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Eyrothath · 06-02-2012, 01:59 PM

This is my first post here so I will make it very long and I just want to say why and how Power Metal has become my favorite genre of music..

Like most people my age (25+) who in high school grew up around alternative/hard rock and nu-metal bands, I learned to like that style of specific music and hate on classical music, in which nu-metal had completely dismantled.. I did not like Black Sabbath, Metallica or any of the 80's stuff like Glam Metal, I thought it was all out-dated and cheesy..

It was also a time without youtube and the internet in general.. I did not know what Power Metal was, I did not know ANY of the European artists.. I didn't know who Manowar or Helloween was, they were blacked out by most rock stations..

While surfing through the internet one day however on a old file sharing program called WINMX, by sheer accident I stumbled upon In Flames, which introduced me to the wave of Melodic Death Metal in Sweden, this was in 2001.. I QUICKLY grew out of the Nu-Metal phase, although the people around me were still into it and I went to several Slipknot concerts, however, I saw Soilwork, In Flames and a whole lot of other bands during my High School years..

I had slowly begun to discover Power Metal bands although they were very underground at the time, I discovered Kamelot back in around 2002-03 along with Blind Guardian, Freedom Call and a couple other bands, there were no torrents back then, there was no ordering this stuff off amazon, etc.. It wasn't popular where I lived, nobody toured here (ever) and my local record stores never carried any of their CDs.. In 04-05ish things changed, my record store got bought out and I found power metal CDs left and right, I was finishing up my last years of high school and I was totally into the Power Metal scene by then, I had picked up several Freedom Call albums as well as Kamelot, Nightwish and Blind Guardian by then, I was overloading, downloading music was becoming more and more popular..

I have since gone to several power metal concerts and it has risen to become my favorite genre of music along with folk metal.. I have seen Kamelot, Nightwish, Stratovarius, Edguy, Blind Guardian, Children of Bodom, Alestorm and several other bands..

I also learned to like a lot of the stuff from the 80's such as Savatage and Iron Maiden(the first sing along band), and I like classical music, opera, jazz and orchestras.. I watch Trans-Siberian Orchestra play ever year and when I look back I wonder how I had no respect for such music as a teenager, I had thought I had this rebellious attitude, but really, I didn't.. At all and sure, I am a nerd and in a way, Power Metal is as nerdy as it comes, but it is also as complex as it comes, I like the melodies as much as the hard pounding riffs..

Power Metal simply just isn't a heavy metal cliche, it was a movement that revived metal from the 90's when metal had hit its all time low and it is a important part of the European festival culture... To sum Power Metal up..

Lyrics inspired by Dio
Vocals inspired by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest along with the twin guitarists, double-kick drum set..
Speed metal thrown in and tons of melodies, filmscore, etc..

And when you look back, Jazz has also been a heavy influence on Power Metal along with speed metal..

Check out this 1955 video of Louie Bellson who was a jazz drummer (the first ever to use a double kick drum set) note that not even Sabbath had such a drum set..

If you look up Louie Bellson 1955

He stops and does a drum solo, the blast beats he's using, simply put is the same thing found in Power Metal//Speed Metal of today..

People say metal wouldn't exist without Black Sabbath, however that is wrong, Sabbath created the heavy pounding riffs, I will give them that, but they are not the main influence of today's symphonic/power metal bands..

So simply put, I would say Power Metal is classical music combined with metal, which is why so many bands use medieval//fantasy themes as well like Dio did, it just fits the genre even though it may seem cheesy, it also gives off that classical feel it has.. But hey, as a gamer and roleplayer, I can also relate to it..

06-02-2012, 01:59 PM	#275 (permalink)
Eyrothath Groupie Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 36	This is my first post here so I will make it very long and I just want to say why and how Power Metal has become my favorite genre of music.. Like most people my age (25+) who in high school grew up around alternative/hard rock and nu-metal bands, I learned to like that style of specific music and hate on classical music, in which nu-metal had completely dismantled.. I did not like Black Sabbath, Metallica or any of the 80's stuff like Glam Metal, I thought it was all out-dated and cheesy.. It was also a time without youtube and the internet in general.. I did not know what Power Metal was, I did not know ANY of the European artists.. I didn't know who Manowar or Helloween was, they were blacked out by most rock stations.. While surfing through the internet one day however on a old file sharing program called WINMX, by sheer accident I stumbled upon In Flames, which introduced me to the wave of Melodic Death Metal in Sweden, this was in 2001.. I QUICKLY grew out of the Nu-Metal phase, although the people around me were still into it and I went to several Slipknot concerts, however, I saw Soilwork, In Flames and a whole lot of other bands during my High School years.. I had slowly begun to discover Power Metal bands although they were very underground at the time, I discovered Kamelot back in around 2002-03 along with Blind Guardian, Freedom Call and a couple other bands, there were no torrents back then, there was no ordering this stuff off amazon, etc.. It wasn't popular where I lived, nobody toured here (ever) and my local record stores never carried any of their CDs.. In 04-05ish things changed, my record store got bought out and I found power metal CDs left and right, I was finishing up my last years of high school and I was totally into the Power Metal scene by then, I had picked up several Freedom Call albums as well as Kamelot, Nightwish and Blind Guardian by then, I was overloading, downloading music was becoming more and more popular.. I have since gone to several power metal concerts and it has risen to become my favorite genre of music along with folk metal.. I have seen Kamelot, Nightwish, Stratovarius, Edguy, Blind Guardian, Children of Bodom, Alestorm and several other bands.. I also learned to like a lot of the stuff from the 80's such as Savatage and Iron Maiden(the first sing along band), and I like classical music, opera, jazz and orchestras.. I watch Trans-Siberian Orchestra play ever year and when I look back I wonder how I had no respect for such music as a teenager, I had thought I had this rebellious attitude, but really, I didn't.. At all and sure, I am a nerd and in a way, Power Metal is as nerdy as it comes, but it is also as complex as it comes, I like the melodies as much as the hard pounding riffs.. Power Metal simply just isn't a heavy metal cliche, it was a movement that revived metal from the 90's when metal had hit its all time low and it is a important part of the European festival culture... To sum Power Metal up.. Lyrics inspired by Dio Vocals inspired by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest along with the twin guitarists, double-kick drum set.. Speed metal thrown in and tons of melodies, filmscore, etc.. And when you look back, Jazz has also been a heavy influence on Power Metal along with speed metal.. Check out this 1955 video of Louie Bellson who was a jazz drummer (the first ever to use a double kick drum set) note that not even Sabbath had such a drum set.. If you look up Louie Bellson 1955 He stops and does a drum solo, the blast beats he's using, simply put is the same thing found in Power Metal//Speed Metal of today.. People say metal wouldn't exist without Black Sabbath, however that is wrong, Sabbath created the heavy pounding riffs, I will give them that, but they are not the main influence of today's symphonic/power metal bands.. So simply put, I would say Power Metal is classical music combined with metal, which is why so many bands use medieval//fantasy themes as well like Dio did, it just fits the genre even though it may seem cheesy, it also gives off that classical feel it has.. But hey, as a gamer and roleplayer, I can also relate to it..