Dragonwriter
First Post
My pleasure.
As an example of Power Metal, I present a couple of tracks from the German band “Wizard.” Power Metal tends to be on the expansive (or a bit over-the-top) side musically and lyrically. It also tends to draw on a lot of fantasy elements. (According to Wikipedia, there are two classes of Power Metal: American and European. American emphasizes guitar, largely removes keyboards and tends to use a high-pitch vocalist; European uses more melody and is a bit slower, on average. American also tends to have some overlap with Speed Metal, while European overlaps a bit with Progressive Metal.)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nByBxNVOp9o]Wizard - Call To The Dragon[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGzI27NiLrQ]Serpent’s Venom – Wizard[/ame]
Progressive Metal is somewhat hard to describe. I suppose the best way for me to phrase it is a movement through more than one musical style in the course of a single track. In my opinion, Progressive bands are also the ones trying to push the boundaries of their music (Rush and Yes, for instance, are both Progressive Rock bands and did a lot in pushing the boundary). As an example of Progressive, here’s a little “Symphony X” and “Stratovarius.” Both of them also overlap into Power Metal (Symphony X is American, Stratovarius is European). I just wish I could get a complete video of Symphony X’s “The Odyssey,” their 24-minute retelling of the classic myth.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmx6Gc6UOrk]Symphony X – Wicked[/ame]
Looks like this one got a little cut, but so be it.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4cW5uEqfG8&feature=related]Symphony X – Accolade II[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljor_b1DiY8]Stratovarius – Hunting High And Low[/ame]
Symphonic Metal tends to be very sweeping and grandiose and utilize more melodic styles than often seen in other genres (except, perhaps, Progressive). Symphonic bands will also, sometimes, use instruments not considered “metal-oriented,” so to speak. Things like violin, trumpet, etc. and others more commonly used in Classical music. And as an example of Symphonic Metal, here is Nightwish (and is also considered Gothic Metal, though I think that is due to having a female vocalist).
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6RuDVwXNLM]Nightwish – Gethsemane[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJ6XNfgqC8]Nightwish – Sleeping Sun[/ame]
Now, I’m not an expert, and a lot of this info can be found on Wikipedia (right here). And there is often a goodly portion of overlap between genres. It tends to make classifying a given band a bit tricky.
Ooh, nice links renau1g. I may give the Boneyard a try… I get absolutely no Iron Maiden in my area, and very little Rush.
Does Lithium play a lot of Green Day? If so, I won't be giving them a try... For some reason, Green Day's singer gives me a headache. And so I never listen to Green Day.
