Power Metal

It was the first year of the new millennium when Iron Maiden dropped their comeback album with the re-recruited "deserter" Bruce Dickinson. It was an album of salvation, an album of relief, an album that landed at the right time in the…

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: November 13, 2020Production: Jacob HansenAlbum length: 61.47 minGenre: Progressive Metal/Power MetalRating: 9.0/10 Pyramaze have always been an interesting band when it comes to reviewing albums.…

Label: Frontiers Music Srl.Release date: November 6, 2020Production: Roland GrapowAlbum length: 60.21 minGenre: Power MetalRating: 9.5/10 Lords Of Black are a Spanish quartet founded in 2014 by guitarist Tony Hernandez and Chilean…

Label: Napalm RecordsRelease date: 10/23/2020Genre: Power MetalRating: 9.0/10 HammerFall are, let's just say, the "saviors" of power metal. And even if you don't buy that, they're one of the most visible figures tied to the genre,…

Label: Napalm RecordsRelease date: 8/21/2020Production: Andrew KingsleyAlbum length: 55.56 minGenre: Power Metal Power metal might not be the first genre that comes to mind when you think of Canada, but the fact is that one of the…

"Vanishing Point's new album "Dead Elysium" picks up the story right where its predecessor "Distant Is The Sun" (2014) left off. Fans had to wait a long time for it again, but the wait paid off."

"“Creatures and freaks like the ones conjured up by the imagination of the underworld and sent after Warkings by the devil have no hope. “Revenge” delivers exactly what this band's fans demand, seek out and want."

"Evolution stopped a long time ago, but the formula is one of a kind, and these seasoned old foxes know exactly how to crank out a fresh batch of true-metal marches that will keep power metal fans under the spell of that primal German…

"From A Dying Ember" is a superb new Falconer release that will delight every loyal follower of the band. They stay true to their musical recipe and don't budge an inch from it. With this album the band has also officially retired, and…

"“We Are the Night” is a fascinating, let's just call it melodic metal, release that once again bursts with a top-shelf dose of predatory pomp rhetoric, thanks to a new manifesto of big conceptual punch from Magnus Karlsson."

"»Firewind« will be hard for any other power metal album to top this year. Firewind have dropped the best power metal album of 2020 so far, and chances are it'll stay that way!"

With “Fields of Blood,” Grave Digger has at least partly made up for some of the below-par albums it put out over the past ten years.

"Artistically, AlogiA have outgrown their previous studio efforts in maturity with the new album."

"It looks like that evening in Graz, the fun factor won with Warkings, who delivered the ultimate peak of power metal thrills."

With “IIII,” Messrs. Kürsch and Schaffer haven't let anyone down. They've made a top-notch, eclectic album that's sure to please every fan who was sick of waiting fifteen years for the next chapter of the Demons & Wizards project.

"The third witches' gathering, dancing with the Devil!"

Babymetal proved at their sold-out Gasometer show that they're no one-hit wonder. Their popularity is growing fast. And with multiple generations in the crowd, the next visit could be even bigger.

"Victor Smolski, whom we've always remembered in the best possible light, delivers a new top-shelf power metal read with the Almanac album "Rush Of Death". It's the hardest Almanac album yet, and in energy it sits close to the Rage-era…

"Everyone in the venue had a blast in that spectacular power metal carousel that evening. The energy was excellent once again, and it's truly remarkable how HammerFall, despite the declining interest in power metal, keep drawing the crowds…

"Paeth has basically shown up to the party a good 15 years late with this one."

"Did anyone actually doubt it? The extreme theme park keeps rolling at undiminished speed. Not (yet) at light speed, but extreme in every other way. Just like the (self-parodying) album title says!"

Venue: Ljubljana / Orto Bar / SloveniaDate: Sunday, 13 Oct 2019 Finnish melodic death metallers Omnium Gatherum have always seemed to get less attention than they deserve, overshadowed by some of their more established compatriots. They…

"HammerFall didn't let us down this time either. The masters stick to their tried-and-true formula, which has always lit up the room and which they've got down cold. "

Your mandatory Sunday metal communion with Queensryche, Firewind and Mirror Plain at CUK Kino Šiška

"Here are ten hand-picked power metal albums that came out twenty years ago, left a real mark on the power metal scene and the metal world in general, and make for especially sweet trips down memory lane."

" "Kill Or Get Killed" is a true-blue, hardened shrapnel shell that hands fans of Iron Savior, as well as fans of the whole Euro power metal genre, immodestly put, a true heavenly manna of fresh, boundless delights from the classic metal…

"All in all, the mission is more or less accomplished. Sammet sounds fresh again on the project's new release, even if it still holds a few things back."

"Powered by the phenomenal Brainstorm and the excellent Mob Rules, a power metal storm in Ljubljana's Orto bar stirred up retro-nostalgic feelings of power metal's golden days!"

