History of Power Metal article in Guitar World

[edgeofthorns]

Yea, Nevermore play Swedish Hardcore metal despite the fact that they are neither from Sweden (they're from seattle) nor does their music sound anything like hardcore.

And yes, I consider Nevermore powermetal. Since when does all powermetal have to be prozac metal. Wanna tell me how the latest Manticora album isn't dark? Or how there isn't some heavy evil stuff on Iced Earth's Horror Show? If more powermetal sounded like Nevermore maybe the genre wouldn't be laughed at so much

Well Yngvai, I'm going to turn the table on you a little. Powermetal doesn't have to be all about evil, demons, inverted pentagrams, and no melody to be good either! There's always going to be someone out there to mock or laugh at whatever you're doing. So why do you care if someone laughs at powermetal? I guarantee you the majority of these writers for Guitar World are still stuck in 70's rock, and never intend on giving anything else a chance! Basically, they're missing out on some great music!

 

[edgeofthorns]

How in the hell did this album get included in this list ~ Demons & Wizards - S/T???This album BLOWS big time!!! There is only so much Schaffer riffing I can take in one album (Please no more )... I'd say replace D&W with IE -The Dark Saga and maybe you have yourself a list. Change Nevermore's album to the first one & throw in Awaken the Guardian / No Exit
There's the list.

No kidding! Fates Warning is essential to the genre, so I totally agree!!!

 

[edgeofthorns]

Well, regarding the Queensryche remarks. I'm a Queensryche fan, but I don't think of them as powermetal. I agree that they shouldn't be on the list, but they deserve respect too! There's alot of prog bands that have strived to put something out as good as The Warning, Rage for Order, and Operation Mindcrime! Queensryche has brought alot to the table over the years for bands such as Dream Theater, Symphony X, and Edguy! I've said this more than once. If Queensryche had released Rage for Order recentley, we all would probably be sitting around saying how great it is!

 

[Yngvai X]

Well Yngvai, I'm going to turn the table on you a little. Powermetal doesn't have to be all about evil, demons, inverted pentagrams, and no melody to be good either! There's always going to be someone out there to mock or laugh at whatever you're doing. So why do you care if someone laughs at powermetal? I guarantee you the majority of these writers for Guitar World are still stuck in 70's rock, and never intend on giving anything else a chance! Basically, they're missing out on some great music!

Wow someone missed my point entirely. I don't think theres any powermetal that doesn't have melody, thats part of what makes powermetal what it is. My point (which is elaborated on further in my last post) is that theres plenty of powermetal out there that is *not* of the swords and sorcery cheesiness of Rhapsody style bands and also not of the ultra happy Sonata Arctica style school either, and that the genre is a broad one, that also includes many bands that could almost be called melodic thrash metal. And I know plenty of people that don't like the prozac metal and this in turn makes them shy away from the Rages and Iced Earths of metal because they get the "powermetal" label as well, even though the sound is very different. In fact, I can divy up powermetal into a few distinct sounds:

"true metal": Hammerfall, Lost Horizon, Dream Evil, etc
"happy metal": Edguy, Gamma Ray, Sonata Arctica, etc
"thrash/power": Rage, Iced earth, Nevermore, etc
"symphonic metal": Rhapsody, Angra, Kamelot, etc
"gothic": Nightwish, After Forever, Epica, etc

So there, and Im sure the lines blur in between those groups as well.

 

[lucretia96]

How in the hell did this album get included in this list ~ Demons & Wizards - S/T???This album BLOWS big time!!! There is only so much Schaffer riffing I can take in one album (Please no more )... I'd say replace D&W with IE -The Dark Saga and maybe you have yourself a list. Change Nevermore's album to the first one & throw in Awaken the Guardian / No Exit
There's the list.

D&W blows??? That is just your opinion, which is probably best kept to yourself.

 

[mtlheart]

Hmmm. I think I'll skip the article altogether.

