Conception have reissued their early albums and some of these new bonus tracks sound pretty dope. Mainly 'Move Closer' (which features bits that would appear on 'Sanctuary') and the expanded version of 'In Your Multitude' are really interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQOpNTVjjqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y73T7orOu8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR3Lx_0lAkI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpjLR5GVGpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtj023Pm6Dw

Oh man I never had those albums. That's great news.

Here's some killer prog... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkuE_ktC9d8

Heavy, percussive, intense stuff.

Calling all power metal fanatics!

Here's the deal : I've been on a power metal kick lately, a genre I haven't bothered with since high school\college. I was quite into pm around 98-01 but fell out of love gradually. Anyway, I'd like to discover lesser known acts from the golden days of the late 90's, early 00's. Bands that did put out some quality stuff, but either disbanded early or were simply forgotten. I am quite familiar with all the big names and some b-listers too.

I assume from the dates you've given that you're referring to the more popular European brand of power metal, as opposed to USPM, which was bigger in the 80s and early 90s? I'm not the biggest European power metal person around these parts, but I know some of the lesser-known acts. Do you know bands like Dark at Dawn, Angel Dust, Domine, Existence, and Wizard (Germany)? Those are all somewhat lesser-known acts that released strong albums during the time period you listed. They tend to be on the heavier side of things, as that's my personal preference. I'm sure others such as Empyreal could direct you to stuff on the softer or "flowerier" side of things if that's your jam.

I was mainly referring to euro power metal indeed, however I'm open to discovered uspm acts from that era too.

Beautiful Sin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObxoPhLD9bo

Black Knight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRQKbD6bjgQ

Crescent Shield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx0zuanWrRw

Dawn of Destiny (stop at the 3rd album, they drop off HARD after that)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCsq0nRdgLs

Derdian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZL0jLoqueU

Dreamtale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPPKMSItTZo

Dungeon/Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsXSRe9x1Oo

Falconer (might be bordering on being too well-known, but eh)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi0A2LKPA_w

Heavenly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ytDeSJ3f0

Imagika
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWdM66E4d-E

Leverage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1P1Zksj0Ww

Seventh Wonder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDKiemSbFhs

Twilightning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDRZRfAXTMM

Vision Divine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5LPMcJD7Y4

Wildpath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeXQSTqOtgE

Wisdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaXzK8RPTxw

Wuthering Heights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7hm3gTi9sU

Thanx for these recs!

I already knew of Heavenly, Vision Divine, Falconer and Wuthering Heights, the last two veer a bit too much on the folk side of things for my taste. Will check the rest later today.

Hi,
take a look in some that are i appreciate most:
Insania - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Insania/3103
Cryonic Temple - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Cr ... emple/2357
Olympos Mons - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Olympos_Mons/7434
Thy Majestie - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Thy_Majestie/2037
Kaledon - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Kaledon/2779
Theocracy - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Theocracy/14509
Power Quest - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Power_Quest/3111
Galloglass - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Galloglass/6252
Dionysus - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Dionysus/3031
Twisted Tower Dire - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Tw ... r_Dire/495
Domine - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Domine/755
Human Forstress - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Hu ... tress/2031
Pyramaze - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Pyramaze/13287
Persuader - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Persuader/987

God it's great to have Conception's In Your Multitude finally. I only ever heard this through Youtube rips.

Persudaer I already knew, great stuff. I have not checked all of your recs yet, but out of the few I did, Domine and Thy Majestie are pretty much what I'm looking for.

Recommended reading:

"My Journey through United States Power Metal", a woman explains and reviews the nerdiest music genre ever.

Why is that remarkable? Because I thought – and you thought and she thought and we thought – that nerding around with razor-sharp falsetto voices is such a male-dominated profession that every male guilty of it might sometimes feel inclined to hide it in a cupboard. Bye, bye, cliché! A witty and knowledgeable little blog.

