Tag Archives: Power Metal

Friday Morning Metal – Thaurorod – Feed the Flame

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Presented by Drakkar Noir Entertainment, this week’s metal is from Thaurorod of Finland. Yet again Youtube wanted to autocorrect me and decided I meant Thurgood, not Thaurorod. Autocorrect is kinda dumb in that instance. According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, the band name is in Quenya, a fictional language spoken by elves in Tolkien’s books, and it means “Evil Mountain.” Thaurorod does have a bit better ring than Evil Mountain, so I guess they’re crushing it in that regard. These guys are big bombastic power metal, with all the soaring guitarmonies, codas, and frenetic drumming that you’d expect.

Feed the Flame is a no nonsense shred fest, kicking off with little fanfare and dropping you straight into the melody. The vocals are solid, riding over the melody while kicking into gear for the choruses. The song does have some parallels to older DragonForce tracks, if that’s up your alley. Perhaps Thaurorod are now the fastest band in the universe! There’s a solid keyboard interlude at the halfway point, leading up to the sweepiest of solos, and a little back and forth with the keyboard. Those folks at Drakkar Noir entertainment sure know how to pick and promote a great band. Just like they know how to make and market scents. Maybe Richard Stink is involved. And like any good power metal, a vocal breakdown kicks into a key change coda! I almost wrote that as a choda. I thought you should know that.

The video is just an album cover, with is a bummer, but probably better than anal bum cover. I did find some official videos of older tracks, but there was a different vocalist and not the pirately theme of this. Also a couple of the videos were like melodic ballads and I’m not putting all that up in here. But this song rips, so go give it and the album a listen!

Friday Morning Metal – Majestica – Battle Cry

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Swedish power metal! Today we’re listening to Battle Cry by the band Majestica. There’s a lot of majesty in this band, and this song is off their new album POWER TRAIN. I wonder if listening to this in your car extends its power train warranty. Or if it makes Amtrak go faster. Majestica’s sound kinda reminds me of Dream Evil a little, or it’s just power metal and that was the first band I know of that came to mind. Regardless, these guys shred.

The song kicks into gear from the jump, with driving drums and chuggy guitars getting things going. The vocals are big and bombastic, with some rad falsetto to add some zazz. There’s even a quick bass solo from their beardy bassist! The main solo isn’t super noodly but fits really well into the song; sometimes I think solos get used as a show off time, and the departure from thematic elements is disorienting. Like spinning an umbrella too fast.

The video is a lot of show footage, which does look like a lot of majestic fun. There’s even synchronized guitar posing! I’m not sure if they used a fish eye lens (to make it look like they were slipped a mickey) but in some of the shots the guitarist has the widest rock stance I’ve ever seen. Also not sure why those folks in the front are wearing Santa hats. If this is footage from a Christmas show, that’d really up the majesty.

So behold and enjoy some Majestica. I bet it’ll make your day at least 30% more majestical.

Friday Morning Metal – Kilmara – Journey To the Sun

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Well look at this, a power metal band incorporating video games into their video/vibe, it’s like they’re dialing right into my interests! Kilmara’s coming straight from Barcelona to show off some soaring vocals, shreddy guitars, and kinda chip-tuney backing tracks.

Right off the bat I thought the singer looks like James Roday from Psych. Perhaps he’s pretending to be a metal singer to privately investigate something. I’d know for certain if Burton Guster showed up. The song is pretty straightforward power metal, with a lot of bombast and solid vocals. The guitar solo two thirds in is sufficiently noodly and sweepsie, plus a chuggy interlude for some solid guitar poses. Not enough bands do the guitar poses, they should work to bring that back. Something about the lyrics give off a christian rock vibe. Especially the chorus singing about the gates of gold and eternal we will fly.

The video’s pretty fun, like two kids on a date at a super 80’s coded arcade, except the gf is totally phnubbing the fella. He gets sucked into the game, Tron style, and it’s up to his gf to save him. The cabinets all look cool and authentic, especially when the band’s rocking out among them.

So give Kilmara a shot, they’re a hoot and also a holler.

Friday Morning Metal – Elvenking – Luna

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Behold, an elvennew elvensong by Elvenking. It’s too bad they didn’t call it Elvenluna, as discussed the last time I covered one of their songs. They’re from Sacile, Italy, and have been shredding since 1997. Kinda power metally, kinda folk metally, they’re pretty fun.

I can’t tell if the video is about a pagan sacrifice or a baby gender reveal party, but it looks pretty fun and shiny. THERE’S A FLYING V ELECTRIC VIOLIN IN THIS BAND! Also the vocalist has a pretty big and bodacious mic stand. Looks like you’d need tetanus shots if you were to use it. The sacrifice scenes are pretty out there, like if the Kali Ma scene from Temple of Doom happened in a forest and the bad guy had antlers.

There’s a pretty solid noodly solo up in the song, with the guitarist using the “totally vertical” stance to increase the sqeuadlies by 30%. I’m a little bummed there wasn’t a big violin solo. It’s a flying v for violin for crying in the mud, let him shred! But otherwise this is a pretty good folky power metal track, and them playing in the elvenforest is a good elvenaddition.

Friday Morning Metal – Veonity – The Fifth Element

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Power metal straight from Sweden! It’s Veonity, singing about the fifth element, which in this instance is not Leelu Dallas Multipass.

It’s very epic and noodly, using rad guitar work to bridge verses. The vocals are solid, very apt for a power metal act. Apparently this is a new singer, and he’s got a great voice. There are a couple thematic changes within the song, not just a coda, but like almost feeling like a different song. I guess it’s to highlight the epicness of the power of the fifth element. And going from singing chorally into a drum solo for the coda is pretty rad.

