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[DieH@rd]

Power Metal is for you my friend.

Start with Blind Guardian.

Blind Guardian - Into The Storm (Live)
Greatest album opening song in power metal history

And then continue with Rhapsody.
Land of Immortals (Live)

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Bow to your new God then, Mr. Kai Hansen

a Gamma Ray is fine too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJjmMbllcXk

EDIT: And if you're not afraid of some cheese in your power metal, old Hammerfall is pretty decent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us4nJEdeVAw

 

[sazabirules]

So. I've never listened to metal outside of Brutal Legend, but I now want to give the music a chance.

A GAFer in Gaming directed me to this thread for recommendations on where to start.

I don't know much about the genre, but this is what I like so far. Epic feel, vocals that aren't just screeching and anything that mentions fantasy elements. There is one song on there that uses to be what sounds like a symphony...


Any suggestions on a starting place?

Lost Horizon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYdbLfLnIHk

 

[WanderingWind]

Bow to your new God then, Mr. Kai Hansen

HOLY SHIT!

Buying album right fuckin' now.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

i really hate Kai Hansen's vocals. I always skip the Iron Savior songs he does guest vocals on.

 

[WanderingWind]

Loving Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray and Hammerfall so far.

 

[WanderingWind]

Wait.

Songs about LOTR?

Maybe this is a huge DUH to ya'll, but my mind is officially blown.

 

[Aske]

Wait.

Songs about LOTR?

Maybe this is a huge DUH to ya'll, but my mind is officially blown.

For something a little different but along similar lines, try Summoning. And since we're thinking of Tolkien inspired bands, Rivendell is worth a listen too. Epic, cleanish vocals...should be right up your alley.

 

[El_Victor]

Wait.

Songs about LOTR?

Maybe this is a huge DUH to ya'll, but my mind is officially blown.

Songs? Concept albums!

Based on the mythopoeic works of Tolkien, this album is the. fucking. shit.

 

[EzLink]

Wait.

Songs about LOTR?

Maybe this is a huge DUH to ya'll, but my mind is officially blown.

Haha, yes. Nightfall In Middle-Earth is a retelling of The Silmarillion (a book which details the events leading up to the third age when the events of lord of the rings begins)

Also, Blind Guardian has a song just called Lord of the Rings... the orchestral version is beautiful

 

[Phobophile]

I can't stand Blind Guardian. Hansi Kursch's vocals are grating and their music is so fucking overproduced. You can't hear shit over the overdriven guitar tone and yet somehow any riffs they may have are fucking buried behind the rest of the instrumentation.

 

[WanderingWind]

For something a little different but along similar lines, try Summoning. And since we're thinking of Tolkien inspired bands, Rivendell is worth a listen too. Epic, cleanish vocals...should be right up your alley.

I started listening to the first song that popped up for Rivendell. At first I was like "hmm. Folk music?"

Then the guitars hit. I am still grinning. Awesome. Fucking awesome.

I haven't been this excited about music in years. What about Celtic metal? Symphonic metal? Nordic shit?

 

[EzLink]

I can't stand Blind Guardian. Hansi Kursch's vocals are grating and their music is so fucking overproduced. You can't hear shit over the overdriven guitar tone and yet somehow any riffs they may have are fucking buried behind the rest of the instrumentation.

Wow, that's.... what the fuck?

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with 100% of that post, but I have a feeling trying to explain why won't change your opinion. Agreeing to disagree ftw

 

[EzLink]

I started listening to the first song that popped up for Rivendell. At first I was like "hmm. Folk music?"

Then the guitars hit. I am still grinning. Awesome. Fucking awesome.

I haven't been this excited about music in years. What about Celtic metal? Symphonic metal? Nordic shit?

For Celtic metal I recommend Eluveitie
Symphonic metal... Kamelot
Nordic shit... Tyr

And just for fun... Pirate metal! Alestorm

 

[WanderingWind]

For Celtic metal I recommend Eluveitie
Symphonic metal... Kamelot
Nordic shit... Tyr

And just for fun... Pirate metal! Alestorm

Eluveitie - LOVE the band. Not 100% on the singer
Kamelot - Same, actually.
Tyr - Fucking bought.

