What are the power metal classics?

[adaher]

I'm referring to the post-1993 Euro power and prog metal era, not the old, old days. If there was enough demand for a classic rock station featuring power metal "hits", what songs are just so well known and classic that they'd get regular rotation?

I bring this up because I don't think modern power and prog bands have gotten enough credit for creating some true classics that will be remembered by metal fans who stuck with the scene over the years, remembered every bit as fondly as songs like the Trooper and Bark at the Moon.

here's my choices:

Angra-Carry On
Gamma Ray-Man on a Mission
Edguy-Vain Glory Opera
Sonata Arctica-Full Moon
Stratovarius-Hunting High and Low
Nightwish-Wishmaster
Kamelot-Nights of Arabia
Rhapsody-Emerald Sword
Symphony X-The Accolade
Hammerfall-Heeding the Call

 

[AngraRULES]

That's a great thread, although I am not gonna be surprised if some people say "Firewind" or "Dragonforce" (big LOL).

Here's my picks:

Gamma Ray - Rebellion in Dreamland
Angra - Carry On
Blind Guardian - The Bard's Song
Edguy - Babylon
Sonata Arctica - Full Moon
Stratovarius - Black Diamond
Kamelot - Karma
Rhapsody - Emerald Sword


Interestingly enough, I don't see any Symphony X or Iced Earth songs as memorable to the point of calling them classics of the genre. Not saying these aren't great bands, but in my opinion there's just none by them.

And although this is pre 93, you can't talk about Power Metal classics without mentioning Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys.

 

[zinescene]

Great thread....I'd go with

Destinys End - Breathe Deep The Dark
Sonata Arctica - Weballurgy
Kamelot - Wings of Despair
Edguy - Until We Rise Again
Rhapsody - Warriors of Ice
Jag Panzer - Frozen in Fear
Stratovarius - Millenium
Nightwish - Bless The Child (didn't get into them til this release).
Manowar - Blackwind, Fire & Steel (flame away but I love this song).
Riot - Thundersteel (Again, the band isn't Power Metal per se, but I'd put this song up against any other Power metal anthem).
Helloween - Twilight of the Gods.
Demons & Wizards - Poor Mans Crusade
Blind Guardian - Battlefield
Grave Digger - (Enola Gay) Drop The Bomb
Hammerfall - Hammerfall
Holy Mother - Wars

 

[Angrafan]

zinescene, I don't think there are many classics on your list... It's not a "pick your favorite songs" thread...

I'd pick

Grave Digger- Rebellion
Angra - Carry On
Stratovarius - Black Diamond
Blind Guardian - The Bard's Song
Blind Guardian - Mirror Mirror
Vanden Plas - Rainmaker
Dream Theater - Pull me Under
Superior - Why
Hammerfall - Legacy of Kings
Rhapsody - The Emerald Sword
Nightwish - Wishmaster
Savatage - Edge of Thorns
Bruce Dickinson - Tears of the Dragon

 

[Magius]

That's a great thread, although I am not gonna be surprised if some people say "Firewind" or "Dragonforce" (big LOL).

Here's my picks:

Gamma Ray - Rebellion in Dreamland
Angra - Carry On
Blind Guardian - The Bard's Song
Edguy - Wake up the King
Sonata Arctica - Full Moon
Stratovarius - Black Diamond
Kamelot - Knights of Arabia
Rhapsody - Emerald Sword
Hammerfall- Heeding the Call.

Interestingly enough, I don't see any Symphony X or Iced Earth songs as memorable to the point of calling them classics of the genre. Not saying these aren't great bands, but in my opinion there's just none by them.

And although this is pre 93, you can't talk about Power Metal classics without mentioning Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys.

We're pretty close, and I'd include Keeper on the main list.

 

[zinescene]

zinescene, I don't think there are many classics on your list... It's not a "pick your favorite songs" thread...

Guess it's all a matter of interpretation. A lot of the songs were songs featured on compilations or featured by magazines. Everyone could say the same about a few songs on each list. It's all subjective and open to each individual taste.

