Yet another band recommendation

[Jean-Pierre]

Actually, "The Spectre Within" was the first Fates Warning album I bought in 1985 and I still think that "The Apparition" and "Epitaph" are two of their best songs ever. "The Spectre Within" and "Awaken The Guardian" are definitely epic, yet I never regarded them as power metal (e.g. as opposed to the two Vicious Rumors albums I mentioned), but rather as progressive metal. However, how you label an album or a band has no effect on the music itself - it still remains the same. The find out whether you like an album or not you will have to listen to it for yourself. Genre labels might help to give you a rough idea, but since there is good and bad music in (nearly?) any genre, such a label is never a sign of quality in itself.

Well, I would call them Power Metal because the music itself wasn't Prog at all really, it was thick and a bit complex, but followed simple song stucture. The work was sometimes Thrashy (just the riffwork), sometimes more traditional sounding - yet not Thrashy enough and not fast enough for Speed Metal. Just like Jag Panzer's Ample Destruction or Blind Guardian's Imaginations From The Other Side; which makes it squarely fall into Power Metal.

No Exit is a different story however (goddamn, what a classic-not as good as Awaken or Spectre, but a monster in its own right). Some people like the later work, but I'm definitely not a fan.

 

[VEHEMENCE]

Checkout these bands if you havent already.

Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Sinister, Morbid Angel, Broken Hope, Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding, At The Gates, Deprecated, Gorefest, Resurrection, Deeds of Flesh, Creation is Crucifixion, A Canorous Quintet, Ill Disposed, Embraced, & Theory in Practice.

Disbelief, Therion, Without Grief, Amon Amarth, Infernal Method, Violation, Darkane, The Tea Party, Defaced Creation, Martyr, Bloodbath, Entombed, Within Y, Symbyosis, Anathema, Lux Occulta, Decapitated, Aeon, Julie Laughs Nomore, Mutant, Necromicon, The Crown, Lamb Of God, Golem, Naglfar, Anaal Nathrakh, The Project Hate, Diabolical Masquerade, Behemoth, Gardenian, Arsis, Gojira, & Opeth.

 

[ShadowOfDeath]

Lost Horizon
Elvenking's first album

I don't listen to melodeath so can't help there.

 

[nevershine]

Ark is awesome.

 

[minion_of_chaos]

i am no big power metal fan, i like the odd blind gaurdian, hammerfall, dragonforce, gamma ray track, i even went all the way to bradford (aka bradistan) to see nightwish.

but i kid you not hear, check out the lord weird slough feg, one of the best metal bands doing the rounds these days, gunna treck all the way to london to catch these guys live in september, i did not even do that for esoteric, thats how good these guys are