Listened to a Hercules album (the new one). Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Definitly needs a better singer, though. Parts of it made me think of a lower grade Isengarde playing power metal.
I literally have my own private access to a surf break so I would never get anything done working from home, in fact I had the dy off the other day to do some renovation and spent half of the day surfing
I am going to dedicate this topic to the obscure, forgotten gems of 80's style traditional heavy, speed or power metal. Anybody who wishes to discuss it are welcome to discuss it here. What this topic is for is introducing other people to the gems of these genres that they should own but probably haven't heard about. Samples are much appreciated, since simple namedropping will probably NOT make a lot of people check out the bands you mentioned. If there are no samples on youtube, or anywhere else, at least include some sort of description of the sound.
To start the thread, I am going to showcase some of my personal favourites. Some of these might be quite famous in their home countries, but they are practically unheard of outside of them.
The first band I am going to showcase is one of my peronal favourites: Aria from Russia.
This is really some excellent fucking heavy metal, sung in their mother toungue. People have called them a "Russian Iron Maiden" and some such, and to a certain extent this might apply, but it's not completely true either, since they have a very unique sound. IMO especially the debut album is excellent. I have also been told that the debut (Megalomania) was in fact the first metal album released in the Soviet Union, but since I have little knowledge of the early Russian underground scene, I cannot really comment on the authenticity of this statement. I know it predates Kruiz' metal releases (also fucking excellent speed metal) and Korrozia Metalla's releases (band used to be good thrash, but sucks now). Read reviews and listen to Aria:
The second band I am going to showcase is Mindless Sinner from my own home country, Sweden.
This is some excellent rocking heavy metal part of what is sometimes referred to as the first wave of Swedish heavy metal (lots of great bands to be found, like Heavy Load, Axewitch, Hiroshima and so on). Really great riffs in a quite melodic but still riff driven 80's heavy metal style. Listen and read reviews:
The next band would be something that apparently a lot of South Americans have heard of, being the original band of a certain Paul Gillman (later in the band/solo project Gillman), being Arkangel from Venezuela.
This is a really good heavy metal band. MA labels them as Speed/Power, which is something I do not really understand, since to me, it is straight up heavy metal. It sounds a bit like Riot from the States sometimes, and there's a lot of Priest in there, but they also have this special vibe that's a bit hard to describe. Lyrics are in Spanish, but when it's this good, it doesn't matter if you can't understand a word they are saying. MA page (only one review for one album) and youtube links:
And finally in this opening post, I am going to showcase a speed metal band from Canada, being Assault from Vancouver.
This band which released only one album of completely awesome speed metal packed with great riffs might be somewhat heard of in Canada (I don't know really) or some Annihilator fans might know of them perhaps simply because of their ties to said band. This one album they released though,is something that should be a classic, And I'm nearly willing to bet that this band would have been huge had they continued. Right now the album is apparently quite rare, and this band is all but forgotten by most metalheads, which is a real shame.
They're all cult bands. Just because they aren't talked about like Metallica, Iron Maiden or Opeth doesn't mean they're very obscure, plus with the thrash revivalist moment, all these old school acts are getting more attention.
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Kat, polish heavy/thrash act. They enjoy cult following in Poland and are unknown abroad.
The following song is from their 1988 album, "Oddech Wymarlych Swiatow". Tjhe song is quite cool, try it.
Fun fact: they supported Metallica on their first visit to Poland in 1987.
Exhumator. Bulgarian blackened speed/thrash one-man project who formed in 1980 and disbanded sometime in the late '90s or early 2000s. They put out some great stuff.
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Acid: '80s Belgian speed metal who released three full-lengths, but were never particularly noticed. They were also female fronted.
To requote your own words concerning Atrophy... "how is Acid obscure?" Acid were and are better known than Atrophy ever was. Even when they released their first two albums almost no-one had herad of Atrophy whereas Acid was actually relatively quite big when they released their albums.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal
Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
Hm, interesting. Always was left with the impression that Atrophy were better known than Acid.
Maybe due to the fact Atrophy were on Roadrunner? At the time Roadrunner had a gazillion bands (also exhorder f.e.)
Atrophy only toured Europe once (as far as I can remember) as opening act for Sacred Reich. Acid played a lot of metal festvials at the time and also toured Erope quite a bit.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal
Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
The key factor here might be age, Vezzy. Old men like Marcel and me remember those times from our own experience, so we have no problems assessing what was more and what was less known in the 80's. How old are you?