 

[skyrefuge]

zinescene, I don't think there are many classics on your list... It's not a "pick your favorite songs" thread...

heh, yeah, I was pretty sure he misunderstood the thread too. Or, just has really bad visibility into how group-opinion differs from personal-opinion. Which is certainly nothing new for this board.

I'm beginning to sound like I work for last.fm, but this is actually another really good use for their data set. One way to answer this question would be to simply find the most popular power metal bands, and look at some of their most popular tracks. In effect, they would be the songs that *are* in regular radio station rotation, it's just that the "radio station" is a bit different now than in the past.

Going by that method, most of you guys did pretty well.

Grave Digger- Rebellion (Yep, #2. I'm actually shocked that "Excalibur" is #1, by a long shot)
Angra - Carry On (Yep, #1, just beating out "Nova Era".)
Stratovarius - Black Diamond (Yep, #2 behind "Hunting High and Low", a song that I've never even heard!)
Blind Guardian - The Bard's Song (only appears as #34, but would be #1 if the various spellings were added up)
Blind Guardian - Mirror Mirror (#3, "Nightfall" is #1, with "Sacred Worlds" a surprising #2)
Vanden Plas - Rainmaker (#29, your first fail. "Frequency" is #1, but nothing is obviously separated from the pack)
Dream Theater - Pull me Under (Yep, #1 by a long shot. "Another Day" and "As I Am" are perhaps surprising #2 and #3)
Superior - Why (#16, but no one listens to Superior. #1 is "Polaroid Millennium", presumably by a different artist)
Hammerfall - Legacy of Kings (#13, you're really getting bad here! "Hearts on Fire" is the huge #1, "Heeding the Call" at #5)
Rhapsody - The Emerald Sword (Way down at #23, but I guess this is a problem with the band name change)
Nightwish - Wishmaster (#4, the highest "old" song, but stomped by "Nemo", "Wish I Had an Angel", and "Amaranth")
Savatage - Edge of Thorns (#2, but stomped by "Hall of the Mountain King", which surprises me a bit)
Bruce Dickinson - Tears of the Dragon (#1. Figured it would be, but it has more than 2x the number of plays than #2 "Chemical Wedding"! By far the biggest 1st place margin of any of these)


Gamma Ray-Man on a Mission (#3, just behind "New World Order" (?!?), with "Rebellion in Dreamland" out in front)
Edguy-Vain Glory Opera (#7, with "Babylon" at #23. Unlike "Carry On", old stuff doesn't hold up for Edguy I guess, getting stomped by "Superheroes", "King of Fools" and "Lavatory Love Machine")
Sonata Arctica-Full Moon (Yep, #1)
Kamelot-Nights of Arabia (Nope, #41. Though it is the highest 4th Legacy track. "Karma" is #16; apparently no one remembers "old" Kamelot. "March of Mephisto" is #1)
Symphony X-The Accolade (#20, beaten by "Accolade II" at #13! "Paradise Lost" is #1)

Interestingly enough, I don't see any Symphony X or Iced Earth songs as memorable to the point of calling them classics of the genre. Not saying these aren't great bands, but in my opinion there's just none by them.

I agree about Symphony X (and so does the last.fm data, without any huge winners), but Iced Earth is one of the most obvious examples of a band who made a concerted effort (and succeeded) with "hit singles". "Watching Over Me", "I Died For You", and "Melancholy" are unsurprisingly #1-#3.

Neil

 

[General Zod]

I'm beginning to sound like I work for last.fm, but this is actually another really good use for their data set.

Actually, the Blackguard thread finally got me to check out Last.fm. Glad I did. I'm now Scobbling iTunes, my iPod, my Droid X and my Squeezebox to Last.fm. By this time next year, I should have collected a lot of cool data.

 

[Angrafan]

I love Last FM. I use it all that time, even tough I don't use for myself... For a 27 year old, I am really antiquated ahhah I listen to music almost exclusively on CDs... I can't possibly keep any statistics.

