Interviews

[Mindtraveller]

to a lot of people Power Metal just means la-de-da ultra-fruity keyboard drowned stuff like Freedom Call, Rhaposdy and Power Quest (bands I like). I don't personally agree with that, though.

Yes, those people are pretty much wrong, those kind of bands are what give meaning to the term Flower Metal. :P

[Ancient Minstrel]

I would say that there are four main categories of Power Metal. This definition is home-made so don't laugh at it...  :wink:

The thrashy Power with bands like Iced Earth and Morgana Lefay
The Flower Metal, represented by Freedom Call and Rhapsody
The Classic Power with roots in Heavy/Traditional Metal with Hammerfall and Helloween  

and then there is another one which I don't know what to call but contains bands like
Blind Guardian, Falconer, Savage Circus and Kamelot.

I am listening to about 40 PM-bands so I'm not a true expert, but I base this opinion on that. And of course bands must not be entirely in one of these categories...


But the PM hate is interesting. Except those mentioned earlier Children of Bodom were shitting their pants a few months ago when they were called PM. I would say that the Metal Archives definition of them is quite accurate: Speed/Power Metal with harsh vocals.

[Stefan W]

P.M. for me is equal to a demand for those double bass drums hammering around all the time.
I don't like the pressure to have fast songs because some consider us to be a PM band.
It can sometimes feel limiting to be valued from a certain genre bound perspective.

I guess that's why I don't like to admit it although I can understand our labeling.

[Prab]

Labels are for products.
Music is creativity, emotion and energy. That cannot be labeled!

Yeah, I sometimes use these genre names too, but only because it's easier to describe a certain kind of sound or music a band does.
But relating a band to a particular genre is difficult since most bands have many influences in their music nowadays.

I personally would describe Falconers music as melodic/power metal with a medieval tone.