Extraordinary modern power metal?

So I spent the late 90s and early 2000s, up to maybe 2004 or so, obsessed with power metal. Basically, once I heard Hammerfall's Glory to the Brave, I could not get enough of it, and tracked down as much as I could.

Eventually, I started to get bored, due largely to oversaturation, but also because a lot of it is just so damned generic. I still spin some of my faves from that time, but have barely bought any new power metal in 8 years or so. I'd try and keep my finger on the pulse a little, and check out bands here or there that were getting a lot of buzz in the power metal community, but more often than not, I still found those bands to be a little redundant.

Last year I did by Symfonia and Powerwolf's most recent album.

So, to those of you who still buy and listen to this subgenre regularly, are there any bands that have popped up in the wake of the succsess of bands like Dragonforce, Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, et al., that you really feel stand head and shoulders above the dozens, if not hundreds, that seem to come out every year?

Sometimes, I just want to throw on a disc, gallop along and get epically fantastical and elven. It's just hard to pick out the good ones, it seems.

A bunch of it is buttholes these days because the new trend is soulless corset-metal, but I did play the last Labyrinth record completely to death and that is completely worth getting.





Check this out too:



We are putting out a full length next year. I'm afraid I can't help you with elven matters, however.

Try:

Saint Daemon
Ride The Sky
Savage Circus

Have you tried Nocturnal Rites or Masterplan?

Maybe it's just me, but while I agree with you on earlier Nocturnal Rites, I think of their last two albums and the 4 Masterplan albums as melodic metal (IOW, not quite enough crunch to make them power).

I'm right there with you Zombie. The moment a friend of mine let me borrow Helloweens Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2 back in middle school (around 1991ish) I was blown away. At the time I listened to just generic stuff like Metallica, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard etc. I couldn't get enough of power metal. It actually wasn't til a few years ago I really started to get bored with it, because like you said a lot of the bands really started to sound the same and no one was really doing nothing new. I still love power metal and if I was to get a band going again I would be playing or adding it into my playing, but I just don't feel the same about it right now. Even bands like Helloween don't sound like they used to and moved away from the more traditional power metal style, which is good.

Bands that I have found along the way are

Allen/Lande
Angra
Athena
Avantasia
Beto Vazquez Infinity
Cain's Offering
Circus Maximus
Crimson Glory
Dark Moor
Dream Evil
Dungeon
Edguy
Elvenking
Evil Masquerade
Fairyland
Firewind
Freedom Call
Gamma Ray
Helloween
Hammerfall
Headstone Epitaph
Heavenly
Heavens Gate
Human Fortress
Insania
Iron Fire
Iron Savior
Kamelot
Kotipelto
Labyrinth
Lord
Luca Turilli
Majestic
Manticora
Masterplan
Metallium
Mob Rules
Nocturnal Rites
Nostradameus
Pagans Mind
Parish
Power quest
Rhapsody

I got a bunch more but I gotta go

Timeless Miracle - Into the Enchanted Chamber

How about Spain's Darksun?:



Features Rage's Peavy Wagner
Both from the album The Dark Side (there is an English and Spanish version-Peavy is only in the English one)

From one of their Spanish albums I got from CD Baby's $5 Sale:




Then we have Serinity:




And while a bit more progressive, check out Australia's Vanishing Point:

yep I could rec a lot more stuff to ya if you were also like... power with some other things thrown in too like some hard rock, thrash, or AOR. Rage, Winterborn, Excalion, Keldian..

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

yep I could rec a lot more stuff to ya if you were also like... power with some other things thrown in too like some hard rock, thrash, or AOR. Rage, Winterborn, Excalion, Keldian..

Keldian rocks!!!

Well these guys arent famous but i love me some underground metal. These guys are from Minnesota in the USA, Noble Beast. Released a 4 track demo a little over a year ago and are currently finishing up on their debut album. I love em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qhSkfradQo

exact33 wrote:

Timeless Miracle - Into the Enchanted Chamber

that's a great album, although it's a little hard to find.

