This page is a place for the leftovers. A page for bands that, for whatever reason, don't have a spot of their own within The Power of Metal. Maybe I haven't heard enough of the band yet. Maybe I don't know anything about the band. Maybe the band just isn't good enough to merit its own spotlight, and only appears here because I think people would be interested in hearing them. Some here normally get classified with the traditional power metal groups, but I don't actually own any of their albums, so it's hard to do much for them. Some are a bit of an extension away from the pure power metal core, but definitely worth checking out if you're interested in expanding your tastes slightly. Some are even totally out of the range of metal, but still good enough to meet my discriminating standards.

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Amorphis

This is one of the few discs I've ever gotten from a band which I heard solely on the radio. Much thanks goes out to RebelRadio, without which I never would have heard this band. I was attracted by the good guitarwork, interesting melodies, and unique instrumentation. The thing that's slightly strange about this sextet from Finland is that the vocals come in death grunts half the time and clean the other half. Apparently, they used to be a more straight-ahead death metal band, but they are far from that now. One slight problem I have with them is that they are too repetitive. They'll go through a riff a few too many times in a song without enough variation. I have the CD "Elegy," which is based on poems from the "Kanteletar," a collection of ancient Finnish tales. Thus, it makes sense that the music has a folk feel to it in sound and rhythm, with chordian, sitar, tambourine, and keyboards involved. They are much like Skyclad in this respect, but beyond that, are one of the more unique bands around today.

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new Anacrusis

I picked up this band's final CD, "Screams and Whispers" at a used store because I'd just seen that it was Sentinel Steel's Album of the Year for 1993. I don't agree with that accolade, since "Insanity & Genius" and "The Missing Link" are both much better albums from that year. Still, this four-piece from Missouri has put together an interesting CD. It's very difficult to label: definitely progressive, but beyond that, the best I can come up with is 'civilized thrash.' Kenn Nardi writes most of the music, is one of the two guitarists, and the singer. His voice changes from an Andi Deris-like sound, to a throaty growl, to a blood-curdling scream. The lyrics seem pretty thoughtful, and the musicianship is quite good. There's not a lot of pleasing melodies to be found though. Anyway, it's a pretty unique album, and I'm glad I have it in my collection.

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new Angra

Angra is a relatively new band out of Brazil that plays excellent classic power metal. I have their first full-length album, "Angels Cry." The music is fast and melodic, much like Helloween, except it has an even bolder meshing with classical music, provided mostly by the extensive use of keyboards. Andre Matos has an operatic voice much like Michael Kiske's, except that it only runs at half power. I don't find him a great singer, I think he just sings great vocal lines. If Kiske ever returned to power metal, this is a band I'd like to seem him sing with. Not that that would happen anyway, since Matos is the most integral part of the band's sound. The unfortunate thing about "Angels Cry" is that it lacks consistency. The three songs on it taken from their EP, "Evil Warning" are pure genius, but the rest just can't compare, bordering on wussiness at times. I've never fully listened to their second album, "Holy Land," but I believe it's a bit of a departure from their first. If you're looking for more "Angels Cry" type material, definitely check out "Theater of Fate," the last album from Matos's old band, Viper.

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new Annihilator

Annihiator is the vehicle for musician Jeff Waters to showcase his incredible skill. Classically trained, Waters plays highly technical, melodic thrash. I was quite pleased to "discover" this band recently, and quickly snatched up their first two albums, "Alice in Hell" and "Never, Neverland." Waters plays all the instruments except for drums and vocals on the albums, which has supposedly led to problems on tour: the other musicians had trouble keeping up with him. Due to the non-stop speed and skill, the music borders on power metal. The vocalists are slightly rough, but certainly nothing extreme. Every single solo is just perfect, and the guitar sound is clean and rich. The lyrics are a little simple at times (e.g. "Kraf Dinner"), but at least the two most popular topics in metal (TV preachers and Mother Earth) are covered in a single album! Annihilator has a few more albums, but from what I've read, never have regained the mastery presented on their first two. This is one of the better "discoveries" I've made in a long time, and I'm quite surprised I'd never heard of this band before. Any fan of heavy metal oughta love this stuff.

