They were but this album is actually what it says, straight up USPM. Surprisingly good stuff, believe me!
Other power or speed metal recs:
Euro-style power metal:
- Helloween - Walls of Jericho (get the version with the Judas and Helloween EPs), The Time of the Oath, Keepers pt. I and II
- Blind Guardian - Battalions of Fear, Imaginations from the Other Side, Tales from the Twilight World, Nightfall in Middle-Earth
- Falconer - s/t, Chapters from a Vale Forlorn
- Wuthering Heights - Far from the Madding Crowd
- Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, The Odyssey (yes not European but it's got the symphonic euro flavour + some prog influence but I like it despite not being a big prog/power fan, it's not wanky)
- Persuader - The Hunter, Evolution Purgatory
USPM:
- Manilla Road - Crystal Logic, The Deluge, Mystification
- Pharaoh - The Longest Night
- Demons & Wizards - s/t
- Jag Panzer - The Age of Mastery, Ample Destruction, Thane to the Throne, Mechanized Warfare
Power/speed metal
- Running Wild - Death or Glory, Pile of Skulls, Black Hand Inn
- Grave Digger - Knights of the Cross, Excalibur, The Grave Digger
- Stormwarrior - s/t
...Eh, there's plenty more good stuff but I think that's enough to get you started.