 

[WanderingWind]

It's not all great, on my new musical journey. I just stumbled across a little abortion called Nightwish.

Blech.

 

[Pyke Presco]

For Celtic metal I recommend Eluveitie
Symphonic metal... Kamelot
Nordic shit... Tyr

And just for fun... Pirate metal! Alestorm

Holy fuck, That Tyr group is astounding. Have to add a couple albums of their stuff to my playlists.
Any recommendations on albums to pick?

It's not all great, on my new musical journey. I just stumbled across a little abortion called Nightwish.

Blech.

Yeah, found them through some links from Symphony X tracks, and boy was i disappointed.

 

[EzLink]

Eluveitie - LOVE the band. Not 100% on the singer
Kamelot - Same, actually.
Tyr - Fucking bought.

It took me a while to get used to harsh death metal vocals, but I'm really glad I was able to acquire that taste. Eluveitie has really great lyrics and they are incredibly passionate about their heritage.

Kamelot has great music, and the singer actually used to be involved with opera, so a lot of that styling comes through. But yeah, if those types of vocals don't appeal to you it will probably be hard to get into. Try this song and see if its any better for you, and if not just keep exploring other bands

I saw Tyr in concert, it was fucking epic Glad you like them

Holy fuck, That Tyr group is astounding. Have to add a couple albums of their stuff to my playlists.
Any recommendations on albums to pick?

My personal favorite of theirs is Eric The Red.... though I haven't gotten around to checking out all of their latest album (which has the song that I linked), but I've heard nothing but good things about it. Keep in mind though that quite a few of their songs are in Faroese, if that is going to bother you

Also, Nightwish's most recent album (The Poet and the Pendulm) has a lot of really good stuff on it (I absolutely love Amaranth). But yeah, overall you can spend your time listening to bands a lot better than them

 

[Aske]

I started listening to the first song that popped up for Rivendell. At first I was like "hmm. Folk music?"

Then the guitars hit. I am still grinning. Awesome. Fucking awesome.

I haven't been this excited about music in years. What about Celtic metal? Symphonic metal? Nordic shit?

Glad you liked them! The band's first album 'The Ancient Glory' is my favourite of the two I've heard. I haven't checked out the third release yet.

To add to the suggestions EzLink posted, I can't think of any clean sounding Celtic/Nordic Metal off the top of my head, but if you can deal with an Anglo-Saxon themed band, try Forefather.

 

[sazabirules]

Elvenking has some awesome albums. They're power metal with folk influences. Heathenreel is their best and their new acoustic album is also one of my favorites.

Elvenking - Pagan Purity

Elvenking - White Willow

 

[EzLink]

Elvenking has some awesome albums. They're power metal with folk influences. Heathenreel is their best and their new acoustic album is also one of my favorites.

Elvenking - Pagan Purity

Elvenking - White Willow

Heh. I actually really like Heathenreel, but their lyrics are so fucking cheesy. I mean, pagan purity is about fucking an oak tree, for gods sake. I know its based on some ancient mythological ritual, but still

But yeah, if you can get past the lyrics, they have some really great music. I didn't care much for Wyrd, but Winter Wake is cool. Been meaning to pick up their newest album as I really like their acoustic stuff anyway, so I'm sure I'd enjoy it

 

[Phobophile]

Heh. I actually really like Heathenreel, but their lyrics are so fucking cheesy. I mean, pagan purity is about fucking an oak tree, for gods sake. I know its based on some ancient mythological ritual, but still

Blind Guardian

 

[EzLink]

Blind Guardian

is the shit?

It's fine to sing about fantasy topics. But there is a difference between lyrics that are essentially nothing more than bad fan fiction, and songs that have true artistic merit to them. Hansi's lyrics are most assuredly in the latter category

 

[sazabirules]

is the shit?

