I'll say it again

I find euro power metal sooooo boring. For the most part. Every now and then something will grab me.

I am not rippin' on anyone else's personal tastes, but can someone please explain it to me? Vanden Plas sounds like EdGuy sounds like Iron Savior sounds like blah blah blah. Seriously. Cannot ALL euro power metal be put into two boxes: Savatage and Helloween?

Vanden Plas are closer to Dream Theater...maybe a tad more Euro/Symphonic these days...

EdGuy is the comical, German Metal/Power Metal thing...

Iron Savior are like a more Power Metal version of Judas Priest...usually darker and more serious than your average Euro Power Metal...

I think all 3 sounds pretty different to each other, honestly.

The vast majority of Euro power metal is HORRIBLE.

Utterly riffless and closer to Journey than Black Sabbath, but doing neither well.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

I find euro power metal sooooo boring.  For the most part.  Every now and then something will grab me.

I am not rippin' on anyone else's personal tastes, but can someone please explain it to me?  Vanden Plas sounds like EdGuy sounds like Iron Savior sounds like blah blah blah.  Seriously.  Cannot ALL euro power metal be put into two boxes:  Savatage and Helloween?

When I'm suiting up in my armor and mounting my steed, preparing to storm the castle, I need the appropriate theme music. I like to charge into battle with my banner held high, brandishing my mighty sword to vanquish my enemies with power & might. What else would I listen to? 'Walkin' on Sunshine'?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

I find euro power metal sooooo boring.  For the most part.  Every now and then something will grab me.

I am not rippin' on anyone else's personal tastes, but can someone please explain it to me?  Vanden Plas sounds like EdGuy sounds like Iron Savior sounds like blah blah blah.  Seriously.  Cannot ALL euro power metal be put into two boxes:  Savatage and Helloween?

When I'm suiting up in my armor and mounting my steed, preparing to storm the castle, I need the appropriate theme music. I like to charge into battle with my banner held high, brandishing my mighty sword to vanquish my enemies with power & might. What else would I listen to? 'Walkin' on Sunshine'?

USPM

Manowar, Cauldron Born, Warlord. and tons of other great bands.  Edguy doesn't do it.

I liked EdGuy better when they thought they were Helloween Jr. and weren't trying to be a goofy melodic rock band.

Overall I liked a lot of the Euro power metal bands when they first started out in the late 90s (i.e. HammerFall, Iron Savior, Primal Fear, yadda yadda yadda) but each of them started getting stale after only an album or two.

Helloween, Gamma Ray and Metal Church are the only power metal bands I can really stomach

So it's Europe (well Kai really!) 2 - 1 U.S.A   

Boris2008 wrote:

Helloween, Gamma Ray and Metal Church are the only power metal bands I can really stomach

So it's Europe (well Kai really!) 2 - 1 U.S.A   

I still like Helloween and Gamma Ray but I'm several albums behind on both of those bands  

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Vanden Plas are closer to Dream Theater...maybe a tad more Euro/Symphonic these days...

EdGuy is the comical, German Metal/Power Metal thing...

Iron Savior are like a more Power Metal version of Judas Priest...usually darker and more serious than your average Euro Power Metal...

I think all 3 sounds pretty different to each other, honestly.

I have to agree with Shawn on his breakdown of those bands.

IMHO, I think Vanden Plas has nothing to do with what most consider euro power metal.



Not trying to gang up on you UNCLE SAXON  

assault_attack wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Vanden Plas are closer to Dream Theater...maybe a tad more Euro/Symphonic these days...

EdGuy is the comical, German Metal/Power Metal thing...

Iron Savior are like a more Power Metal version of Judas Priest...usually darker and more serious than your average Euro Power Metal...

I think all 3 sounds pretty different to each other, honestly.

I have to agree with Shawn on his breakdown of those bands.

IMHO, I think Vanden Plas has nothing to do with what most consider euro power metal.



Not trying to gang up on you UNCLE SAXON  

Indeed. Early Edguy might be considered annoying flower metal, but even then they've morphed into something different and more enjoayble.
USPM's better though.

I like the more traditional side of Power Metal. Dream Evil, Hammerfall, Bloodbound, Firewind, Brainstorm, Excalion, Primal Fear, Nocturnal Rites, etc etc.. I love the genre but I really dont like the bands who get too speedy. I like it riff oriented and catchy!