Manowar - Hail to England- Qualifies as Power, but not their best wok IMHO
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King- Progressive Metal. Always were and probably always will be a Progressive Metal band.
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt 1- Quailfies for historical value? I'd say Pt 2 or The Best, The Rest, The Rare.
Iron Maiden - 7th Son of a 7th Son- Heavy Metal or more specifically NWOBHM... not Power.
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime- Good album, but Progressive Metal.
HammerFall - Glory to the Brave- Cheesy Power Metal, but Power nevertheless.
Demons & Wizards - S/T- Power, but a side project from two artists who have produced superior works seperately.
Rhapsody - Dawn of Victory- Clearly Power, although Turilli calls it Hollywood or Movie Score Metal... whatever...
Nightwish - Century Child- Gothic or arguably Progressive Gothic due to less aggressive male vocals common to "traditional" Gothic.
Nevermore - Enemies of Reality- Crossover Power/Thrash. Nevermore seems to get classified one way or the other about 50/50.
Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath- Power, but I think I could recommend far better for a list like this.

 

[lucretia96]

"true metal": Hammerfall, Lost Horizon, Dream Evil, etc
"happy metal": Edguy, Gamma Ray, Sonata Arctica, etc
"thrash/power": Rage, Iced earth, Nevermore, etc
"symphonic metal": Rhapsody, Angra, Kamelot, etc
"gothic": Nightwish, After Forever, Epica, etc

So there, and Im sure the lines blur in between those groups as well.

I am pretty sure Epica and After Forever are not Power Metal, they are symphonic/operatic gothic. Angra is more happy than symphonic. Lost Horizon's 2nd album is not True metal. Basically I think Power metal should be either mostly everything melodic or only everything with big choruses or only happy/gay metal.

 

[lucretia96]

Hmmm. I think I'll skip the article altogether.

Manowar - Hail to England- Qualifies as Power, but not their best wok IMHO
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King- Progressive Metal. Always were and probably always will be a Progressive Metal band.
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt 1- Quailfies for historical value? I'd say Pt 2 or The Best, The Rest, The Rare.
Iron Maiden - 7th Son of a 7th Son- Heavy Metal or more specifically NWOBHM... not Power.
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime- Good album, but Progressive Metal.
HammerFall - Glory to the Brave- Cheesy Power Metal, but Power nevertheless.
Demons & Wizards - S/T- Power, but a side project from two artists who have produced superior works seperately.
Rhapsody - Dawn of Victory- Clearly Power, although Turilli calls it Hollywood or Movie Score Metal... whatever...
Nightwish - Century Child- Gothic or arguably Progressive Gothic due to less aggressive male vocals common to "traditional" Gothic.
Nevermore - Enemies of Reality- Crossover Power/Thrash. Nevermore seems to get classified one way or the other about 50/50.
Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath- Power, but I think I could recommend far better for a list like this.

To me Iron Maiden, Savatage, Nightwish are all basically power metal. Savatage is not a prog band. As far as the root of Power Metal I think it is Dio, but somehow none of the albums with him were mentioned.

 

[mtlheart]

Soo....would you name some of the good bands MTV were promoting in the 80's?

Aside from the obvious Pop Metal bands, all of these were in semi-regular rotation outside of HBB.
Queensryche
Accept
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Dio
The Scorpions
Dangerous Toys
Skid Row
Faith No More
King Diamond
Alice Cooper
Motley Crue
Bruce Dickinson

 

[mtlheart]

To me Iron Maiden, Savatage, Nightwish are all basically power metal. Savatage is not a prog band. As far as the root of Power Metal I think it is Dio, but somehow none of the albums with him were mentioned.

Really? How do you define genres? I'm not trying to be ugly, but the terms Power and Prog get used pretty loosely around here. And while a lot of bands use elements from many genres, the genres themselves are pretty clearly defined.

NWOBHM: (or New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) England had barely got out of the first Punk rock wave in the 70's when they were corrupted by the latest american craze. One of their own, Ozzy Osbourne, was becoming a household name in the US and his music was new and refreshing. On a darker side, Heavy Metal didn't promise much as far as political statements went, since it retained much aspects from hard rock. Heavy Metal was also synonym of the super-stoned/drunk rock star, living in debauchery. British heavy metal artists started to go into more mythologic and ancient-world themes in their lyrics, greco-roman themes and more classical guitar playing.
Iron Maiden popularised the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with their different approach to guitar playing. Oldschool heavy metal is known for it's AC/DC-style riff-oriented powerchords, while NWOBHM has more intricate and complicated guitars, with more than one guitar player in a band. Iron maiden is known for their overlapped classical leads over rock bass/rythm/drum base. The Bruce Dickinson "air-raid siren" high vocals soon became notorious, and a source of inspiration for the following wave, Power-Metal.

