This Harbringer from Michigan is some great stuff. Their album 'Doom on you' is a definite keeper. Speedy nwobhm influenced metal with plenty of hooks, and a great vocalist. Reminds me of some nwothm bands around but with a tad more going on in the skill department here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iuotBtIO8&feature=related

dude,MK are one class act as far as the genre can be these days. I got turned on to Tirelli from old Jack Starr shit and trust me those are great releases,though you know that already,Im sure.

"Dragonheart" is flawless!

Any good retro traditional metal come out yet this year similar to Enforcer, Evil Survives, etc?

Steelwing's Zone of Alienation is pretty awesome when it comes to that.

I've been trying to find that. Lord of the Wasteland was pretty cool, though not among my favorites.

Speaking of Doomsword, their original vocalist is in Battleroar nowadays. I'm kind of curious as to how their next album will be with that in mind.

I've seen no reviews or mentions of Epysode's Obsessions. I truly wonder why, I thought it was a pretty damn awesome progressive Power Metal concept albums boasting a bunch of really powerful vocalists. You could do worst than to check it out.

Good recommendation, these guys pretty much are old Sabbath plus Danzig, though with less exceptional vocals. Quite enjoyable, I think I'll have to snag their album.

For my part, two bands I discovered Recently are Frost Commander and Attic. Both have just recently released debut EP's.

Frost Commander play sort of frantic, somewhat sloppy power/speed metal reminiscent of early German speed metal like Blind Guardian's first two albums, really enjoyable stuff. Still a little rough around the edges, but they're definitely promising. Listen!

Attic plays what's best described as King Diamond meets NWOBHM, with falsetto vocals and dual-leads, quite distinct from the Swedish Mercyful Fate influenced bands. These guys rock pretty fucking hard too.

Also the new track from 3 Inches of Blood's upcoming album sounds pretty rad, just sayin'. It might be cool to hate them, but whatever, I liked the last album and this one sounds cool too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avC_ao1tuFw

listening to the new Angel Witch, some cool guitarwork in the first track.

It's cool to hate them because they suck.

Nah. I mean, not all their albums are good, but the ones that are good are solid and enjoyable.

I really really like the name Frost Commander for a power/speed band. Which is fucked up because if it was a black metal band I would think its fucking lame and cliche. I haven't checked them out yet but I'm definitely going to. I dig the first two Blind Guardian albums quite a bit.

Different contexts, I guess. For a black metal band, "Frost Commander" makes me think of cheesy melodic keyboardy Dimmu Borgir-meets-later-Immortal stuff. For power metal, it either makes me think flowery stuff or more muscular Euro metal in the vein of Wolf (Swe) and Wizard. The latter of course is much closer to the mark.

haha, they're from my town, I've seen them 3 times I think. Way above all the bands in 'local' scene (which mostly consists of very mediocre thrash bands). They don't have a vocalist right now, though. They had the guy from Wild Whips (pretty cool, more traditional band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDJbTPUCds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfu8QiR4dDk) but he left recently.

I've been listening to Stormbringer's "Stealer of Souls" recently, and it's definitely better than I remembered. I guess it's something I have to be in the mood for, but the singer is definitely crazy and I like his tone now, he sounds like Vic Hix or something. The songwriting is definitely the highlight though. The atmosphere of the album is so epic; it's pretty clear everything was carefully though out and put together; it really almost plays like a concept album. At the same time though it manages to have strong elements of BCUSPM and speed metal; it's like the aggression and brutishness of Omen combined with the subtlety and atmosphere of Longings Past. I definitely don't have anything negative to say about the album anymore, except it sucks that they don't have more material! I've heard the full-length isn't very good, although I haven't heard it myself. Anyone care to comment?

Seriously wishing there were more bands like this that played in a subtle, epic style. So much potential here.

Yep, the full length is pretty terrible in comparison. It's not "epic" in the least, they tried to go conventional or something.

Yeah, Stealer of Souls is just really damn good. I love how they'll alternate the emphasis between the rhythm guitar and lead guitar - often, they'll pull back the riffs during the more atmospheric sections and just have the lead guitar in the background doing really cool things to support the vocalist. It works really damn well.

hey guys, new Warlord demo track. really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Nf3ZqcDFc

sounds enjoyable to my ears. seems a bit closer to Lordian Guard, perhaps, but that's not a bad thing to me at all. very interested in the final product of this all.

shame that it sounds all crackly due to youtube or just because it's a rough demo.

