Ok, by now I hope you guys are full of suggestions! We're entering December and have had 11 months to devour as much of this genre as possible.

Was anyone else a little underwhelmed again this year? I certainly was... but.. lately I've heard a few really stellar releases that might be saving the genre. I KNOW there are more out there so let's discuss favorites.

For me, Shadowside - Inner Monster Out and Pagan's Mind - Heavenly Ecstasy are battling it out for #1. Other greats are Borealis - Fall From Grace, Iron Savior - The Landing, ReinXeed - 1912 and MAYBE Axenstar - Aftermath. Honorable mentions might be Serenity - Death & Legacy which is nice, so is Jag Panzer - The Scourge Of The Light, but they're really missing that something "special" that the others have. I'm trying to get my hands on Ancient Bards and a few others.

But seriously: if you haven't heard Shadowside or Pagan's Mind... get thee to a record store. Like yesterday.

Here's a few more good albums from this year: new Riot is full of good hard-rocking tunes with great vocals, all-around great musicanship and songwriting. The last two Satan's Host albums, both released this year, completely overshadow this year's Jag Panzer album (which is not bad by any means, but when compared to Satan's Host, it's just falls off the mark). They even made a good Beatles cover. Manilla Road's new album isn't as good as "Voyager", but as usual with Manilla Road, it's still very good.

Is Solar Fragment any good? I just made the profile visible last night and it sounds like they mix power/heavy with a bit of progressive elements.

Why does every thread on this site turn into Japanese power metal.

It's worse than 4chan, I swear.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 01.12.2011 at 23:01

Why does every thread on this site turn into Japanese power metal.

It's worse than 4chan, I swear.

Nah, it isn't, yet.

Not until I learn how to upload a dynamic avatar here... else I'll stick with .GIF anim. <<

Written by Guest on 01.12.2011 at 21:54

The best albums so far, in alphabetical order, the albums released by:

Thanks for posting a list. I'll check some of these out but honestly I'm a bit skeptical of any list including Alestorm and Blood Stain Child. Two bands that failed to impress me in any way.

No new names to offer I'm afraid. Haven't had the time to discover that many new bands this year. Haven't heard Shadowside yet, but I really enjoyed Pagan's Mind and ReinXeed. The new Rhapsody Of Fire wasn't too bad either and I somehow actually liked HammerFall's album too.

Ok for me there is nothing in Pm2011 I havnt herad any album, all waht i ahve heard due and thank's to MS sucked big time, I cant judghe Iced Earth, but even whit out hearing album I would say IC wins because one song was more powerfull how others what i heard in MS

From my part, I can recommend the new Van Canto, it's cheesier than the previous two, and the track organization is not very well put together, but the songs just kill and I've very much enjoyed them. Pagan's Mind is a hit as well.

Dystopia by Iced Earth wins this year, easily.
The only album that could possibly rival it would be From Refuge To Ruin by Dark Empire, but I don't think they'll release it this year.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 01.12.2011 at 19:30

Is Solar Fragment any good? I just made the profile visible last night and it sounds like they mix power/heavy with a bit of progressive elements.

I liked it quite a bit....but not a good PM album for an almost exclusively extreme fan....a little too flowery.

Halcyon Way - Indoctrination (these guys thoroughly impressed me last year with their "Building The Towers" album, and the 5 new songs on "Indoctrination" are equally awesome!) Excellent prog/power with a hint of death too!

Stratovarius - Elysium (whilst not quite in the same league as their classics, it's a further step in the right direction, I was impressed with this one)

Hibria - Blind Ride (a great blend of traditional, power and thrash from brazil. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a very fun album to listen to )

Conflicted - Never Be Tamed (A very atmospheric blend of prog and power, that is at once fresh and powerful. I was very impressed with this one!)

Iron Savior - The Landing (This album definitely has more Blind Guardian influences than any of their other albums, and is another great album by them)

Written by Angelic Storm on 02.12.2011 at 12:20


Iron Savior - The Landing (This album definitely has more Blind Guardian influences than any of their other albums, and is another great album by them)

I forgot about it , what i heard uits good, yes IE + IS kick PM ass this year

Oh yeah I forgot about Hibria liked their release too. Can only agree that it is'nt anything groundbreaking, but a solid album for sure.

Written by GT on 02.12.2011 at 16:25

Oh yeah I forgot about Hibria liked their release too. Can only agree that it is'nt anything groundbreaking, but a solid album for sure.

It is a very solid, and enjoyable album to be sure. I liked it a lot, I'm surprised more people haven't heard of them actually.

Oh, and "Dystopia" is one of the high points of the year power metal wise, definitely!

Agreed with Angelica about Stratovarius stuff

Stratovarius - Elysium (whilst not quite in the same league as their classics, it's a further step in the right direction, I was impressed with this one)

but I think to more than this Shadowside's Inner Monster Out was a powerful output and respectably they outstripped everyone!! Rest...I didn't had a great listen thou[ was busy in listening xXxdeathcorexXx and Thrash Metal] but will gonna listen it. Great Thread.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 03.12.2011 at 10:50


but I think to more than this Shadowside's Inner Monster Out was a powerful output and respectably they outstripped everyone!!

