Power metal artists who recorded a lot

Many discussions on 'the best power metal band' often involve a few artists who haven't recorded more than an album or two. Some of these artists, I find, are not particularly interesting, although there are a few gems here and there. An example would be Conception, who are regarded as a forerunner of European power metal and progressive metal, but have recorded just four albums- their singer recorded seven with Kamelot. Likewise Crimson Glory, a highly influential band, who have recorded just four albums. There seems more variety and depth in a band that's recorded a lot, although the scope for some filler also exists each time. A whole lot of European power metal bands, founded in the 1990s, don't have too many recordings.

Which much-recorded bands do you recommend of each (USPM/EUPM) style? I've got a strong preference for those bands which don't have high-pitched vocals (Iced Earth, Falconer, Sabaton, Tarot, Iron Savior), as also bands that enjoy stuffing in long songs in albums (Manilla Road, Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Angra, the original Fates Warning to name a few), bands with the classic rock/80s pop influence (Tarot) and sometimes show progressive tendencies (Helstar, the original Fates Warning). Throw in the option of a Geoff Tate clone and it gets interesting. One of my favourite metal albums of any style is The Spectre Within by the original Fates Warning. One artist I know little to nothing about is Riot from the US, who have recorded for over 30 years.

Try out Grave Digger and Running Wild, you will dig both I think because they tick a lot of the elements you listed in your post.

Riot are amazing, and one of my all time favorites. I recommend them strongly.

I also recommend Metal Church and Vicious Rumors.

From the European bands, i would recomend Running Wild, Grave Digger, Rage and especially Pretty Maids(although i don't know if you guys consider those bands "power metal").

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Try out Grave Digger and Running Wild, you will dig both I think because they tick a lot of the elements you listed in your post.

Caution: Running Wild CDs are highly expensive with many going for $50-100 on Amazon. However, Black Hand Inn is awesome and one of the more affordable RW albums.

Iron Savior, Primal Fear.........Sinner at times.

Wargod

dark avenger wrote:

I also recommend Metal Church and Vicious Rumors.

This guy knows what he's talking about.
I love Vicious Rumors!

17 studio albums. German, but not your generic European power metal.

I'd say Black in Mind is my favourite album, but they are incredibly consistent. Perfect Man, Trapped!, XIII, Soundchaser and Strings to a Web are all fantastic, too. I don't even have all their CDs, but I like all of the 11 I do own.

Lari wrote:

17 studio albums. German, but not your generic European power metal.

I'd say Black in Mind is my favourite album, but they are incredibly consistent. Perfect Man, Trapped!, XIII, Soundchaser and Strings to a Web are all fantastic, too. I don't even have all their CDs, but I like all of the 11 I do own.

Was gonna make the same suggestion.

Also GRAVE DIGGER and though some might call them speed metal, RUNNING WILD!

DallasBlack wrote:

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Try out Grave Digger and Running Wild, you will dig both I think because they tick a lot of the elements you listed in your post.

Caution: Running Wild CDs are highly expensive with many going for $50-100 on Amazon. However, Black Hand Inn is awesome and one of the more affordable RW albums.

I had no idea that Running Wild's albums were that expensive nowadays. I guess with Noise going out of business, most of RW's catalog has gone out of print. I believe Noise sold off the rights of its artists to Sanctuary but as it goes, Sanctuary also went bust so there is little chance we will see RW re-issues any time soon.

I was lucky enough that I managed to find and buy all of Running Wild's albums more or less in one swoop. I found them at a reputable music store in Sydney called JB Hi-Fi. They have a chain of stores but this particular one had just opened and they were stocked up on all sorts of metal goodies. They are still quite good but unfortunately they have always been very pricey. For the Running Wild albums, I paid close to about 30 bucks for each album. However, this was around the time they were going out of print.

In any case, the versions of the RW albums I own are a mix of original pressings and remasters. The original pressings are for the first 4 albums: Gates to Purgatory, Branded and Exiled, Under Jolly Roger and Port Royal. The back-cover of Under Jolly Roger is quite peculiar in that it is a clone of the vinyl version. This is not uncommon for 80s Noise releases. I have other Noise albums released in the 80s that do a similar thing, list the songs in the order they appear on the vinyl versions i.e. Side A and Side B.

As for the remasters I own, they span from Death or Glory through to Masquerade. I don't have any point of comparison but as far as the sound on remasters is generally concerned, the RW albums sound very good to my ears. The main selling point of the remastered versions is the various bonus tracks. Most of the bonus tracks are original songs that appeared as b-sides on singles and EPs released during the respective era of each studio album. However, there are no live tracks, which I think is a good thing from the perspective of bonus tracks. Live songs are better left for live albums.

