Powerwolf - Lupus Dei

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Germany/Romania
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 192-320 kbps
Size - 68.88 MB

Powerwolf are a German band with a singer (and opera student) straight from the craggy mountains of Transylvania. Consequentially, instead of fantasy battles and the like, the band's lyrics are centered around vampires, werewolves, the devil and other creatures of the night. There is also a strange obsession with the Catholic church. Musically this is just perfect: crunchy guitars, great classic riffs backed by a church organ. It is suitingly bombastic stuff, but not too fast or needlessly filled with all kinds of symphonic arrangements. The all-important choruses are captivating and will keep popping up into your mind all through the rest of the day. The great and remarkable voice of Attila Dorn makes this highly uplifting release complete. Last year's album Bible of the Beast made it to my top-20 for 2009.

1. Intro (lupus demonae)
2. We take it from the living
3. Prayer in the dark
4. Saturday Satan
5. In blood we trust
6. Behind the leathermask
7. Vampires don't die
8. When the moon shines red
9. Mother Mary is a bird of pray
10. Tiger of Sabrod
11. Lupus dei
    

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Stormwarrior - Heading Northe

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Germany
Year of release - 2008
Bitrate - 256-320 kbps
Size - 79.43 MB

Alright, some very strong power metal with mostly Viking-related (yawn) lyrics. Appropriately "standard" stuff, Heading Northe is still a real pearl owing to the exceptionally powerful execution with an awesome, fat bass sound nice and upfront in the mix, and a very mean-sounding singer that, in contrast to some colleagues, has retained his nutsack. The album has a satisfying heaviness, the pace is mostly kept fast but the slower sections are not without grace and a seafaring, really quite Viking-y atmosphere. The riffs and choruses, the most important elements of any good power metal song, are top notch, especially on the opener and the defiant ("We'll never resign to...") The Holy Cross ("...never bow down to your lord!!"). Bands like Sonata Arctica and Freedom Call should be forced to attend these guys' practise sessions and take notes on how to really make power metal that honours its name.

1. Heading northe
2. Metal legacy
3. The holy cross
4. Iron gods
5. Ragnarök
6. The revenge of Asa Lande
7. Remember the oathe
8. Lion of the northe
9. Into the battle
10. And the valkyries ride
    

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Iron Fire - Revenge

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Denmark, actually
Year of release - 2006
Bitrate - 96 kbps (might warrant repost)
Size - 44.27 MB

Look at that name, that front cover, those track titles. You'd think these chaps play power metal or something. It doesn't stop there, either. The riffs, the choruses, the voice, the lyrics... Iron Fire do it by the book and they could recite it by heart. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of traditionalism if it's done well, and I's sharing it, aren't I? Trust me. They make use of all the clichés with skill and flair. Tracks like Wings of Rage, Fate of Fire, and Stand as King are simply anthemic, leaving you no choice but to shout along, bang your head and/or throw the horns. There's no more effective way of summarising Iron Fire's music (and not just this album, mind you) than to state that it's simply a whole lot of fun to listen to. And that, dear friends, is what power metal is for. Please enjoy; I would be sad if you didn't.

1. Wings of rage
2. Ironhead
3. Metal messiah
4. Whirling of doom
5. Savage prophecy
6. Fate of fire
7. Stand as king
8. Brotherhood of the brave
9. Alone in the dark
10. Mindmachine
11. Icecold arion
12. Break the spell
    

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Hammerfall - Renegade

Genre(s) - Heavy/power metal
Origin - Sweden (not Umeå)
Year of release - 2000
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 42.49 MB

[Was scheduled to appear here on saturday while I was away, but somehow it didn't. Here it is after all. Turns out I enjoyed a lot of bands I was prejudiced against. But I did steer clear of most of the blacker metals except Keep of Kalessin who were quite impressive. Fave bands: Blind Guardian, Monster Magnet, and (gasp) Papa Roach. I had a fantastic time and hardly got drunk.]

At the moment I am at Graspop in Belgium and Hamerfall aren't there. With all the modern thrash, groove metal and metalcore you know I can't be going for the music. The only good festival music are power metal, old school heavy metal and upbeat folk metal. Also huge-balls rock music. So I'm going for Blind Guardian, WASP, and Monster Magnet and I hope all the other bands die in nuclear fire. Including Wolves in the Throne Room and Negura Bunget. Seriously, who the fuck invites quality atmospheric black metal band to a festival, are you a complete moron? I go to festivals to have fun, get drunk and have some more fun. I dont listen to black metal for fun even when drunk. Festival atmosphere and black metal wage an eternal internecine war. So why don't we have more Hammerfall? Hammerfall's cool. They have this album with its title song named after some retarded tv show about some long-haired ex-cop biker that hunts corrupt, short-haired ex-collaegues. It has loads of classic tracks to bang your head to, throw the metal horns and shout along the catchy refrains, like Keep the Flame Burning and The Way of the Warrior and all of the others (except Always Will Be which is a shitty ballad). Shame on you Graspop organisers, shame on you. *insert easy and non-funny Flemish-people-are-stupid joke*

1. Templars of steel
2. Keep the flame burning
3. Renegade
4. Living in victory
5. Always will be
6. The way of the warrior
7. Destined for glory
8. The champion
9. Raise the hammer
10. A legend reborn
    

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Oooh, complaint ^_^

Evergrey - Recreation Day

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Sweden
Year of release - 2003
Bitrate - 160 kbps
Size - 58.17 MB

People seem determined to bill Evergrey as a progressive metal band, well, I'm not hearing it. Of course, for a heavy/power metal group they rely quite a bit on synths, and not in the usual uptempo way. This band is all about laying down a thick and dark atmosphere. The music never gets into a gallop but strides along solemnly to give the mood a chance to draw you in. Instrumental in this, besides the synths, is Tom S. Englund's voice. A perfect depth and a nice raw edge, and the capability to use it. Oh, he's good. Come to think of it, there are some remarkable tracks on here, especially the two fully acoustic songs, I'm Sorry and Madness Caught Another Victim, which nonetheless are quite different in style. My favourites, though, are The Great Deceiver and As I Lie Here Bleeding. Like a cross between Masterplan's debut and Iced Earth's The Dark Saga, maybe. Yeah, that sounds about right. Enjoy.