I am not surprised by my picks that were not correct... Hammerfall, Rhapsody of Fire... HEck, I haven't listened to those bands in over a decade. I still see them from my 90's perspective.

Superior I think is a matter of sample size and weird tagging.. ahaha Why is clearly their "classic"...

I can't put my finger on Vanden Plas.. ahha I clearly thought Rainmaker was their #1 song ahahha

 

[skyrefuge]

Actually, the Blackguard thread finally got me to check out Last.fm. Glad I did. I'm now Scobbling iTunes, my iPod, my Droid X and my Squeezebox to Last.fm. By this time next year, I should have collected a lot of cool data.

Cool. I guess I should have at least mentioned that when talking about my own play-tracking system. I used last.fm for a while, but I'm far too much of a data-nerd and their limited options for mining my own data are just too restrictive. Also, when I moved away from them they weren't nearly as big as they are now and were in the process of getting acquired by CBS or some other corporate behemoth, so I figured there was a good chance that my data could all just disappear some day. But for someone less obsessive than me, it's probably a decent compromise between ease-of-use and functionality.

FYI, creating an Android app to track plays on my phone has been on my to-do list forever. Your Squeezebox would probably be eternally out of the loop though.

Neil

 

[adaher]

A problem for some bands,like Symphony X, and yes, Dragonforce, is that they don't really produce iconic songs so much as they produce impressive albums, in Symphony X's case, or just have a signature sound that a lot of people love, but no one can really agree on any particular songs that stand out. I guess Through the Fire and the Flames will end up being Dragonforce's biggest song due to Guitar Hero, but that song doesn't really beat their other songs in terms of quality.

I really wanted to list something from Return to Heaven Denied or Holy Land, but those albums seem more like works of art as a whole than albums that have a couple of songs everyone loves to just throw on their Ipod(or mix CDs back in the 90s).

 

[Palabra de Dios]

Has no one listen "I Want Out"? WTF?

 

[nomisofsiman]

Has no one listen "I Want Out"? WTF?

Well, the main point of the thread from the original poster was for stuff post '93 I believe, so that's probably why. Most tunes from those Keeper albums I think would go on the power metal classics list.

 

[AngraRULES]

Has no one listen "I Want Out"? WTF?

Have you not read the first post? WTF?

 

[grilled_cheese]

So, rock out with your cock out, doom out with your tomb out, prog out with your frog out, power out with your flower out, or whatever rocks your boat!

High Five!!!! My fellow 4-F Mentors fan club brother!!!!!!!

 

[AngraRULES]

I guess Through the Fire and the Flames will end up being Dragonforce's biggest song due to Guitar Hero, but that song doesn't really beat their other songs in terms of quality.

Through the Fire and Flames will *never* be a power metal classic, though.

I really wanted to list something from Return to Heaven Denied or Holy Land, but those albums seem more like works of art as a whole than albums that have a couple of songs everyone loves to just throw on their Ipod(or mix CDs back in the 90s).

So true!

 

[adaher]

Not to turn this into another Dragonforce thread, but if we're assuming a theoretical classic power metal station, it's hard to see how you don't play Dragonforce songs given their sales and popularity. In terms of chart success, I don't think many, if any, power metal songs have been as successful as Through the Fire and the Flames. I'm pretty sure it's the only power metal single to go Gold in the US.

I won't call it a classic since it's a somewhat recent song, but I think metal fans will regard Dragonforce much more positively ten years from now, assuming they continue to put out well-regarded work. Metal fans are divided, but the critics and the people who decide Grammy nominees seem to like them. Like it or not, they are a "force" in the industry.

 

[compurocker]

Wow, I hear many of these tracks on Epic Rock Radio all the time. So you guys must be onto something. hah.

 

[AngraRULES]

Most tunes from those Keeper albums I think would go on the power metal classics list.

Save from the 93 comment, but... read the thread title.

 

[General Zod]

C Your Squeezebox would probably be eternally out of the loop though.

Do you mean if I were to use your system? Because there's a plug-in for it with Last.fm.