Regarding the latter part of RW's discography, I own the 'Legendary Tales' box set which consists of The Rivalry, The Brotherhood and Victory. This was the most affordable RW release I found and I bought it, probably about 4 or 5 years ago after I had bought the rest of RW catalog. Each album comes as an individual digipack version with full artwork, booklet and bonus tracks. I primarily bought the box set because, as it goes with RW's albums, I could not find the individual albums, at least not all of them (usually I could find Victory and The Brotherhood but never The Rivalry). This box set was released along side similar box sets for Grave Digger and Rage (the latter featuring some of Rage's weakest albums).

Finally, I purchased Rogues En Vogue around the time it was released however I could not find the digipack version anywhere which has 2 extra tracks. In any case I was happy that the standard version came with The War which is easily the best song (out of all including the bonus tracks) on the album. Rogues is easily found as it is the most recent release but it is also not one I would recommend, at least not as an introduction to the band. I would leave this for last.

I don't know about that, most power metal bands have a wealth of material. In fact I think that's part of the reason power metal was placed on the heavy metal shitlist - hundreds of bands putting out an album every year or 2, all of them somewhat derivative of the one before it.

The titans of power metal have a wealth of material. Stratovarius, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Edguy, Running Wild, Grave Digger, Manowar, Iced Earth, Kamelot all have 8+ studio albums.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

Try out Grave Digger and Running Wild, you will dig both I think because they tick a lot of the elements you listed in your post.

GD and RW rock! Great suggestions!

Your thoughts on Paragon? Speed metal, thrash metal or a German band playing American power metal? Manowar influences are clear, as also German seniors of the speed metal scene. The vocals are the most interesting aspect of the band. They started off as a noisy, forceful thrashy band, but from Dark Legacy, their music got some serious hooks that last long. Nine albums so far.

I'm not sure they would fit under the power metal umbrella, but U.D.O. has recorded a ton of material over the years.

Gotta love Alex and his mini essay replies

I'm familiar with Metal Church. I don't like the Wayne-era albums much, as they're too much like death metal, with that vocal style, songwriting and lyrics. The Mike Howe albums (maybe not so much Human Factor) I like a lot- it's a pity Mike Howe hasn't recorded much, as I prefer this Heretic to the one they called Reverend. Two long songs an album, more melody without losing intensity, and it's good together. The Ronny Munroe albums are not so popular, but I like them too, especially Weight Of The World. I'd love a band that kept recording albums like Weight Of The World and Blessing In Disguise.

Likewise Savatage. I can't get used to the first two albums, often cited as the first death metal albums ever, but from Power Of The Night, it's more fun. They were one of the first bands to use orchestral backing in their music, before the outlandish European bands of later decades. Then the voice- the second voice, that is. Zak Stevens sounds more like a typical grunge vocalist than a heavy metal screecher, but that's what I like about it.

I haven't heard much of Vicious Rumors, and while I've heard some Riot songs, they have a really long catalog that will take a long time to sample. I've tried Helstar earlier, and though I found them too extreme (largely due to Rivera's screeching), I liked A Distant Thunder a lot. Iced Earth is another band that has lasted a long time, and I like both the Barlow and Owens run in the band- not so much Greely and Gene Adam.

Manowar is easy to get into, but gets annoying after a while. Sometimes, within the same album.

An ideal USPM band, for me, would have a decently long album, at least three really long songs (over seven minutes), progressive rock influences, a classic metal sound (not the edgy, creepy one of today with odd guitar tuning and excessive distortion) and singers who sing, not screech. Keyboards (used to make good music, not a creepy symphonic atmosphere) as also a second vocalist are a bonus. Ideal albums are Blessing In Disguise (Metal Church), Burnt Offerings (Iced Earth), Edge Of Thorns (Savatage), Gates Of Fire (Manilla Road- that's a little too extreme, but had to name one- actually any Manilla Road album since their reunion) and Into Glory Ride (Manowar).

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I'm familiar with Metal Church. I don't like the Wayne-era albums much, as they're too much like death metal

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Likewise Savatage. I can't get used to the first two albums, often cited as the first death metal albums everLikewise Savatage. I can't get used to the first two albums, often cited as the first death metal albums ever

This is the first time I've heard either of those bands/albums referred to as "death metal."

Me too.

I think I remember a concert review where Trans-Siberian Orchestra was called death metal.

Maybe try Virgin Steele.Esp from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell till now