Maajo

I don't think St. Anger is Metallica's worst album.

MicShazam

Is that stuff like blackened thrash, death thrash and such? Or is it nearly-not-thrash-anymore alternative rock like the Megadeth song The Disintegrators. I like the latter, but there's not a lot of it.



Maybe you're right. It just seems like the one genre every metalhead can agree is good.

I like the fat sound of the guitars a lot. But the drummer is honestly ruining the groove too often, by playing double bass over segments where it doesn't match the mid tempo guitar rhythms. He's cutting the groove up in little pieces more than he's letting it flow.

Trollheart

I have to agree. I try to find something different every time I listen to a power metal album, but I inevitably fail. It's enjoyable stuff, but you have to be able to accept that nobody's breaking any new ground, experimenting or pushing boundaries, and probably never will. Power Metal is comfortable in its niche, and you're either comfortable with that or you're not.
When I read this I thought you were going to say something like "I put three imaginary boys in a blender"!!
Yeah, those that know nothing about metal assume it's all the same. I mean, compare black metal to power metal, or avant-garde to thrash. There's just so much diversity in there, it's silly to lump it all together. And don't forget ABM, which is completely different. And folk metal. And pagan metal. And....

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

MicShazam

Metal, overall, is definitely a hugely varied umbrella of styles and sounds. It's obvious enough on the surface, but opens up even more when you explore deeper.

I'm not sure if I agree with power metal being all the same or not. There's too many bands where I'm not sure what box to sort them in.

Trollheart

I've of course not heard all PM bands, nor even all the major ones, but the ones I have heard do unfortunately tend to sound quite interchangeable. I guess a good test would be to take a bunch of them - Stratovarius, Helloween, Rhapsody of Fire, whatever you're having yourself - and make a playlist, and then see if you can identify who is who, and see if any are different. Ideally, the thing would be to use songs you're not familiar with. I feel, accents and stuff aside, it would be hard to tell them apart.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

MicShazam

I would probably end up agreeing if I listened to much more power metal, but just out of my own collection, I have Helloween, Pharaoh, Mastercastle and Artizan - and they all sound radically different from each other.

MicShazam

Generally, I agree. The reason I have it the other way around with power metal is that I suspect the few such bands I like are highly unusual for the genre and that most of it is pretty conservative. I don't think I should expect to find many more power metal bands that I'd find downright interesting.

Mondo Bungle

you're right, it isn't the second to last Cure album

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The Batlord

Def. Blind Guardian, Virgin Steele, and Iced Earth are the only three I can think of right now who truly have a distinctive sound. The bigger ones often have their own sound to an extent, but upper mid-level and below all sound the ****ing same. I honestly don't know if there's a power metal band who didn't start in the 80s who have any real originality. It's easily the most self-indulgent metal genre out there, along with prog metal, and those genres can be kissing cousins a lot of times.

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MicShazam

I would say Pharaoh has a distinctive and original sound, and their debut is from the late 90's or early 2000's. It's the only such example I can think of though. Seems very few people care about Pharaoh. Their music wasn't even on Spotify last I checked. I think they're tragically underrated.