1. The great deceiver
2. End of your days
3. As I lie here bleeding
4. Recreation day
5. Visions
6. I'm sorry
7. Blinded
8. Fragments
9. Madness caught another victim
10. Darkest hour
11. Unforgivable sin
    

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Masterplan - Masterplan

Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Sweden
Year of release - 2003
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 47.36

Jørn Lande is a name you often hear being tossed around with great reverence and it was only a few months ago that yours truly was introduced to his amazing voice through this, Masterplan's debut. Wow. Definitely not your average power metal ballsqueezer-vocals. Good. But a talented singer is no guarantee for an entertaining album, luckily the songwriting is of contant high quality, and the instrumentation is confident. The synths are rather trance-like which could be either a good or a bad thing, but they're so subtle and secondary to the guitars that they only serve to bolster and fill out the entirety of the sound and don't really add to or take from the music. The lyrics, brought perfectly, are very positive in nature and embrace life to the fullest. Odd song out here is Crystal Night, which has an antifascist message and is one of the best surprises on the release. No track really beats Kind Hearted Light, though, which is pure gold. A very solid achievement by Masterplan that puts most of their peers to shame; not even the band itself could ever reach this same level of inspiration again.

1. Spirit never die
2. Enlighten me
3. Kind hearted light
4. Crystal night
5. Soulburn
6. Heroes
7. Sail on
8. Into the light
9. Crawling from hell
10. Bleeding eyes
11. When love comes close
    

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Blind Guardian - Imaginations from the Other Side

Band/artist - Blind Guardian
Genre(s) - Power/speed metal
Origin - Germany
Album - Imaginations from the Other Side
Year of release - 1995

I've always been more of an Iced Earth guy, but one cannot deny Blind Guardian's rightful place on the power metal firmament. Out of the band's many albums, Nightfall in Middle Earth gets all the praise, but as far as I'm concerned, Imaginations is the band's pinnacle. Not hampered by annoying interludes and a storyline, this is straight up metal madness with blistering riffs, rousing choruses, and the great voice of Hansi Kürsch. Songs like The Script for my Requiem, Bright Eyes, Another Holy War and the title track are nothing short of epic. Okay, A Past and Future Secret is one of their more "bardic" songs that lent them the honourary title of ass-raping hobbit metal among the kvlt kids. It's true their ballads are generally horrible but fuck you, Blind Guardian has a lot more to offer than that.

1. Imaginations from the other side
2. I'm alive
3. A past and future secret
4. The script for my requiem
5. Mordred's song
6. Born in a mourning hall
7. Bright eyes
8. Another holy war
9. And the story ends
   

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Sabaton - Primo Victoria

Band/artist - Sabaton
Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Sweden
Album - Primo Victoria
Year of release - 2005

I saw these guys live again yesterday, so what better reason to up an album? This is Sabaton's second full-length to be recorded but their first to be released so we can speak of a first victory indeed. Since the beginning, this Swedish crew has dedicated itself to playing straightforward, masculine power metal. They have the beefiest riffs since Night of the Stormrider and singer Joakim's got a powerful, deep voice which I'm sure many will find better than the cliché ballsqueezer vocals. All texts except from their first-recorded, third-released album Metalizer and their demo are about modern warfare, and usually a specific battle. The Allied landing at Normandy (the title track), the six day Israel-Arab war in '67 (Counterstrike), napalm bombings in Vietnam (Into the Fire) are dealt with in the record's best songs. Sadly they condone Israeli aggression in Counterstrike and current US imperialist behaviour in the Middle East in the second and third tracks. Choruses are nonetheless catchy and easy to sing along, and they've never really made a boring song!

1. Primo victoria
2. Reign of terror
3. Panzer battallion
4. Wolfpack
5. Counterstrike
6. Stalingrad
7. Into the Fire
8. Purple Heart
9. Metal machine
   

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Elvenking - Heathenreel

Band/artist - Elvenking
Genre(s) - Power metal
Origin - Italy
Album - Heathenreel
Year of release - 2001

The most good-natured style of metal has always been power metal, but most bands try to disguise their fun factor as epicness or heroism. Elvenking is not one of those bands, singing about dancing more than about fighting, and playing sprightly music that at times only reminds of metal because of the pace and instrumentation. Especially the vocals are exuberant and truly Elflike - i.e. a bit androgynous, but this fits just right, and this mr. Damnagoras is a very good singer. Heathenreel breathes a fresh, invigorating wind through a tired genre ridden with clichés by the inclusion of minor folk (metal) influences, lending the album a festive, foresty sound of its own. Simply said, the music sounds like everything the band name, album title and artwork remind you of. In large doses it can all get a bit tiring on the ears due to the insistent gaiety and the many twists and turns that the compositions take. But this is mitigated somewhat by enough variety and some great melodies. It has happened, however, that I could not get to sleep because I still had passages of this album stuck in my head.

1. To oak woods bestowed
2. Pagan purity
3. The dweller of Rhyms
4. The regality dance
5. White willow
6. Skywards
7. Oakenshield
8. Hobs an' feathers
9. Conjuring of the 14th
10. A dreadful strain
11. Seasonspeech
    

Look, the moon is dancing too!