Power Metal for a (sort of) beginner

So, I went out and Bought Age of the Joker, along with Mandrake and Hellfire Club by Edguy.

Really liking it, so the question is, what should I pick up next in terms of power metal? I'm into bands with a good bit of speed and vocals dont really matter as long as they aren't completely fluffy.

Think bands in the area of Reinxeed,Sonata Arctica, Divine Fire,Narnia, 7th Avenue and Burning In Hell.

Any suggestions for a fellow metalhead? Also, I would be happy to assist in finding bands of any genre for the rest of you guys if help is needed

metalhead777 wrote:

So, I went out and Bought Age of the Joker, along with Mandrake and Hellfire Club by Edguy.

Really liking it, so the question is, what should I pick up next in terms of power metal? I'm into bands with a good bit of speed and vocals dont really matter as long as they aren't completely fluffy.

Think bands in the area of Reinxeed,Sonata Arctica, Divine Fire,Narnia, 7th Avenue and Burning In Hell.

Any suggestions for a fellow metalhead? Also, I would be happy to assist in finding bands of any genre for the rest of you guys if help is needed

Dream Evil - Dragonslayer
At Vance - More Than Human
Astral Doors - New Revelation

Those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

More speed metal I suppose but...

Blind guardian-follow the blind
Blind guardian-batallions of fear

Wow I'm surprised you got some recommendations most here are burnt out on power metal. I still love some every now and then.

Wargod

Helloween
Cage
Dream Evil
Gamma Ray

Since you got those Edguy albums you need to definetly get the album that really started it all for them, "Vain Glory Opera".

St. Deamon - Pandeamonium
Stormwind - Resurrection

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Helloween
Cage
Dream Evil
Gamma Ray

Since you got those Edguy albums you need to definetly get the album that really started it all for them, "Vain Glory Opera".

Yeahhh..definately both Keepers discs and walls of jericho for sure.

Some of my personal favourites are:

Dionysus - Fairytales and Reality
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2
Primal Fear - Black Sun
Secret Sphere - Heart & Anger
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Vision Divine - Stream of Conciousness

Maybe check out the usual suspects like Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius etc.

You could also check out the chart feature of http://rateyourmusic.com/ where you can get a list of the top rated albums of all time, for each decade and each year and also some reviews.

Iron Savior
Demons & Wizards

Some excellent suggestions here!

The entire Gamma Ray discography, but especially Land of the Free.

The Greatest Power Metal Album ever, Helloween's "Keeper of the seven keys part 2"

For more aggressive power metal, check out Mystic Prophecy. R.D. Liapakis has a great, unique voice and the band keeps it real heavy.

I just completed buying their back catalogue (plus a preorder for the upcoming new album), but my favourite is still Savage Souls. A good starting place, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWsw9a3hxP4

No one has mentioned HammerFall yet! You can't go wrong with any of their albums, but most fans seem to enjoy their first two best.

Lari wrote:

For more aggressive power metal, check out Mystic Prophecy. R.D. Liapakis has a great, unique voice and the band keeps it real heavy.

R.D. Liapakis is a great guy too. I was doing a school project on Metal in Germany, so I emailed him and he did a mini-interview with me by email

Gamma Ray
Angel Dust
--Both are both awesome.

tohostudios wrote:

Astral Doors - New Revelation

.

This!

Primal Fear - "Nuclear Fire" and "Jaws of Death"
Benedictum - Dominion
Dram Evil - All of them
Charred Walls of the Damned - Cold Winds on Timeless Days
Helloween - "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2" and "The Dark Ride"
Helstar - ALL of them

I'm a huge Helloween fan and I love every single album, yes even Chameleon. Every time Helloween is mentioned everyone says get the Keepers albums. What is honestly so great about those albums that no one likes about the newer ones? Don't get me wrong they are my favorite band, but I think their albums get better and better. Yes they fell off a little with Bubbles and Chameleon but that was a hard time for any metal band to be around doing this type of music. All I'm saying is with 15 albums and people still go back to those Keepers albums doesn't make sense.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Every time Helloween is mentioned everyone says get the Keepers albums. What is honestly so great about those albums that no one likes about the newer ones?

I hear ya PRD, Helloween has done lots more quality shiz beyond the Keeper saga... (with the exception of Chameleon, ehehehehehehe)

Even more puzzling is that "Keeper Part 2" seems to get more fanboy love than Part 1, even though Part 1 is clearly the superior of the two.

Heavenly - Dust to Dust
Guardians of Time - Machines of Mental Design
Legend Maker - The Path to Glory

Quote :

Legend Maker - The Path to Glory

That reminds me, has anyone mentioned Onward's EVERMOVING and REAWAKEN yet? If not, now I have.

The last three Tad Morose discs (UNDEAD, MATTERS OF THE DARK and MODUS VIVENDI) are pretty bad ass too.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

I'm a huge Helloween fan and I love every single album, yes even Chameleon. Every time Helloween is mentioned everyone says get the Keepers albums. What is honestly so great about those albums that no one likes about the newer ones? Don't get me wrong they are my favorite band, but I think their albums get better and better. Yes they fell off a little with Bubbles and Chameleon but that was a hard time for any metal band to be around doing this type of music. All I'm saying is with 15 albums and people still go back to those Keepers albums doesn't make sense.

Yeah, from Deris-era especially Better than Raw, "Rabbit" and "Gambling" are awesome.

And generally from non-Kiske Helloween albums, Walls of Jericho, of course.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Even more puzzling is that "Keeper Part 2" seems to get more fanboy love than Part 1, even though Part 1 is clearly the superior of the two.

Meh. I wouldn't say there's a "clear" difference in quality, but I do prefer Keepers 2.

Quote :

Meh. I wouldn't say there's a "clear" difference in quality, but I do prefer Keepers 2.

I dunno, I always preferred "1'." The big "epic" closer of "2" ("Keeper of the Seven Keys") pales in comparison to the similar "Halloween" on the first disc, and "2' has a couple of goofy songs on it that drag it down further, i.e. "Dr. Stein" (I can't stand the chorus in that song!) and "Rise and Fall" (which is one of the most irritating songs in the Helloween catalog, bar none!)

But as Dennis Miller sez "Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong..."

I also prefer 2 over, but both are good.

On a funny side note, I remember years ago seeing Deliverance (just before Weapons came out) and they where playing this awesome CD. I had gone with a bunch of people and two of us looked at each other and said "is that new Helloween?"..... Nope, it's Recon - Behind Enemy Lines prior to release. George Ocha was with Deliverance at this point and was playing a pre-released Recon