Axevyper's new album is pretty similar to Enforcer.

Ah, new Axeviper sounds good. The drumming is definitely more polished this time around. Nice mix bag of an album. They also do a Metalucifer cover on 'Heavy Metal Hell - A Tribute to Metalucifer' which is great tribute album.

Holy hell! Not sure if I ever mentioned this band called Iron Curtain here but they have a new album coming out in a week or so and any fan of speed metal with some Motorhead/Venom worship thrown in will dig this. The one song I can find on YT is a real neck breaker. Have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aUu5AbMTAU&feature=related


Very excited for this.

Nice!

Hello.

I was working on my podcast, assembling the playlist for this week's episode. My podcast mostly features extreme metal and grindcore. I know very little about the subgenres of power and heavy metal aside from the obvious luminaries, and that's a problem for me because extreme metal won't work for this episode. I have two queries:

First of all, on an unrelated note, I discovered that a great deal of the themes, lyrics, and imagery in power metal are actually very dark! I was amazed, rifling through Manilla Road and Agent Steel lyrics, for example, to discover that both bands use occult imagery and even take it a step beyond. Manilla Road became very occult after Crystal Logic, and the Circus Maximus record is openly defiant and heretical. If you knew me, you'd know how pleased I was to discover this! Agent Steel seems to write about the mysteries of the cosmos, aliens, etc., but their classic 'Guilty as Charged' seems to me to be openly mocking the Genesis myth. I was wondering if you all could suggest some more power metal bands that are anti-religious. By 'anti-religious', I mean anything from anti-judeochristian lyrics to lyrics dealing with free thinking, questing for knowledge, etc.

The second question is of more immediate importance to me, as it has to do with the playlist I'm putting together. This episode is comprised entirely of old-school, traditional metal and hard rock, and is intended to be a kind of soundtrack for highway driving. It celebrates what I think is the essence of rock music: the spirit of independence, freedom, rebellion, and the charm of the open road. I'm dedicating the episode to the American Southwest. I had something of a spiritual experience when I first drove through Utah and Colorado, and have since driven through Arizona, and I feel there's nothing quite like it. I've always loved the mountains and marveled at the dessert. For some reason, all that jingoist, 'land of liberty' shit I despise from politicians actually begins to make sense to me on the open road. Flying through the Rockies with the sun rising behind me, I felt a certain sense of freedom that seemed, oddly, uniquely American, and I felt some sort of apolitical patriotism that I can't quite describe. So, this episode will try to make sense of these thoughts. What I feel I need for this project, to put it succinctly, is badass music. Something chugging, galloping, catchy, and that has some relationship to the themes I mentioned. If the lyrics deal specifically with driving down the highway, that's great, but it does not have to relate that directly. Musically, it has to be hard rock or old-school metal, and it has to have some spirit of rebellion about it, and some sense of freedom and recklessness. It has to be catchy, too - choruses you can sing along with after no more than two listens. It does NOT have to be from the United States.

So far, I've used Saxon's 'Stallions of the Highway', Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Gimme Back My Bullets', and Motorhead's 'We Are the Road Crew'. I will be including some Judas Priest, and I think some Manilla Road, as well. Haven't decided which tunes of theirs to use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. In return for successful recommendations, I'll mention your username in the podcast. (I know that's pretty lame, but it's all I CAN offer. hehe. As we all know, this is a labor of love).

Cheers!
DB

So did you just assume power metal was all just fluffy nonsense before this big revelation, or...? I'm not sure you should be talking about it if you know barely anything about it.

Fuck We Are the Road Crew (even though its awesome), the ultimate Motorhead driving song is Iron Horse/Born to Lose. The album version. It's not fast but I feel completely bullet-proof when its playing and I'm driving. You also absolutely have to have a Deep Purple song, although I'd go with Speed King or Fireball over the more obvious Highway Star.

edit Highway Music:

Motorhead - Iron Horse/Born to Lose

Deep Purple - Speed King

Deep Purple - Fireball

Jaguar - Dutch Connection

Accept - Fast as a Shark (the goofy intro might throw people, but if this doesn't make you want to tear up some highway you're dead to me)

Brocas Helm - Drink and Drive (This one is a modern recording but the song is originally from 1989. It sounds properly "old school heavy metal", plus it has a positive message.)