Dark Forest's new EP, Ridge and Furrow, is wonderful. Love this band, one of my favourite discoveries of recent years.


https://darkforest-uk.bandcamp.com/albu ... and-furrow

https://skullview.bandcamp.com/album/legends-of-valor

Jamming some Skullview today. Didn't know they had all their shit on bandcamp. This is pretty killer - they're not afraid to go nuts and just write these big epics with the whacked out vocals. It's cool as fuck.

Sad to see this once popular thread turn into a ghost town these days. 30+ days since last reply....yikes.

I don't see folks talking about the new Borealis. It's pretty sweet.

Which Powerwolf album should I start with?

Lupus Dei it's probably their most fun, but they are not a band well known for variety... even the last one could be a nice introduction
i'd only avoid at first Symphony of Sin since it's orchestral and the cover album Metallum Nostrum

Okay, so I tried listening to that new Onward album I mentioned awhile back, and it's...not good. The riffs are pretty decent, but the production is rather wonky - the guitars sound a bit squeaky (like maybe they were too close to the mic? not a guitarist but that's my best guess), the drums are tinny, and the vocals are too low in the mix a lot of the time. I guess that could be good, though, because Robert van War definitely hasn't improved, and honestly from what I recall of his performance on Attika's first two albums I think he was better there. Unfortunate, because some of the soloing especially seems really cool but there's just too much going against it for me to really like it. Looks like Opus's prediction was correct. Hope if the band does any more albums they get a different vocalist and a better producer.

Breaking my lurking habit to strongly agree. My album of the year. Great melodies, he's a very strong vocalist, and really tastefully integrated keys/orchestration.

Grab yo sword, grab yo axe. It's time to ride to ruin and the world's ending.



GATEKEEPER (Vancouver, BC) are back and it's time to saddle up and join us on a journey from Byzantium to Yorkshire and back. “Exiled King” is the debut single from our upcoming album From Western Shores. This is our first new song since 2019 and it recounts the trials and triumphs of Harald Hardrada, the last Viking king of Norway.

Ride with us. Fight with us. Die with us.

The album is our March 24, pre-orders online now and “Exiled King” is streaming on all platforms.

Be sure to save the song and add it to your playlists. Don't fuck around.

Bandcamp:
https://gatekeeper.bandcamp.com/

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/54siTMV ... LwX1M--5jw

What a horrible, horrible production! The vocals occupy the exact same frequencies as the guitars, making them pretty much inaudible (not that that is any bigger loss). And the drum machine must be from the 80s. The thinnest drum sound I have ever heard outside of toy keyboards. What a disaster! "Producer: Toby Knapp" How does these things happen?
The cover art is nice though.

Just wanted to mention to all the hardcore USPM fans out there - I was sorting through my album library and found a fantastic album I'm not sure I'd ever fully heard before that managed to slip through the cracks - that being The Awakening's sole full-length album, Invictus. Apparently this was a name changer for Axemaster, but it's far better than anything Axemaster ever put out. More ambitious, with some progressive elements, and a dark, ominous tone. I'd like to review it when I have time and a few more listens under my belt, but I thought I'd share with the community as I don't recall ever seeing it mentioned. Here's a sample:



Best USPM I've uncovered in a while for sure. Just when you think you've heard almost everything the genre has to offer, something comes to knock you on your ass...shows how you never truly can fully explore a genre 100%, there's always rocks to overturn somewhere!

This Iron Fate - Crimson Messiah album... along with Glacier, Sanhedrin and Sonja, maybe the best new trad metal going. This shit is amazing.

Musically that was pretty good, almost a thrash feel to it which I like in my USPM, but the vocals, while not terrible, are missing the X factor and don't match the quality of the music. Maybe if they weren't mixed so far out front.
The lyrics are rubbish too, which doesn't help the vocalists cause at all.
It's an interesting and obscure find tho.1995 as we all know was not a good time for this sorta stuff.

It was on the 2nd listen that Iron Fate impressed me. Powerful, classy stuff. Straight forward mix of USPM and Euro PM. I've only heard the 2 promo songs so far, so I can't speak for the quality of the whole album yet.

I haven't been obsessed with a new band like this in a while. Been replaying it a shitload. The Dragonchaser review up on MA here really does do it justice.