Do you aim for perfection?

[Dinosaur David B]

Andy, no one here's ever been upset with you for voicing your own opinion. 

[Tatosh Guitar]

I guess there are people here who will be unhappy with me, but I always heard the major key Iron Maiden side very explicit in the early Helloween. It's a side I consider one of IM's worse, so I never gelled much with Helloween. 

I do admit they had an edgier sound than some of their descendants (I'm thinking of the majority of Sammet and Arjen's output). I hesitate to include Blind Guardian as a descendant, though they're another band of the power ilk I don't like.

In fewer words, I guess Helloween were never "dark" enough for me. I never listened past the first three studios, so I am open to being corrected.

 

HOW DO YOU DARE?????

LOL. Just kidding. As Dave said, no one will be upset here about an opinion.

You said you listened to the first studio albums, which I suppose means you heard Walls of Jericho. If you didn't think that was dark enough, nothing in their catalog will be good for you then. That one is more thrashy and faster, has Hansen on vocals, who is way more aggressive and nastier than Kiske, and the lyrics are way more dark. No happy stuff like on their later releases.

I stopped listening to the genre in general around the turn of the century, because I was burned by all the happy sounding, hymn sounding, epic viking metal stuff. All the bands coming from Germany and the Scandinavian countries seemed to be cut from the same cloth: Kiske-clone, double fast drumming in every song, and Yngwie-on-steroids styled solos. But I think the breaking point were the songs themselves. They were so sugary they could have fit on a Backstreet Boys album. They were basically bubble gum pop with distorted guitars and loud drums. I got to the point I said I need more meat on my metal.

And I turned to the original guys. I think that's when I started going back to the old Sabbath albums. not long after that I was listening to stuff released before I was born, which as we all know, had more of an edge and balls. I remember listening to an early Saxon album and thinking yeah, this is it. As I said, aside of Helloween, I don't really listen to other Power Metal bands at all these days.
 

[Haffner]

 

And I turned to the original guys. I think that's when I started going back to the old Sabbath albums
 

 

Master of Reality is a wonderful balm to power metal saturation burn.

I actually feel the greatest Power metal band was Manowar, which had tons more balls than...

ok, I'll stop.

All respect, there are some terrific players in Power metal bands.

[Dinosaur David B]

I actually feel the greatest Power metal band was Manowar, which had tons more balls than...

 

I hadn't really thought about that, but would they be considered the father of, or one of the fathers of power metal?  I could see that, if so.
 

[merlo_zeppelin]

I have a soft spot for Helloween cause it was one of the very first shows I went to. I was 14 and went with an older metalhead friend. Andi Deris sung great, I think he always has.

Out of all the Helloween players Roland Grapow is ny favorite, good chops and lots of Schenkerisms, actually he's like a cross between Schenker and Malmsteen.

A lot of the power metal players are actually pretty sloppy when they play fast, I've heard a few that actually have good chops.

The two swedish guitarists that used to play with Glenn Hughes and the guys from Europe back in the 90s were actually really really good, one of them was Thomas Larsson but I can't remember the name of the other guy.

[Dinosaur David B]

Eric Bojfeldt.  Those guys were good, technical players, but not particularly distinctive. They were also a bit wanky. 

[Haffner]

I actually feel the greatest Power metal band was Manowar, which had tons more balls than...


 

I hadn't really thought about that, but would they be considered the father of, or one of the fathers of power metal?  I could see that, if so.
 

 

I would say so! Though songs like Kill the King and A Light in the Black might have had a lot to do with it as well.

[merlo_zeppelin]

Eric Bojfeldt.  Those guys were good, technical players, but not particularly distinctive. They were also a bit wanky. 

 

I tend to gravitate towards wanky players