10-18-2014, 04:48 PM
|
#78 (permalink)
|
|
Certified H00d Classic
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Bernie Sanders's yacht
Posts: 6,129
|
^ Have I ever led you astray? You should have faith in my recommendations at this point amigo. 
Anyway, time for some moar metulz-
Quote:
|
5. HammerFall - Fury Of The Wild (from 2005's Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken)
One of the earliest power metal songs I was exposed to as a youngster, and even all these years later it doesn't fail to get my blood pumping. Its a key track on HammerFall's best album, so I suppose there's that too. There's nothing mindbendingly original about the chord progression or anything, but the chorus + riff will definitely get stuck in your head like delicious peanut butter.
|
Quote:
|
4. Balance Of Power - Day Breaker (from 1999's Ten More Tales Of Grand Illusion)
Balance Of Power are one of those relatively obscure bands from the 90's who didn't fit too cleanly under one umbrella: were they neo-classical, power metal, or a more European sounding Queensryche? A bit of all three it turns out, and 'Day Breaker' exemplifies everything they do so well: Lance King's huge vocals, that killer riff and a drummer who is going so fast you think he's gonna snap his wrists off before they even get to the chorus.
|
Quote:
|
3. Crimson Glory - Red Sharks (from 1988's Transcendence)
An interesting, thrashier take on the early power metal sound. Crimson Glory are considered alongside Helloween and a few others as the biggest influencers on the direction power metal would take into the 90's and beyond (I've reviewed their discography previously), and this song has a tasty discordant undertone that complements Midnight's distinctive shrieks. Fun, but heavy.
|
Quote:
|
2. Helloween - I Want Out (from 1988's Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. II)
Who wouldn't include this song and band? Essential listening for the initiated and uninitiated alike. It was either this or some early Blind Guardian, so I flipped a coin. 
|
Quote:
|
1. Pagan's Mind - Supremacy, Our Kind (from 2005's Enigmatic: Calling)
Easy #1 for me, as these fellas are also arguably the best band working in power metal since the early 2000's, and definitely in the top five groups ever in the genre by this point. They peaked in the '05 through '07 with this and their next album God's Equation, but these guys have always been a little bit special. Their songs often surprise you with hooks and progressions that are catchy yet somehow endlessly inventive, lead guitarist Jørn Viggo Lofstad is some kind of superhuman, and vocalist Nils K. Rue is so good you want to see some of these intergalactic yarns in graphic novel form to accompany the music.
|
Last edited by Anteater; 10-18-2014 at 10:02 PM.
|
|
|