You know what I'm talking about ... Running Wild, Grave Digger, Sabaton, Manowar and the like...

I don't care much for the flowery sounding power metal bands inspired by Helloween and Stratovarius. I want to discover more bands where the vocals sound like you're about to ride into the heat of battle, more like gruff but still melodic.

Any recommendations?

(and excuse the cheesiness of the topic, we are talking about a generally very cheesy side of metal here)

I might also add Powerwolf to that list above, which I think are really good new entrants to the power metal field. Also the singer, Atilla Dorn, is Romanian so the band holds a sentimental value for me since I originally hailed from there.

How about Dark At Dawn:



or Kiuas:

Maybe Nightmare?

CAULDRON BORN - And Rome Shall Fall

Grand Magus.

Who the hell knows, it's Japanese. But they seem to be really into it (live TV show version):



I found that by accident via internet meme site engrishfunny.

Some really great recommendations - (sans Babymetal, which I found very disturbing but like a car crash you just can't look away lol)

Grand Magus feels doomier than what I expected but they are very good sounding. A certain Sabbath / Candlemass-ish feel but at the same time different too, more European influenced. Unfortunately their albums seems hard to find and very expensive but I only searched at one place where I buy most of my stuff from.

Dark At Dawn - the vocals remind me a helluva lot of Jorn but good song.

Both Burning Black and Nightmare have that thrashy flavour that I like in power metal so yeah definitely good choices there too.

Not too crash hot about Kiuas but that may change. I guess not quite what I was expecting hear.

Manowar is...manly?

How about...

Speaking of Manly...

people can take as many cheap shots they want at Manowar but fact is they are a huge band in Europe and very few can come close to the greatness of Eric Adams' voice.

But they're not manly.

I am not sure how manly or otherwise they are as people. They seem to think they are but the reason why I called this "manly" power metal is because it has that warrior, Rambo-esque spirit as opposed to flowery bands like Rhapsody / Luca Turilli which evoke this sort of LOTRish feel.

Bands like Manowar and Running Wild to me at least sound more aggressive and more heroic.

Virgin Steele if you like ManOwaR. Of course Rage fits here and most US power bands like Vicious Rumors.
Check out Eternal Reign:

I've heard they sound a lot like Brainstorm; can't comment as I've never heard Brainstorm. But I own their first album, which is in the vein of Mental Reservation era Scanner (but faster) or Ulan Bator.
And speaking of Scanner:

I've been pimping Eternal Reign on this forum for years. Brilliant band. And yes, very similar to Brainstorm. Older Brainstorm.

I give you Cage




Or how about Cirith Ungol

I prefer the heavier side of power-metal as well. I second the recommendations for Grand Magus and Persuader. A couple others I didn't see mentioned yet...

Rebellion - Originally formed by Uwe Lulis and Tomi Göttlich, ex-Grave Digger, though Lulis has since departed. This resulted in litigation with Chris Boltendahl because Lulis originally tried to use the Grave Digger name for the project. If you can look past band drama then they're a pretty good Grave Digger clone with a Viking metal theme.


Paragon - Straight-up aggressive German power-metal in the vein of Grave Digger, kinda thrashy.


Holy Martyr - If you want to get technical, this is categorized more commonly as "Epic Heavy Metal," but I think they would appeal to fans of the heavier side of power-metal either way. They remind me a little of Running Wild. I really enjoyed their last album, Invincible, but unfortunately there aren't many samples of it up on Youtube. Nothing wildly original, just some fun and well-crafted heavy metal.


DoomSword - I love these guys. Again, more "Epic Heavy Metal" (or even doom-metal) and less "Power-Metal," but I reckon fans of Manilla Road, Manowar, the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, etc would dig 'em. Most of their songs are slow or mid-paced, but they have a few fast ones.


Hope you find something you like.

Excellent suggestions, arachnoplasma!

For that Running Wild sound I'll suggest X-Wild