It’s a lyric video, but there are some additional visuals, like of a guy wandering around and a king. But it looks like it’s AI-generated, which is kind of a bummer. Just pay someone to actually make visuals, or shoot an actual video. AI videos just look like borderline uncanny valley nonsense; I’m sure there’s even stock videos of this kind of stuff they could use. Hell, use clips from The Fifth Element and pay Luc Besson some money. I bet he’d dig it.

But otherwise it’s a pretty solid song, so give it a listen!

Friday Morning Metal – Labyrinth – Moonlight

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Happy throwback to 1998 power/prog metal! Labyrinth comes straight from Tuscany, and under that sun in 1994 they were formed. Apparently in 2002 they changed style and themes, but this is a 2016 performance of a 1998 song so I don’t know how big the changes were?

The song has some great chuggy progressions and fast-paced drums. The vocals soar over the harmonies really well; this is definitely something I’d want to see live with like Dream Theatre or maybe even Dragonforce. Just great tight technical work. The dueling guitar solos of slow noodly then fast super noodly is fun. Though the guy could use a big fan to make his hair look more majestic.

This is a live performance, but it sounds about as great as the studio version. The singer looks like a badass magician, which is important for metal vocalists. Like he’d work Vegas and make the Stratosphere disappear. Unless that already happened, then his work here is done. Unfortunately there’s no music video. I bet if there was, there’d be a ton of werewolves like playing kickball or something.

I tried listening to some of their more recent stuff, it’s a bit more aggressive/less soaring than the old stuff, but doesn’t feel like a major departure. It’s a bit more synth-heavy, but there’s solid keyboard presence in the old stuff too. Regardless, it’s a solid band in 1998, 2003, 2016, and 2021, so give them a listen, maybe even add them to a playlist so Bjørn Sportify will recommend it to you constantly.

Friday Morning Metal – Star One – Fate of Man

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Excuse me, according to Sportify, this is Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s Star One. This is a Dutch supergroup started by one Arjen Anthony Lucassen, of Aryeon. Oh also the singer is the lady from Unleash The Archers, so that’s probably why it rocks so hard.

The organ-sounding keyboard intro is pretty badass, and the keyboards give a spacey vibe to the whole thing. It’s nice they toss the lyrics on top of the video, so it’s not just a regular video and not just a lyric video. The true Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup video. Brittney Slayes does some awesome rock goblets while she’s belting out the lyrics, also she’s just a phenomenal singer so there’s that.

The guitar solos are fantastic, going from the tall hippie dude to the shredmaster general. Just super noodly shredding all around. Warning: Merciless Shredding Overload was a great pop up during the second solo.

I think is a song about the Terminator? Oh wait, it says that in the video description. It is a song about the terminator. And it’s also a video about the terminator coming back in time to watch this band shred their faces off, which I guess saves the fate of man. I don’t think the terminator can handle that much shred. That’s probably how humanity won.

Enjoy some metal!

Friday Morning Metal – Innerwish – Sea of Lies

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Greek power metal featuring the singer from Blind Guardian? Well that’s gotta be a good portent. I hadn’t heard of Innerwish until checking out the video, they’ve been shredding and blasting beats since 1995. And they have a really tight sound that comes with being a nearly 30-year-old band.

The song has a ton of bombast, and Hansi Kürsch’s soaring vocals pair well with George Eikosipentakis’s growl. Hansi kinda looks like Steve Lemme, too. I dig the dueling guitar solo after the breakdown, it’s not crazy noodly but it stands out, especially when both guitarists are in split screen. Gotta have a good split screen. The drums and bass really drive the song along such that you don’t notice it’s six and a half minutes long. Gotta imagine it’d be great for keeping a swift pace on a run or bike ride.

The song’s about traversing the seas as a refugee, from the perspective of a child. The lyrics cover the uncertainty of traveling to a new unkown place. It also has video from refugee camps, so if that’s a bit too much for you to see today, I put a Spotify embed below.

Friday Morning Metal – Krilloan – Hammer of Wrath

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Swedish metal! It’s like regular metal but also it’s a red gummy candy. Krilloan brings a big batch of power metal with Hammer of Wrath.

The vocals are pretty fun, the singer doesn’t jump into falsetto too much but hits it during the chorus pretty well. Some of the lyrics feel a little klunky, like maybe it was written in Swedish and then straight translated to English. But for the most part it sticks together well.

It’s nice to hear the bass in the mix as well; so many bands have bassists but they’re just kinda there. At least with Krilloan they get some feature. There’s also liberal use of splashy cymbals from the drummer. And the soaring noodly guitar solo really ties everything together.

The video itself is a lyric video, so you can read along! And some cool graphics of a guy who looks like he should be in a Castlevania game. Maybe it’s Simon Belmont’s cousin Greg. Anyway, enjoy some fun bombast!

Friday Morning Metal – Crystal Viper – Fever of the Gods

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Woo power metal with a lefthanded guitarist! And a lady bassist who’s also the singer! Crystal Viper’s been shredding out of Poland since 2003, and recently released “The Silver Key.” So we get some more vidyas of shreddy awesome metal!

The video is “Band plays in a foggy old building” style, which works well for how shreddy they are. Marta Gabriel doing the big bass lift on the intro is pretty great, especially given she’s got great pipes. I don’t want to make a Crucial Taunt comparison, but if Wayne’s World got a reboot, this would be the band in it.

The guitar solos are shreddy and fun and on a lefty flying V. I don’t see too many lefty guitarists, so when they show up I gotta give them props, and this guy shreds 110%. Also there’s some synchronized guitaring! Which works well with a lefty/righty combo. They can snarl at each other, metallicly.

In conclusion, Fever of the Gods fuckin shreds and I’m excited to hear more of their music!