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A.S.A.P. (Adrian Smith)

Adrian Smith is another spawn of Iron Maiden. Like Bruce Dickinson, his solo project is less heavy than anything Maiden has done. The album "Silver and Gold" is basically straight hard rock. There's nothing really bad about it, but it could fit in on most any radio station unnoticed. Adrian does the vocals and is one of three guitarists. There's also a prominent keyboard player. As expected, much of this album sounds like the Maiden B-side "Reach Out", except not quite as good. It's a nice disc if you want a break from the more powerful stuff yet still want quality music. I found this disc at a used store for ninety-nine cents, so it's definitely worth it for me.

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Conception

Conception is a band from Norway, often classified as power metal, with a solid nod to prog-metal. I've heard one of their albums, "Parallel Minds." Conception plays what I call "empty" music, meaning that they don't lay down a wall of sound. Notes are distinct and carefully placed, and silence is not avoided. Despite what one could call a self-imposed handicap, they are still able to make the music fast and heavy, creating a very recognizable sound. The singer is slightly breathy at times, but good otherwise, and the lyrics are your basic abstract progressive mumbo-jumbo. A solid band, but I'd have to hear some more of their stuff to get a better opinion.

newOk, I've heard more. And I like their first album, "The Last Sunset" a lot more than their other stuff. It's a lot closer to power metal, fast, with a lot of drums. But it still has plenty of unique touches, like a lot of classical guitaring. If I was going to buy a Conception album, I'd definitely get their first first.

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new Crimson Glory

I've seen Crimson Glory classified as a classic progressive metal band. Frankly, I don't see what's all that "progressive" about them. I guess they do use quite a bit of keyboards and acoustic guitars. They're a pretty good band either way though, don't get me wrong. I've got the second of their three albums, "Transcendence." Anyway, they play interesting stuff with good melodies, and while heavy at times, it is fairly thin sounding. Some of this has to do with the ultra-high (and pretty good) voice of the singer, Midnight. (Yep, that's his name. And the band wears masks too. People say they never should have gotten rid of the masks because that's when the music went bad.) The overall sound is kinda cool though, the whole album is very ethereal-sounding. I'd say they sound quite a bit like Queensryche, especially when the bouncy-bass gets going. Lyrically, they sing about women much of the time, which is kind of odd, and I guess dragons and red sharks are too.

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The Gathering

The Gathering are another one of those European bands, this one from the Netherlands. This, their second album was a definite change from their first, a "a classic in bombastic doomdeath with low grunting vocals mixed with female clean vocals." From my viewpoint, by this album they realized that they were a lot better than the music they were playing. I saw someone describe their CD Mandylion as "the most beautiful CD" he had ever heard. I may just have to agree with him. The key to the metamorphasis was the addition of singer Anneke van Giersbergen. She has a wonderful voice, and the music complements her perfectly. The music is smooth and melodic, perhaps a bit depressing at times, and nothing too fast, but always beautiful.

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Heaven's Gate

I've heard a few songs from this band, and they seem decent. They're nothing terribly original or anything, but they appear to know what they are doing. They're from Germany and clearly have Helloween influences. That's all I know about these guys.

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new Kamelot

Kamelot is a new power metal band from Florida. They are often labelled "progressive" because of their one guitarist/one keyboardist lineup, and the vocalist, Mark Vanderbilt sounds much like Midnight from Crimson Glory without the piercing highs. They prefer to be called power metal, but in truth, the most apt classification would be "medieval metal." Both the music and the lyrics convey the feeling of medieval times. With song titles like "The Gleeman" and "Crossing Two Rivers," they clearly like fantasy, although they don't explicitly refer to Robert Jordan. I have their second album, "Dominion," supposedly not the masterpiece that their debut, "Eternity" was, but still a very solid album. Thomas Youngblood (is that really his name?), the guitarist, writes most of the music, and Richard Warner, the drummer, takes care of the lyrics. It's very encouraging to hear music of this quality and style coming out of the U.S. today.