It's fine to sing about fantasy topics. But there is a difference between lyrics that are essentially nothing more than bad fan fiction, and songs that have true artistic merit to them. Hansi's lyrics are most assuredly in the latter category

Lord of the Rings is cheesy sorry. Not Rhapsody cheesy though. Fantasy is cheesy. I'm a big fan of BG and fantasy but I don't try and deny it.

 

[EzLink]

Lord of the Rings is cheesy sorry. Not Rhapsody cheesy though. Fantasy is cheesy. I'm a big fan of BG and fantasy but I don't try and deny it.

lol

sorry man, I just can't say a song like Oakenshield (even though I do really like that song) is a shining example of masterful lyrics

But I'm not sure how you can just throw such a huge generalization out that "fantasy is cheesy". I guess Metallica is also cheesy since they have a song about Cthulu?

Fantasy isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that's cool, but that doesn't mean that it isn't intelligent. Sure, some pieces of fantasy aren't, but oftentimes the exaggerated and magical settings are used to deliver very deep and relevant themes

 

[Tater Tot]

Listening to Dream Theater's Train of Thought album.

 

[EzLink]

Listening to Dream Theater's Train of Thought album.

Awesome, its good shit. I think its one of their weakest albums lyrically (with the exception of this dying soul), but the music is so fucking spot on that I'm able to look past that. Plus it was my first DT album and they turned out to be one of my favorite bands, so I'm more partial to it than others might be

 

[Pyke Presco]

Listening to Dream Theater's Train of Thought album.

It is by far my favorite of their albums. It is just balls to the wall heavy. While Glass Prison and Panic Attack are heavier tracks, no other album of their's compares to Train for just constant heavy riffs. This Dying Soul is one of my favorite tracks as well, though to be fair the entire 5 part series of AA tracks is awesome, and was the birth of their "heavy" sound.

Only album that has never left an mp3 player/ipod/psp etc. I will always have that album on me when i go somewhere.

Scenes from a Memory, Systematic Chaos, and Black Clouds and Silver Linings are also great DT albums to check out if you're liking what you hear.

 

[evlcookie]

I currently have a major hard on for Cynic - Traced in air.

Is there any other band out there like them?

 

[Mileena]

Listening to Dream Theater's Train of Thought album.

Tied with Images and Words for best Dream Theater album. Petrucci really just blows me away on ToT.

I currently have a major hard on for Cynic - Traced in air.

Is there any other band out there like them?

Atheist

Get all three albums, they're great.

 

[Giant Robot]

I currently have a major hard on for Cynic - Traced in air.

Is there any other band out there like them?

their first album 'Focus' is better.

Atheist- Piece of Time, Unquestionable Presence are a must. But those are more straightforward.

Neglected Fields 'Synthinity' is fucking amazing as well.

 

[Zerokku]

Is Disarmonia Mundi worth looking into? Only heard a single song by them, but they seem to have a bit of the progressive/melodeath sound I like. Not to mention mixing in clean vocals, which I love.

Edit: Also, to whoever suggested Insomnium to someone way back, thank you. They're quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

 

[Flynn]

I went to Rhino to do some old fashioned record shopping, hoping to grab some stuff from Brutal Legend. Sadly Budgie is all out of print and old Sabbath and Ozzy records are priced pretty ridiculously. Same for Motorhead -- they're all those $30 double CD things. I'll stick to $9.99 and under MP3 downloads from Amazon.

The metal winner wound up being Stained Class from Judas Priest, based on the recommendation here in the thread (the new remaster was used for $7.99). For whatever reason I never listened to them much. Started warming up to them when the DLC came out for Rock Band. So thanks again for suggesting this record. I'm digging it quite a bit.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

their first album 'Focus' is better.

I beg to differ. I love Focus (and if the OP doesn't have it, getit!), but Traced in Air is more refined and the clean vocals are a lot better integrated. Also, the drumming is sublime, Sean definitely learned a thing or two in the fifteen years since Focus. Both are must haves though.

Atheist is definitely a great way to go. I'd say that the second and third are noticeably better than the first, but all are worth it.