"Mob Rules are back with a great new album, "Beast Reborn", one of the few standard-bearers of the first power metal generation still defiantly carrying on in their basic, old-school form of ossified Euro power metal."

Even as we grow richer inside over the years, slowly discovering and exploring all sorts of genre spheres of music (where all that matters is whether the music is good or not), something remains undeniable. Emotions, passions that breed…

Rage, the Hamburg metal veterans, and Firewind, fronted by Ozzy's guitar hero Gus G, hit the road together and make a stop in Salzburg!

"Anyone who swears by epic, manly and smart power metal will be more than thrilled with »The Deviant Chord«. It's a thoroughly classic album with just the right dose of modern songwriting and production touches, which means it's exactly…

"After 18 years and more than 1,000 shows in over 50 countries around the world, Sabaton proved once again on Monday night that they're a force to be reckoned with and that their moment is far from over."

Bridear2/20/2017Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia Bridear, a Japanese all-female metal quintet formed in 2011 in the city of Fukuoka, stopped by the Slovenian capital on their European tour. The girls came to present their debut…

"HammerFall remain a waterproof, rustproof machine that keeps up an incredible level of performance conviction and a unique charm and charisma."

Location: Graz / Explosiv / AustriaDate: Saturday, 28.01.2017 The day had come when the author of this piece, a die-hard Grave Digger fan with a long career of fandom behind them, set off for their (round-number) tenth show by this…

"»Titancraft« is a somewhat friendlier album on the ears than its predecessors. Even "cheerful" (Freedom Call even come to mind), bright and bubbling with positivity. It sticks to the tried-and-tested formula."

"Several times the singer mentioned getting goosebumps from the crowd's response. I'm convinced that a guy who gets such an emotional reaction will give it everything to keep getting that “fix”, and that's exactly what Sabaton do, which in…

Location: Graz / Explosiv / AustriaDate: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 With interest in classic European power metal sinking all around, the tour by the legendary Hamburg heavy metallers Gamma Ray was a real balm for the few lonely…

" 'Live at the Final Frontier' is an excellent live document that fans of this sadly often overlooked but terrific German power metal band will be thrilled with and then some."

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 26.04.2015Album length: 54.01 minProduction: Piet SielckGenre: Heavy Metal / Power Metal The Lord works in mysterious ways, doesn't he? You produce your own studio album, and a few years later you…

"Despite the lousy sound and monotonous lighting, Gus G. pulled off more than a solid show, though we could definitely have used one more Firewind song"

Location: Graz / PPC / AustriaDate: Monday, 09.02.2015 HammerFall are back at full concert gallop! Nearly two decades have flown by in a stormy, lightning-fast blur since 1997, when the band was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, and…

"For Sabaton, Monday's show was already their fifth in the Croatian capital."

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 02/19/2014Production: Piet SielckAlbum length: 55.06 minGenre: Heavy Metal / Power Metal What should you expect from the eighth studio album from German power metallers Iron Savior, led since 1996 by…

" Gamma Ray remain a fortress of German metal at its finest live, and it was well worth catching the band at a proper full-length show after that short encounter at CUK Kino Šiška in Ljubljana last year! "

"Primal Fear, with Tom Naumann in the current touring lineup, the proven Beyrodt/Naumann guitar tandem that reads each other like a book, and a great new studio album, »Delivering the Black«, prove they're still a majestic fortress of…

"If the use of backing tracks hadn't spoiled the impression, you'd say this was an unforgettable heavy metal party, where all those sworn to the solid sounds of metal distortion wouldn't ask for anything more to feed their souls. But a…

"A band drops a killer new album at the start of the year, then announces its official retirement in the middle of summer."

""The Landing" is an incredibly mature new studio album from Iron Savior. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best things this band has ever put out in its career."

Performing: Death Destruction, Amaranthe, Vicious Rumors, HammerFallLocation: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / SloveniaDate: 03.12.2011 HammerFall is that musical outfit that hit the scene at the right time, in the right place. Back…

Performers: Bloodbound, Sabaton, HammerFallLocation: Zagreb / Boogaloo / CroatiaDate: 08.04.2009 The concrete yard in front of Zagreb's Boogaloo club can be a pretty interesting and surprising place about an hour before showtime.…

Performing: Bloodbound, Sabaton, HammerFallLocation: Maribor / UŠC Leon Štukelj / SloveniaDate: Tuesday, 07.04.2009 HammerFall! Thirteen years have flown by since their debut album. Now, wiser and more seasoned with seven studio…

"Ghost Love Score, and then for the grand finale the obligatory Wish I Had An Angel, which set the Palasport hall on fire and sent it sky-high for good. And that's how an unforgettable 1 hour 40 minute evening with Nightwish wrapped up, the…

"After two mediocre follow-ups to the successful debut, the one that turned what started as a mere side project, "Iron Savior", into an actual band of the same name in 1997, comes "Condition Red", easily the best release so far from these…