstUhg

that goddamn flute!