If I was to actually get off my butt and start a band it would be very much musically like this! This is the type of Power Metal I enjoy!

A few European power metal bands that I'd recommend are Scanner, Cloven Hoof (with Russ North), Thundersteel, Attack, Warrant, Iron Angel, Grave Digger (early stuff), Running Wild, and Mania.

CLOVEN HOOF are awesome, but their style is closer to USPM (or classic British metal). Similar to RIOT's "Thundersteel". They have nothing to do with the post 90s Euro-Flower metal scene.

Actually, the first two Europe albums surprisingly sound like a prototype of modern Euro-power metal:

I feel that the "it all sounds the same" argument isn't a particularly good one.

Since every style of music has certain features that need to be present for a band/artist to be classified as belonging to that style it does mean that at a certain basic level all bands playing that style do sound similar, and a casual listener could very well not find them all that different.  And while some bands do sound a lot like each other, there's also going to be a lot of variation within that style. To be fair, that may only be noticeable if you listen to a lot of it, and if you don't like it then you're not going to pick up on it.

So all European power metal sounds the same just like all death metal sounds the same or all thrash sounds the same or all doom sounds the same i.e. it doesn't actually, but you may only discover when you delve deeper. Saying that it all sounds the same comes across to me a quick and easy (and possibly uninformed) dismissal of an entire style.  It's perfectly fine not to like a particular style, but dismissing it like that moves away from a simple dislike and more into putting it down.

MetalRob331 wrote:

I like it riff oriented and catchy!

The catchiness is why I prefer European power metal to US power metal.  I find that the European bands tend to be better at writing catchy, memorable songs than the US ones.  That's not to say that every European band does that well and every US band does it poorly, just that in my experience it's the Eurpoean bands who tend to work better for me in that regard.

Hey Painkiller's back!

I haven't heard as much EUPM (?) as the lot of you but what I have heard varies in quality. USPM is much dirtier, catchier, and more complex as a whole, but that's not to say there have been a fair share of EUPM that has done the same, such as Primal Fear and Running Wild (huge fan of that last one, ahoy).

Despite being a fan of the genre, I'd call myself a fan of the genre only when done well.  As a whole I find it to be a genre more based around vocal melodies and hooks rather than being heavy and riff based. I'd almost call it the pop music of the metal world; and in that regard to be successful requires the ability to not only write catchy/interesting songs but to do so on a regular basis. Given that, I find few bands that I can say I feel really do that. Sonata Arctica, Edguy, Edge of Sanity, and Stratovarius are the only ones that come to mind right now; and despite my previous statement that I'm a huge fan of the genre, I've found myself fawning over these bands and very, very few others for the past 4-5 years or so.

It's a style I've always enjoyed. I suppose they can all be considered "samey" but it never bothered me. There are a few bands listed on here that I've never heard but would like to check out eventually.

i like power metal but the genre is horribly over-saturated. Still some good stuff out there but a lot of it is pretty meh.

Other than the bands already mentioned, I enjoy:

Sabaton
Civil War
Skyliner

I love Power Metal. I favor the Euro stuff, but really dig a lot of American Power Metal like Brainstorm or Cage.

Sorry Uncle Sax, if you can't tell the difference between Vanden Plas and Edguy, then there is no way to make you understand.

I love power metal, even clones of clones. If it sounds good to my ears, then that's all that matters. Statements like ToB's used to bug the hell out of me, but I learned to realize that not everyone is going to like what I do, and might even hate it. A part of me still gets annoyed when people trash what I love, but I've learned to live with it. As the popular internet meme says:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

I love Power Metal. I favor the Euro stuff, but really dig a lot of American Power Metal like Brainstorm or Cage.

I need to explore more American power metal. I had a long stint with listening to Cage a few years back but aside from that I don't have any that come to mind.

Meh, people not into it make the same claims about black, death, or just about any other style of music. The differences are always there if you like it enough to listen with an open mind. There are a ton of power metal bands that I still dig.

No shame in not liking a particular style though. If art was for everybody, it wouldn't be art.

Hey Metalguy71,
You stoked me up with those few lines of rowdiness !

Was pretty sure I made it clear that I was not rippin', DB. And everyone here is right. I would think it silly if someone said all thrash sounded alike. So, I can relate.