Best "modern" power metal bands

What are your favourites ? by "modern" power metal I mean PM produced starting 1996 or so when Power Metal started to rise again in Europe , Japan and South America ( and here in Brasil of course ) while in America "tha" thing was the rise of the Nu Metal CRAP.

There are many bands I like and some I dislike. I tend to like more bands that don´t overproduce their music with choruses and also don´t sound like too "feminine" so ...

-Stratovarius
-Hammerfall
-Angel Dust
-Iron Savior
-Edguy
-Primal Fear

These and others are fantastic bands. IMO Power Metal is the purest form of Metal that exists. that´s because it had no influence of punk hardcore. only hard rock , heavy metal and classic music which are the true roots of metal.

By stating that I´m not saying I don´t like Thrash , Crossover and stuff like that but Thrash Metal for example brought the speed and the more "humble" atitude from punk HC. But I think that in terms of melody, Thrash sounds NOTHING like Punk HC ( because if it sounded I would like HC but I just can´t swallow it , except for Crossover bands )

While I generally don't follow this genre anymore, one band I do still follow is Sabaton.  I think they have a sound which stands out from the rest of the European PM crowd (it's the vocals IMO)



BTW, the other cool thing about Sabaton is most of their songs are about historic wars and battles; no dragons here.

Above mentioned Sabaton are incredible. This is a hard subject for me to narrow down. Here's my condensed list...

My favorites:

Blind Guardian

Falconer

Timeless Miracle

Wuthering Heights

Tyr

Dark Moor

Sacred Steel

Elvenking

Jag Panzer

Masterplan

Nocturnal Rites

Nostradameus

Powerwolf

Rob Rock

Sonata Arctica

Soulspell (Brazilian Metal Opera a la Avantasia)

Avantasia

Cage

Kiuas

Well since Dragonforce it seems like this style have waned in popularity. I like NOT Over Produced Power Metal. I CANNOT stand bands like Rhapsody of fire.

I've recently given up on trying to like Sabaton; they just don't click for me even though I really thought they would. Anyway, if we're talking the EU theater there's only a handful that I care for, and even then it's spotty with my enjoyment, such as Hammerfall who has a few good albums. If we're talking US, Iced Earth is one of my all-time favorite contemporary PM bands, hands down.

Another one I'd recommend is Dark At Dawn. And again I think the vocals are what set them apart for me.

This is a tough one to choose. It's a style I really enjoy and I have many fave bands in it. Moat of those listed are pretty good.

Mystic Prophecy is the band for me.

I do agree with melodic power metal being the closest to the origins of metal (like Led Zep, Rainbow), while still combining a modern sound to it.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Rob Rock

Yes!

tohostudios wrote:

While I generally don't follow this genre anymore, one band I do still follow is Sabaton.  I think they have a sound which stands out from the rest of the European PM crowd (it's the vocals IMO)



BTW, the other cool thing about Sabaton is most of their songs are about historic wars and battles; no dragons here.

Well that seems to always be the main argument, "LOL I normally don't like power metal but Sabaton are good, they don't have those high-pitched clean vocals". The same goes for Iced Earth, even though they have a better claim to being the best power metal band around (which they are not). I find Sabaton's vocalist a bit annoying and will personally take random Tate/Kiske/Kotipelto clone over him any day.

The greatest power metal band that debuted in the last 20 years IMO:


Also dig these guys, nice Blind Guardian worship:


And an earlier band some of the ex-band members were/are in:


Also, Blind Guardian debuted back in '88 and Stratovarius in '89, so I don't think they should be mentioned here.

Yeah, Savage Circus is total BG worship but I dig 'em anyway. 

I used to like Iron Savior too but they "Hammerfalled" on me (meaning they got boring because every album sounded the same to me).

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah, Savage Circus is total BG worship but I dig 'em anyway. 

Like that would be a reason for not liking them.

It is for some people.

But I don't buy into that philosophy.  I like AC/DC so if a band sounds just like AC/DC I will dig 'em. Same thing applies to Savage Circus vis a vis Blind Guardian.

I never understood why someone would hate a band that sounds like a band they like. Provided they make good music, of course.

Totally agree.

I like some of it.Mostly the straight forward stuff like Nightmare,Bloodbound,Edguy,Mystic Prophecy,etc.

Sabaton, Powerwolf, Astral Doors, Lost Horizon. Some others here and ther in the EU secene.
Onward, Pharaoh, Sacred Oath, Jacobs Dream for the US.

No love for Theocracy?

TheGreatDuck wrote:

I never understood why someone would hate a band that sounds like a band they like. Provided they make good music, of course.

DITTO !!!

I have a few favourites which I tend to throw into conversations about power metal.







And just to be patriotic, here's a South African band.

To me, CAULDRON BORN is the best. And ONWARD is incredible too. There are some other good ones but none approaching the overall quality of those two bands.

Dragon Guardian is my favorite out of those that haven't really been listed yet. Not very known, but very catchy stuff.

I've really dug what I've heard of Dragon Guardian, but I can't seem to find their stuff on anything but crap MP3 services (Amazon and eMusic have a few of their albums each). Any idea where I could actually get FLAC or CDs of their stuff?

Runicen wrote:

I've really dug what I've heard of Dragon Guardian, but I can't seem to find their stuff on anything but crap MP3 services (Amazon and eMusic have a few of their albums each).  Any idea where I could actually get FLAC or CDs of their stuff?

If you want a CD, it seems you're sadly stuck importing from Japan.

I would say punk rock is very much part of the essence of heavy metal.

But to answer the question: Hammerfall.