Riot - Run For Your Life

Riot - Swords and Tequila

Riot - Fire Down Under

Put in some Jag Panzer from Ample Destruction too, songs like "Harder than Steel" and "Generally Hostile" exemplify what you are talking about.

No, I did not assume that. Listen to the episode. It'll be out sometime on Thursday. I'm sure you'll find I treated the music with respect.

I simply assumed that most power metal subject matter was more epic in scope, not political or occult.

I'll check these suggestions out in a minute. Thanks!

If you're looking for dark, occult power metal you need to hear Omen's first three albums, immediately.

Other dark power metal classics would be Fates Warning's The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian and Griffin's Flight of the Griffin.

Haha what? No. Omen are not what I'd call 'occult', at all, beyond a scant handful of tracks (Hell's Gates, for example). If you want occult USPM, go for Satan's Host. Doesn't get any more devil-worshipping than that.

Perhaps Black Sabbath's Headless Cross too? It's definitely the darkest out of the Tony Martin era series.

Oh, yeah, Headless Cross is excellent. I kind of think Ian Gillen was the most 'Satanic' of BS frontmen, though. But, Headless Cross is, IMO, better than Born Again. However, 'Disturbing the Priest' is very cool.

The Jag Panzer suggestion was spot-on, thank you!

See, I know all these bands, but when it comes to comprising a playlist consisting of power and heavy metal, I find myself a bit lost. I have done 5 hour-long episodes consisting mostly of extreme music that I've been able to fit easily into the varying themes of the shows, but my appreciation for the other subgenres of metal is not as honed. I just need a little guidance, that's all. Back to the thought that perhaps I should not be basing a show on power metal, it's important to me to make it clear to you fans of power metal a couple things: firstly, the show will NOT be about power metal. It will contain SOME power metal, in service of the themes I mentioned. Second, I may not be a very active poster, but I have been on MA almost every day, usually for hours, since 2003. I look up bands, read reviews, forum posts, and lyrics. Although it is a difficult task to identify 'the best' of any style of music, I think I do quite well with research, and with representing the essential spirit of each style of music I feature on the show. I am not a power metal expert, but I'm also not an expert on ambient music, yet I did an episode dedicated specifically to ambient and trip hop that I think would satisfy diehard fans. My foremost task in doing the show is to find music that fits my pre-determined theme. After that, the second most important task is to find the music that I think would please diehard fans. For example, in extreme metal terms, I don't do my show for Lamb Of God fans. I think it's my duty to treat power metal with the same understanding - to read reviews and comments, and listen to educated suggestions.

Moreover, for all those concerned, help me make it a great show, and you'll be assured that I will not misrepresent your preferred music!

...and stuff like that.

Also, many thanks for the Deep Purple suggestion. 'Highway Star' was brought up so often in conversations in the past couple days that I had given up any hope of adding Deep Purple to the playlist. I already have that Saxon song; I was worried about being too cliched.

I will consider a different Motorhead tune. 'We Are the Road Crew' is just so damned catchy, though.

Lovely. Thanks so much.

I'm hoping you'll be able to work with some of those. That was just flipping through some of the music I keep at work, so I'm sure there's more to be had. You would be my personal hero if you play Drink and Drive on your podcast.

You're already my hero for making my job so much easier.

Awesome, been listening to a lot of Warlord lately so this is good news. I think they need a more powerful vocalist however.

Wow, that Warlord track sounds super lame. Like, really super lame. Folky, boring riffs, weak vocals, crappy overall. No thanks.

Also the new Angel Witch is weak. The teaser track we heard was basically indicative of the album as a whole; not awful, a few genuine good moments, just overlong and bloated.

Fucking hell Where did this band come from?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7cQh9pKgMY

x10

From page 305. But yeah, Elm Street rule pretty hard. The singer sounds like Eric Forrest of Voivod.

Well damn, it looks like I need to go over the last dozen pages or so since I have somewhat neglected this thread for a little while now. But yeah, this band has been kicking my ass all day. Those vocals are great I have to agree, plus I love the added gang shouts sporadically placed on the album. Wish more bands would use them.