Exhumator. Bulgarian blackened speed/thrash one-man project who formed in 1980 and disbanded sometime in the late '90s or early 2000s. They put out some great stuff.
I just listened to this full album, and I can't get into it at all - some parts are kinda cool, but others make me cringe. You keep mentioning not liking bands because of bad vocals, so I find it odd how you like this band so much.
BTW, good call with that Acid song. That one has always been my favorite from their debut.
I just listened to this full album, and I can't get into it at all - some parts are kinda cool, but others make me cringe. You keep mentioning not liking bands because of bad vocals, so I find it odd how you like this band so much.
BTW, good call with that Acid song. That one has always been my favorite from their debut.
Because: 1) Vocals only matter if they significantly add or detract to the music. 2) Wartime's music sucks. 3) Exhumator's vocals are in Bulgarian.
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Hm... I dont remember that being my question. I never asked about your overall thoughts on music. You may wanna take another look at the quote... or the post above it.
Anyhow, I'm sure most of you know about Stormwich. They're a cross of Maiden & Helloween. I particularly favor their first album: Walpurgis Night. I personally have not met many people who've heard of'em in my part of town.
Hi guys check out first demo song and give us your comments ans feedback
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Also, I've found a rather cool demo-only band called Talisphere. Kinda like Fates Warning (Arch-era), although a bit more aggressive. The production is better than what you hear on youtube.
Hey all. I'm back from an absence due to being really busy with university studies and I'm happy to see the thread I started alive. I'm gonna start by seconding the Talisphere reccomendation. Talisphere is a truly forgotten gem. I am then going to go about reccomending a demo by a USPM band called Forte. The demo is called Dementia By Design and completely rocks.
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I have heard of Satan, although I've never given them a listen. I did know that Pariah had some members from Satan, but I didn't know they were the same band, as well as Blind Fury! Will check them out, thanks.
I stumbled across this thread by accident, completely forgetting I posted here once haha, being that it's 6:30 am here & I cant sleep, I thought it'd be cool to resurface this thread, as all ive been listening to the past few months is oldschool Speed/Power Metal.
I dont know the extent of obscurity to these bands, but what is known to some may be completely unknown & obscure to others. Anyway, these are some of my personal favorites:
Scanner: These guys hail from Germany & are still around today, though their last album was released in '02. They've had countless line-up changes, with the only original member being their Guitarist Axel "A.J." Julius. Oddly enough, their first vocalist bears a striking resemblance vocally to Kai Hansen & the album pretty much sounds like the Gamma Ray album you've never heard.
http://youtu.be/-8oZ6L6D5Cg
http://youtu.be/e9wNiNheyPY
http://youtu.be/JFbbvecfnqE
The second band ill mention is called Lords of the Crimson Alliance, they are virtually unknown by most metalheads & there really isnt much info about'em anywhere, only rumors & speculations. Hailing from the US, they released one self titled album, which is truly a forgotten gem of this era.
http://youtu.be/iskSd8fA8B4
http://youtu.be/u9LNRmR1gIs
http://youtu.be/_abMQOE_fls
This third band may be better known to an extent, also hailing from the states, they're a straight US Power act & have some form of acclaim for once having A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister fame in their ranks. Although stated they were a side project, they infact were not. Cities was started by the Vocalist & his brother who played drums in the band. Cities unfortunatley only released one album & a handful of demo's & ep's, this band is highly overlooked & couldve been so much more.
http://youtu.be/HfFe6HZ-CCM
http://youtu.be/QmQ4uypu9aQ
http://youtu.be/gwwwutAHlGw
Last but not least: Thunder Way, these guys are from Albania, only releasing one album & although not from the 80's they play an 80's styled Power Metal with slight neo classical influences. Their first & only album was released in '93, so not too far a stretch. They split in '96, it's unfortunate they never followed up their debut as it had virtually no bad songs.
http://youtu.be/W4Y9__t73do
http://youtu.be/38ZCPMwQLJs
http://youtu.be/HSXb_Tn0-0A
I saw someone already mention Warlord, so I wont bring'em up, but if you've never heard'em definitley worth a listen.
So there it is, 4 killer mostly unknown & obscure bands. Enjoy.