Glad to see you like it! Seriously, after I heard Shadowside, all other power metal albums lost a point.


And re: Hibria. Definitely a great album this year but they're solidly Heavy and not Power metal. Though, I hope everyone hears their completely badass cover of the Frank Sinatra tune "I'm gonna live till I die"

Written by Susan on 03.12.2011 at 15:43

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 03.12.2011 at 10:50

And re: Hibria. Definitely a great album this year but they're solidly Heavy and not Power metal. Though, I hope everyone hears their completely badass cover of the Frank Sinatra tune "I'm gonna live till I die"

Will surely check it out...Thanks but I was expecting new album from Soulspell unfortunately nothing happened. If they would have come out with their precious stuff it would have great competition for Shadowside or may be better than that.

Written by Susan on 03.12.2011 at 15:43
And re: Hibria. Definitely a great album this year but they're solidly Heavy and not Power metal. Though, I hope everyone hears their completely badass cover of the Frank Sinatra tune "I'm gonna live till I die"

The speed of a lot of the songs and the style of a few of the solos steer the music more in the direction of power than standard heavy metal. Although the traditional style is evident all over the album too. A bit like how Primal Fear are classed as power, yet they also have a lot of traditional metal elements in their sound. I'd class them as a hybrid of traditional and power, with a little touch of thrash thrown in too. And yep, the Sinatra cover is awesome! xD

To be honest this years been pretty poor for Power metal I think, with a few exceptions. Some decent one's I've heard that aren't already mentioned are the new Bloodbound, Falconer and Stormwarrior albums.

Written by R'Vannith on 03.12.2011 at 16:21

To be honest this years been pretty poor for Power metal I think, with a few exceptions. Some decent one's I've heard that aren't already mentioned are the new Bloodbound, Falconer and Stormwarrior albums.

The Bloodbound album I have heard, and is very good. They mix melodic power with a standard, more aggressive style very well. Will need to check out the other two though...

Written by R'Vannith on 03.12.2011 at 16:21

To be honest this years been pretty poor for Power metal I think, with a few exceptions. Some decent one's I've heard that aren't already mentioned are the new Bloodbound, Falconer and Stormwarrior albums.

Yeah Bloodbound was pretty nice but Falconer really disappointed me! It was sad since on paper this should be a great year for power metal and then... blah from so many. Thank god for newer bands keeping it all fresh.

I'm listening to Stormwarrior again. I originally heard it and didn't like it but maybe it just needs time..?

Bloodbound have always been fairly standard stuff for me but I was surprised by their latest effort.

I enjoyed the new Falconer, more-so than some of their more recent material. Stormwarrior's latest is a bit of a disappointment for me too, not up to the high bar set by the previous one.

Oh and speaking of a more aggressive style, the new Brainstorm is pretty good also.

Written by R'Vannith on 03.12.2011 at 16:55

Bloodbound have always been fairly standard stuff for me but I was surprised by their latest effort.

Oh and speaking of a more aggressive style, the new Brainstorm is pretty good also.

I've only heard the latest Bloodbound album, so couldn't compare it with previous material of theirs.

I was very disappointed with "Memorial Roots", but the latest Brainstorm was a lot better I thought. Far more memorable songs overall than their last album.

Written by R'Vannith on 03.12.2011 at 16:55

Bloodbound have always been fairly standard stuff for me but I was surprised by their latest effort.

Ahh, see I'm just in love with Bloodbound's debut album, which they've never really been able to match. The sophomore release was quite bad (for me) but they've been steadily climbing back up. I haven't lost faith yet

Written by Susan on 03.12.2011 at 23:37

Written by R'Vannith on 03.12.2011 at 16:55

Bloodbound have always been fairly standard stuff for me but I was surprised by their latest effort.

Ahh, see I'm just in love with Bloodbound's debut album, which they've never really been able to match. The sophomore release was quite bad (for me) but they've been steadily climbing back up. I haven't lost faith yet

You've described my feeling toward Bloodbound perfectly
And though I value both albums with Urban Breed on them more than the latest one, it's still a good effort.

I hope people take you seriously somewhere.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 06.12.2011 at 00:00

I hope people take you seriously somewhere.

Don't lie....

Written by Angelic Storm on 03.12.2011 at 16:23

The Bloodbound album I have heard, and is very good. They mix melodic power with a standard, more aggressive style very well. Will need to check out the other two though...

I was very disappointed with the new bloodbound album. I'm a huge fan of their third album Tabula Rasa. Nosferatu is very good too. And it has largely to do with Urban Breed, the vocalist, as he sang only on the first and third album, but not the second or the latest one =P

Written by Pazu on 02.12.2011 at 05:04

Dystopia by Iced Earth wins this year, easily.

It's more heavy metal than power metal, but it was real good.