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Michael Kiske

He's not big enough to get his own band title, but he gets his own PAGE

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Running Wild

These are the "Pirates of Metal." They've been putting out albums forever, decent ones, but none of them terribly amazing, from what I've heard. Rock'n'Rolf is basically the whole band, writing the music and lyrics, playing lead guitar, and singing. There is nothing especially original about these guys, except for the fact that they like to sing about pirate-related affairs. They sound sort of like a cross between a German metal band and Iron Maiden. The CD I've heard, "Death or Glory," is supposedly their best. It's got some good songs, but simply can't compare with some of their German countrymen.

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new Sanctuary

Sanctuary was a promising power-metal-ish band in the late '80s, out of Seattle of all places. (With the special distinction of having the longest cumulative hair of any band ever.) Unfortunately, they only came out with two albums before half the band left and the other half went on as Nevermore. Some people believe that Nevermore never lived up to the promise of Sanctuary. I have Sanctuary's second album, "Into the Mirror Black," and I'd have to say that it is in fact superior to any of Nevermore's efforts. Singer Warrel Dane has quite a vocal range, and unlike a lot of operatic singers in metal bands, he gets quite a bit of power and feeling behind his voice. It goes along well with the music and lyrics, which are very dark. But unlike Nevermore's darkness, it is also pretty speedy, not nearly as crushing, and every chorus is quite memorable. Overall, the music is reasonably standard heavy metal, but it does certainly have its own distinctive tone.

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Ska

No, ska isn't a band, it's a type of music. I went to college my first year with metal being just about the only thing I'd enjoy listening to. And maybe somebody drugged me or something, but I came back liking ska. Ska originated in Jamaica, and is somewhat related to reggae except that it's a lot cooler. The main features are the rhythm, which places beats on the offbeats, and the instruments, which often include horns and keyboards. There are all many subdivisions in ska, just like metal. There's two-tone, ska-core, 3rd wave, even metal-ska (which I actually like the least. If you want to be loud, just be real metal, instead of faking it.) A lot of metal fans would probably think I'm some sort of clown for liking ska, but hey, they're the ones missing out.

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new Stratovarius

Stratovarius is a band whose name gives a very good description of their sound. 'Strato-' suggests the impression of light, airy, ethereal speed; '-varius' implies a classical component. The band delivers both. I'd heard parts of their earlier releases, and wasn't that impressed. It was decent power metal, but nothing special, and they seemed to rip off a lot of other bands. But they blew themselves away with their '96 release, "Episode." Definitely one of the best of the year, it's a power metal breakthrough. And it should be, for guitarist Timo Tolkki has assembled an all-star lineup for this Finland-based band. Tolkki himself is an excellent, fast guitarist, with clear classical influences. He's handed the singing duties over Timo Koltipelto, who is much more capable than Tolkki, gotten ex-Malmsteen keyboardist Jens Johanssen, and well-traveled German drummer Jorg Michel. They all work great together. "Episode" has some of the fastest songs I've heard, a couple of super-catchy tunes, some heavier ones, and a touching ballad or two. I hope they can keep this stuff up.

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new Viper

I picked up Viper's best album, "Theater of Fate," with the intention of getting it for my brother. Silly me, I should have gotten two, since after listening to it, I just had to keep it. The album sounds very much like Angra's "Angels Cry," which is sort of understandable since they share the same vocalist. But the music is very similar as well, which is strange, because Andre Matos is credited with only one song on the 35 minute album. Apparently he had a strong hand in the overall feel, however, including the orchestrated keyboards. I believe for this reason, the members of Viper no longer wanted him in the band. I haven't heard anything else from them, but for some more information on their other releases, check out Daniel's opinions

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Questions, comments, complaints? Let me know: gregie@students.uiuc.edu