Some NWOBHM bands:
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Savage, Voyager UK, Def Leppard, Saxon, Venom(pre-blackmetal).

Power: The style of playing is characterised by very high lead melodies (like in power ballads, hence the term "power") over "long notes" rhythm and that constant "gallopping" double bass drum beat. Power Metal is fast and intricate, played in a very technical manner. What gave it the name "power" is the style of vocals, taken from bands like Iron Maiden and advanced into a more powerballad "high-voice all the time" style.

Progressive: A form of metal that emphasises melody and compositional sophistication. It often employs time/key changes and radically varying tempos, with heavy emphasis on extended instrumental segments. Progressive Metal is mostly defined by the complexity of its compositions. In most cases songs are very detailed and intricate, with a lot of breaks, time changes, extensive solo passages and complicated structures.

Gothic: Gothic Metal is the cross between gothic music (EBM/darkwave/Industrial/Doom Rock/gothic Rock, etc) and Metal. Gothic will often have an opposition of female versus male vocals. The female vocals will often be clean and the male vocals more metal-ish, taken from 90's thrash/death/black metal. Gothic and Doom Metal derived from early Black Sabbath's Doom sound, but Gothic Metal metamorphosed from merging with Gothic Rock. Gothic Metal is very athmospheric, very contrasted, and has a great sense of dark aesthetics, which explains the common cross with Black Metal.

For more in depth info I recommend Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. You can search all of these genres there. And just for kicks search Savatage.

 

[lucretia96]

that website states that Dio is a hard rock band, so that shows how clueless they are.

Progressive to me means that music doesn't go in loops like in most other styles it doesn't repeat as much and uses more instrumental passages than usual. Savatage is more powermetal on albums with Jon on vocals, but I guess is more progressive with Zakk on vocals (I never really liked Zakk era as much as Jon's, Zakk is so boring compared to Jon)

NWOBHM I don't consider as a musical genre--just means location and time of a large group of bands.

I am sure everyone has their own definitions of various genres.

 

[AngraRULES]

That list is pathetic! Some bands are not even power metal, and the ones that are didn't have the best albums picked... with maybe one or two exceptions...

I know, it's cool to see metal in a mainstream mag, but it has to make sense though... Seriously, I'd rather not see it on it than seeing such bullshit!

 

[Yngvai X]

I once read someone said powermetal was named as such because of the anthemic nature of the music...it makes the listener feel "empowered", thus power metal.

 

[Stoink]

I would have to agree with Yngvai X about the classification of power metal, it pumps you up and its music you could go into battle to.

 

[Heavenly Call]

Ah..the academics and their classifications
Little agreement on the separations
But for sure,
our hearts are pure
And we all support the METAL NATION!

Let the debate rage on!

 

[Bryan316]

And yes, I consider Nevermore powermetal. Since when does all powermetal have to be prozac metal. Wanna tell me how the latest Manticora album isn't dark? Or how there isn't some heavy evil stuff on Iced Earth's Horror Show? If more powermetal sounded like Nevermore maybe the genre wouldn't be laughed at so much

Well.... the difference between Nevermore and Iced Earth, is that Nevermore is the kind of band that wants to shock and frighten an audience, and Iced Earth wants you to bang yo fuckin head. It's like Nevermore wants to make you scared. They wanna be evil, and scary. Iced Earth is just naturally creepy as all hell! They made a 15 minute song about Hell!

Also, Nevermore's style is kinda different than most of the power metal style of riffing. When I think of the core idea of power metal, I think of a song with a really good riff that you'd want to pick up your guitar and learn how to play yourself. Like Hammerfall's Heeding The Call, or Iced Earth's The Prophecy, or Blind Guardian's Into The Storm, or Edguy's Babylon. With Nevermore, they don't really write songs to hook your ear. They're after the ambience of the song, the mood, the creepy eery feeling. Not so much for the memorable riff or the catchy hook.