Also, if you can handle an instrumental album, Tymon (guitar, vox on TiA) and Robert (live bass) are in a metal-fusion project called Exivious. Their debut is fricking awesome stuff, though more technical and jazzy than Traced in Air. The bass work in particular is awesome.

You could also try out some Death-albums. Particularly Human (which features Paul on guitar and Sean on drums), but also the later albums like Symbolic and Sound of Perseverance.

Sean was also in Aghora on their S/T. Solid musicianship, though not on the same level of brilliance as Cynic. I particularly had a bit of a problem with the female vocals. Definitely worth checking out though.






And now for something completely different: I've been trying to find Black Metal with clean vocals. And by clean I mean competently sung, not just "not shrieking". I'm looking for something like Alcest's Le Secret, Ameseour's Heurt or Austere's Just for a Moment….

Are there any bands out there that play music like that? I'm fine with the occassional screaming (like in Heurt/Just for a Moment…), but I just really like the vibe with hard blast-beats and black metal riffing against clean vocals. I know there are plenty of bands that mix clean vox with shrieking, but I'm looking for bands where the emphasis is opposite.

and for reference, here are some "BM bands that feature clean vox I already listen to":
Enslaved
Fen
WitTR
Code
Arcturus
Borknagar
Solstafir (borderline bm nowadays, but there's still the occasional vibe)
Negura Bunget

Bands I've already discounted: Lik, Circle of Ouroboros

Any takers?

 

[Phobophile]

Is Disarmonia Mundi worth looking into? Only heard a single song by them, but they seem to have a bit of the progressive/melodeath sound I like. Not to mention mixing in clean vocals, which I love.

Edit: Also, to whoever suggested Insomnium to someone way back, thank you. They're quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

YES. YES. YES.

Their first album, Nebularum, doesn't have Speed Strid from Soilwork on vocals (which is why the vocals are so fucking awesome on the next two) and has more of a straight-up/proggish death metal sound but they shift over to a modern melo-death sound on Fragments of D-Generation and Mind Tricks. Modern melo-death is one of my few guilty pleasures. It's catchy, poppy, and manages often have great songwriting and musicianship while bringing in other modern rock influences like metalcore and even nu-metal, while still maintaining the structure and spirit of metal.

 

[Zerokku]

YES. YES. YES.

Their first album, Nebularum, doesn't have Speed Strid from Soilwork on vocals (which is why the vocals are so fucking awesome on the next two) and has more of a straight-up/proggish death metal sound but they shift over to a modern melo-death sound on Fragments of D-Generation and Mind Tricks. Modern melo-death is one of my few guilty pleasures. It's catchy, poppy, and manages often have great songwriting and musicianship while bringing in other modern rock influences like metalcore and even nu-metal, while still maintaining the structure and spirit of metal.

Haha Alright, which CD would you recommend picking up first then?

And yah, sounds like they'll fit me well. I'm very eclectic when it comes to my tastes in metal, though I tend to prefer melodeath or progressive. I'll listen to the occasional black, metalcore, old school stuff, hell even some nu-metal

 

[agrajag]

their first album 'Focus' is better.

you're an idiot.



Mind Tricks is the only good DM album, imo. The previous ones are forgettable.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

I listened to Dethkloks album "Dethalbum II"

and it wasn't bad. it's definitely cliche. it's almost like they took all the b-rated songs from any death metal album and mashed em all together. Solid.
7/10

 

[sazabirules]

Thanks to whoever mentioned Kalisia's Cybion a few pages back. It's such an awesome album. I hope they get the recognition they deserve. I'm disappointed I won't be able to see Korpiklaani a second time this January along with Tyr. I've checked out the band White Wizzard who is also on the tour and they have a nice traditional metal sound.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Wait.

Songs about LOTR?

Maybe this is a huge DUH to ya'll, but my mind is officially blown.

Check out Battlelore, their entire schtick is based on writing songs inspired by Tolkien/LotR/Silmarillion :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRcl-NcIaE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5P5PjIqUvM

Nordic shit?