Here are some more bands who haven't been mentioned yet, but may be worth investigating.

Kiuas:


Slain:


Instanzia:


Wisdom:

metalhead, prepare yourself..for more steele

Yeah, he asked for bands that stuck out... I hear more copies and followers in this thread.

I am the same as ZombieHavok, I followed the rise and fall of the genre, as it were. Now I am totally burned out on it, save for the classic stuff, and couldn't even tell you the last time I heard a really good Euro-metal album.

Perhaps Theocracy.

I don't mind copies and followers as long as the music is good and memorable. For instance, Serenity is a follwer of Kamelot but with vocals that sound like Sonata Arctica. Present Kamelot album exlcluded (I haven't heard it yet), the last two Serenity albums are infinitely more memorable than most of what Kamelot has released (Poetry... was an improvement over Ghost Opera but apart from 2-3 songs it still doesn't hold up as well as older material).

Most of the innovators of modern power metal have stagnated over the years. Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Kamelot, and others have not released stellar albums in quite some time. Yeah, the followers are not origional and innovative but they're fresher. That doesn't mean all followers and copies are good as the bad and mediocre bands far outweigh the good.

My favorite power metal stuff in the last decade is CAULDRON BORN (who have a new EP coming out soon), WARLORD, and FAITH FACTOR.

I hear that TALISPHERE are coming out with an album before long. I'm sure it will rule.

"Glory to the Brave" was a great album (sans the ballads). They never came close to that quality again.

NOCTURNAL RITES - "Afterlife" is a great disc if you haven't heard it.

Temple of Blood wrote:

My favorite power metal stuff in the last decade is CAULDRON BORN (who have a new EP coming out soon), WARLORD, and FAITH FACTOR.

I hear that TALISPHERE are coming out with an album before long. I'm sure it will rule.

"Glory to the Brave" was a great album (sans the ballads). They never came close to that quality again.

NOCTURNAL RITES - "Afterlife" is a great disc if you haven't heard it.

This Talisphere?


Sabaton and Powerwolf are the only ones I listen to.

Check out Paragon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragon_%28band%29

German speed/power metal in the vein of Grave Digger and Accept. They just put out a new album called "Force of Destruction" and it's a total ripper.

Just posting an assortment.

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

This Talisphere?

You got it.

I'm not sure if you are looking for something more recent, but I'm surprised Lost Horizon hasn't been managed in this thread. They are absolutely one of the most brillant bands ever and both albums are quite similar and yet completely unique. The first album is much more rhythmically intense, while the second one is more melodic.





Sadly their output is quite limited, so I'm not sure I'll ever prefer them to bands like HammerFall, Gamma Ray, Edguy, etc., but their two albums are two of my favourites ever. Also, Daniel Heiman is (IMO) the most talented singer in all of metal. I've never heard a singer hit some of the notes he does on "Highlander (The One)"

metalhead777 wrote:

Just posting an assortment.

I almost sprayed coffee all over my monitor screen

Check out Absolva & Steel Engraved!

Metalwargod

Spiner202 wrote:

I'm not sure if you are looking for something more recent, but I'm surprised Lost Horizon hasn't been mentioned in this thread.

Sadly their output is quite limited, so I'm not sure I'll ever prefer them to bands like HammerFall, Gamma Ray, Edguy, etc., but their two albums are two of my favourites ever. Also, Daniel Heiman is (IMO) the most talented singer in all of metal. I've never heard a singer hit some of the notes he does on "Highlander (The One)"

Holy crap, that was awesome! I'm definitely going to have to check these guy out further.

I know it's more melodic metal than power metal, but just for what it's worth I'm really very much enjoying Axel Rudi Pell's Circle of the Oath. I know, I know (yawn)- I didn't expect much of it either but the fact is that it's by far the best album I've heard from him, maybe a bit heavier than usual and not very many songs that they just mail in on formula like they have sometimes done. I like it a lot, a nice surprise!