Your First Power Metal album

The label "Power Metal" means different things to different people. I am pretty much referring to the style of Helloween etc. I have never been a big fan, as it seemed to get redundant starting about 20-something years ago. But, I do remember when it started creeping into the scene and was new and fresh. I still hold a few of those dear and bust them out fairly often. Those would be:

Exxplorer - Symphonies of Steel
Helloween - Keeper part 1
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Fates Warning - Night on Brocken
Virgin Steele - Guardians of the Flame

Do you remember your first Power Metal?

Can't remember my first, but my best is Rainbow-Rising.

The genre tends to be bombastic in all the ways that annoy me to the point of insanity, so generally I avoid it like the plague now.

The pre-Helloween stuff like Savatage and Fates Warning I used to listen to. The only Helloween I ever really liked was Walls Of Jericho. At one point I owned the Keepers records, but those albums are almost a textbook example of the elements that annoy me the most.

Aside from a few Savatage albums I haven't owned anything of this style in at least 20 years.

Quote :

Can't remember my first, but my best is Rainbow-Rising

Rainbow is power metal? Seriously? Funny considering Rising came out a almost a decade before the term started getting used.

I would say Rainbow is "Heavy Metal", seriously, groundbreaking groups like that don't require subgenre distinctions.

Helloween-Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2 was my very first and much more would follow. I

I guess I could put Warrior - Fighting for the Earth up there, too.

Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands

To me, those late 80s MAIDEN albums were as power metal as early HELLOWEEN (which is where they got this sound from). But I guess based on the criteria in the OP I would say the early HELLOWEEN stuff. I can't think of anything else significant before the flower metal explosion of the late 90s.

My first was Keepers pt's 1 & 2. I bought them together. My second and third purchase were Master of the Rings and Time of the Oath.

DallasBlack wrote:

Helloween-Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2 was my very first and much more would follow. I

Mine was Helloween's The Time of The Oath (expanded)

EvyMetal wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Helloween-Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2 was my very first and much more would follow. I

Mine was Helloween's The Time of The Oath (expanded)

My favoirte Deris album! (really tied with Better than Raw but I think I like TofO just a tad more)

American power metal:

Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Vicious Rumors - Vicious Rumors

Euro power metal:

oddly, I think it was Lightmare followed shortly by Seventh Avenue

S.D. wrote:

The genre tends to be bombastic in all the ways that annoy me to the point of insanity, so generally I avoid it like the plague now.

The pre-Helloween stuff like Savatage and Fates Warning I used to listen to. The only Helloween I ever really liked was Walls Of Jericho. At one point I owned the Keepers records, but those albums are almost a textbook example of the elements that annoy me the most.

Aside from a few Savatage albums I haven't owned anything of this style in at least 20 years.

Quote :

Can't remember my first, but my best is Rainbow-Rising

Rainbow is power metal? Seriously? Funny considering Rising came out a almost a decade before the term started getting used.

I would say Rainbow is "Heavy Metal", seriously, groundbreaking groups like that don't require subgenre distinctions.

I've seen/heard Rainbow labelled as "power metal" about a thousand different times, so....

Steeltower - Night of the Dog was my first, or one of them anyway. i can't really recall. i've smoked up a lot of weed over the years.

Morrison wrote:

S.D. wrote:

The genre tends to be bombastic in all the ways that annoy me to the point of insanity, so generally I avoid it like the plague now.

The pre-Helloween stuff like Savatage and Fates Warning I used to listen to. The only Helloween I ever really liked was Walls Of Jericho. At one point I owned the Keepers records, but those albums are almost a textbook example of the elements that annoy me the most.

Aside from a few Savatage albums I haven't owned anything of this style in at least 20 years.

Quote :

Can't remember my first, but my best is Rainbow-Rising

Rainbow is power metal? Seriously? Funny considering Rising came out a almost a decade before the term started getting used.

I would say Rainbow is "Heavy Metal", seriously, groundbreaking groups like that don't require subgenre distinctions.

I've seen/heard Rainbow labelled as "power metal" about a thousand different times, so....

Well, they are cetainly a huge influence on the genre.

first Helloween EP, Walls Of Jericho, and the Judas EP in 1986, all in the same purchase.

My first power metal album was Hammerfall's Legacy of Kings. For me this album defines the modern / contemporary sound and style of power metal. Around the same time I also got Manowar's Kings of Metal - another bona fide power metal classic and Iced Earth's Something Wicked Comes This Way.

I guess Manowar's Kings of Metal would be the first one i owned (actually, it would be a helloween live album i got from a bargain bin, but KOM was the first studio album).

[quote="Hadley"]I guess Manowar's Kings of Metal would be the first one i owned (actually, it would be a helloween live album i got from a bargain bin, but i dont really count that as i prefer studio albums to live albums).

Stratovarius - Visions

Virgin Steele - Guardians of the Flame. My dad didn't like it and gave it to me. Very good album, though I love "Age of Consent" a lot more.

Metal Church-The Dark

We called fates warning a "metal" band back in 84' when Brocken came out. I suppose the Queensryche EP could be called "power metal" by the same standard ? So that woud be it in 83.

I guess my first power metal would have been Warrior 'Fighting the Earth' but I do not remember the music being referred to that genre name at that time.

I am still not a huge fan of power metal.

This PM label is confusing. I consider early Warrior and the first Savatage up to Mountain King as American power metal. I think my first euro power metal was Helloween.

My first power metal album would've been: Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica when I was just getting into music a few years ago.