Not metal at all, but check out Wardruna. Fucking awesome stuff, it is. And if you like some cheesy humppa (basically Finnish polka), check out Finntroll.

 

[wRATH2x]

I was wondering, since most new metal bands are either Black or Death. I was wondering, Are there any good new bands that sound like either early Black Sabbath or early Judas Priest or Iron Maiden or Motorhead?

 

[DieNgamers]

I was wondering, since most new metal bands are either Black or Death. I was wondering, Are there any good new bands that sound like either early Black Sabbath or early Judas Priest or Iron Maiden or Motorhead?

Not really that new but Cathedral has an awesome doomy sound and hilarious titles for their songs. :lol
fangalactic supergoria
fountain of innocence
midnight mountain
I mentioned them earlier in this thread but I think it's a fitting answer. Tony Iommi even played a solo on one track but I forgot which one. Imo their best album is "The Ethereal Mirror" followed by Carnival Bizarre.

 

[sazabirules]

I was wondering, since most new metal bands are either Black or Death. I was wondering, Are there any good new bands that sound like either early Black Sabbath or early Judas Priest or Iron Maiden or Motorhead?

Check Slough Feg out?

Slough Feg - The Final Gambit

 

[Zero Hero]

I've been loving Gojira's From Mars to Sirius. The song, The heaviest matter in the universe slays me. The verse riff is amazing. :0

 

[Ceres]

I was wondering, since most new metal bands are either Black or Death. I was wondering, Are there any good new bands that sound like either early Black Sabbath or early Judas Priest or Iron Maiden or Motorhead?

I can't think of any new bands. Most seem to go with a more melodic power metal than traditional power metal and doom bands seem to have some sort of cross genre aspect to them.
You've heard of Primal Fear, right? How about The Sword?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I was wondering, since most new metal bands are either Black or Death. I was wondering, Are there any good new bands that sound like either early Black Sabbath or early Judas Priest or Iron Maiden or Motorhead?

Not really a new band, but there's Tierra Santa. Their old stuff is pure Maiden ripoff, only with Spanish lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BETPQaEdrQg

Oh, BTW, WanderingWind: You might like Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica too (personally I think they're both godawful, but most other power metal fans seem to love them).

 

[Zerokku]

Might as well ask for some recs seeing as how looking at recommendations for other people found me a lot of new bands. Some of my current favorites are -

Agalloch
Amorphis
Demon Hunter (The early stuff before they got too blatantly christian)
In Flames
Insomnium
Katatonia
Opeth
Riverside
Summoning

If you can't tell, like I said previously, I love melodeath and progressive stuff, (especially melodeath with clean vocals thrown in) What would you recommend for me based on what I like? And no need to recommend the obvious stuff like Dark Tranquillity, already have them.

 

[Ceres]

Might as well ask for some recs seeing as how looking at recommendations for other people found me a lot of new bands. Some of my current favorites are -

Agalloch
Amorphis
Demon Hunter (The early stuff before they got too blatantly christian)
In Flames
Insomnium
Katatonia
Opeth
Riverside
Summoning

If you can't tell, like I said previously, I love melodeath and progressive stuff, (especially melodeath with clean vocals thrown in) What would you recommend for me based on what I like? And no need to recommend the obvious stuff like Dark Tranquillity, already have them.

Try Oceans of Sadness

 

[Square Triangle]

Please excuse my ignorance in thsi genre but I had a buddy introduce me to 'August Burns Red' and I'm not sure if they would be considered metal or not by some of you, but I did enjoy it. What other bands out there are similiar to that sound?

Offering breakdowns and lyrics and I can actually understand too.

 

[Zerokku]

Please excuse my ignorance in thsi genre but I had a buddy introduce me to 'August Burns Red' and I'm not sure if they would be considered metal or not by some of you, but I did enjoy it. What other bands out there are similiar to that sound?

Offering breakdowns and lyrics and I can actually understand too.

They're Metalcore, a cousin of regular metal, albeit not the inbred cousin like nu-metal :lol

Killswitch Engage and Trivium (Ascendency album in particular) perhaps?