To me, power metal in it's purest form, is supposed to have that positive, energetic feeling. That feeling of kickin ass and taking names. Not a depressing, down, scary feeling. I guess that's how I really see power metal. Like the Book of Heavy Metal! Dream Evil made a disc filled with really great anthems for banging your head to. No drama, no anger, no depressed topics, just kickin ass. And GREAT riffs in there, too.

I dunno. Maybe that's a strange way to look at it. But that's how I see power metal. Throw your fist in the air, give them devil's horns, and bang yo hedd off your shoulders.

 

[Yngvai X]

Well.... the difference between Nevermore and Iced Earth, is that Nevermore is the kind of band that wants to shock and frighten an audience, and Iced Earth wants you to bang yo fuckin head. It's like Nevermore wants to make you scared. They wanna be evil, and scary. Iced Earth is just naturally creepy as all hell! They made a 15 minute song about Hell!

Also, Nevermore's style is kinda different than most of the power metal style of riffing. When I think of the core idea of power metal, I think of a song with a really good riff that you'd want to pick up your guitar and learn how to play yourself. Like Hammerfall's Heeding The Call, or Iced Earth's The Prophecy, or Blind Guardian's Into The Storm, or Edguy's Babylon. With Nevermore, they don't really write songs to hook your ear. They're after the ambience of the song, the mood, the creepy eery feeling. Not so much for the memorable riff or the catchy hook.

To me, power metal in it's purest form, is supposed to have that positive, energetic feeling. That feeling of kickin ass and taking names. Not a depressing, down, scary feeling. I guess that's how I really see power metal. Like the Book of Heavy Metal! Dream Evil made a disc filled with really great anthems for banging your head to. No drama, no anger, no depressed topics, just kickin ass. And GREAT riffs in there, too.

I dunno. Maybe that's a strange way to look at it. But that's how I see power metal. Throw your fist in the air, give them devil's horns, and bang yo hedd off your shoulders.

Dude are we listening to the same Nevermore? Did they actually say they're just trying to "frighten the audience"? Nevermore makes me wanna bang my fuckin head. Nevermore makes me wanna throw my fists in the airs and give the devil horns. They've got some great memorable riffs and hooks, like The River Dragon Has Come. Sure they're dark and don't have typical singalong kind of choruses, but thats one thing I like about them; they're different, and its a welcomed breath of fresh air to a genre with a little too much sameness from band to band. Plus Jeff Loomis rips it up. I also don't hear too much of this ambience you keep saying they have. They're not Dimmu Borgir...most of their stuff is just heavy riffage. The most ambient track I can think of that I know from them is Dreaming Neon Black, and that reminds me of Animals-era Pink Floyd.

And dude, the remark about powermetal being about good riffs that make you wanna pick up your guitar and learn it...that is *completely* a matter of opinion. Anything can inspire any different amount of people. Powermetal isn't the only musically inspiring thing out there. You get inspired by Hammerfall...I get inspired by Nevermore cause Loomis is a sick shredder.

You see powermetal as throwing your fists in the air and banging your head...so do I...but I see ALL metal as that, not just powermetal.

 

[lady_space]

Sheesh... talk about getting bogged down in completely arbitrary classifications... But I agree that the 'list' picked some weird albums, even if you accept all those bands as belonging on the list. As for Queensryche, I'd say O:m certainly approaches what I would call power metal, so if they're gonna have a Q album on that list, that's definitely the one.

If you ask me, all of it's pretty subjective. Trying to make music fit into some little pigeonhole seems a bit pointless to me. Besides, I can never manage to keep all the labels straight.

If Queensryche had released Rage for Order recentley, we all would probably be sitting around saying how great it is!

What do you mean, if they released it recently? I still talk about how great it is.

Shaye

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

I look at it this way. The journalist who wrote the story may have been clueless, but at least he was giving exposure to bands that the media normally don't acknowledge. Sure, as already established metalheads, we know he's missed the target by about two shooting ranges. But to the uninitiated who don't know any better, at least this article steered them in the right direction.

 

[Ruthven]

due to less aggressive male vocals common to "traditional" Gothic.

Bands like the Last Dance and Rosetta Stone belong to a genre that frequently uses aggressive male vocals?