SURGO POST!!!
Since I started sitting at a desk with a computer all day at grad school I started listening to metal again, specifically, the power metal genre. It's an...interesting genre. Pandora's given me a bunch of different artists, many of which I then individually checked out.
One problem I've found is that a lot of power metal can end up sounding either cheesy (sticking too heavily with the fantasy hero theme seems to be the big problem) or, worse, samey. How the best bands get around this is varied and interesting...
My favorite, Kamelot, seems to get past it by being some of the best songwriters in the industry on top of also being the best talent in the industry. Of course when you think of them you immediately think of Epica and The Black Halo, really the pinnacle that every band strives for, and the songwriting there is incredible. Tell a compelling story, set to a clear and clean sound with strong vocals (and great backup vocals to really set it apart). Nobody can accuse these guys of being cheesy. Roy Khan leaving the band is an enormous tragedy; Kamelot can certainly survive without him (all the members of the band are individually great talents), but he was the perfect singer for the sound and all the songwriting had him on it.
I checked out Rhapsody of Fire because their lead singer has been touring with Kamelot (filling in for Khan). I don't think his voice fits with Kamelot much at all, but it's perfect for his own band. These guys have just completely embraced the cheese-factor. They're on some seven-plus album epic about some fantasy world or other with enormous battles only matched by their enormous and fast sound. One of their albums is called Power of the Dragonflame, for God's sake. Anyway, they've managed to avoid falling into the pit by just completely embracing this. They want to be some cheesy epic and love every minute of it. That sets them apart and, by knowing what they want to do, make sure to vary up the sound a bit.
I kinda like Edguy as well. Pretty good singer, if not as clear a voice, but he has a good range. Their songwriting is nowhere near the caliber of Kamelot and they aren't particularly trying to tell any stories, but they like to include joke songs on their albums to lighten the mood. It's hard to accuse a band of being cheesy while they're singing about having sex with a flight attendant while a cross-Atlantic plane trip is currently on its way into the ocean due to engine failure -- all while being set to those ridiculous speed riffs that lesser bands abuse so heavily. Also they have a side "superband", Avantasia, where they do concept albums and the caliber of songwriting is higher. Not so sure how I feel about The Scarecrow though -- that shit be weird yo.
Special note goes to Nightwish, who can get away with being as dramatic in their songs as they want because they have an opera singer. At that point, you're doing something wrong if you aren't awesomely dramatic.
I think the distinction in all these cases is really the vocals. Strong vocals are what set the good power metal bands apart from the bad ones. Sometimes they can cover up for somewhat boring sound, but most of the time they compliment the sound and bring out the qualities that make power metal such an exciting genre of music in the first place.
Now for some stuff I didn't like...
HammerFall -- ehhh. They were okay, I guess. I just could not get excited about these guys at all. The vocalist does nothing here. Most of the time when they came up on Pandora I skipped them.
Gamma Ray -- one time, I was driving home to New Hampshire and it was very late (10PM). I had Gamma Ray on the radio. I actually had to stop my car on the side of the road and turn on Edguy so I could stay awake. That's how boring I found them. This is a true story.
Sonata Arctica -- I feel bad putting them in the same category as Gamma Ray, because they really are okay. I've only listened to Reckoning Night, and it has a few quality songs that set it apart (My Selene, Don't Say a Word, White Pearl Black Ocean). The problem is that's all the good I've found on the album. I think part of this is songwriting (My Selene actually has a different songwriter than the rest), but Tony is obviously good at putting music on the page because of the other two. I've heard that their earlier releases really fell into the power metal same-y trap, and that includes this one, and their later stuff (Unia and Days of Grays) is a bit more exploratory. If that's the case I really look forward to checking out their later stuff.
DragonForce -- thanks to the magic of Guitar Hero, everybody and their mom knows this one. And admittedly the song they had there was pretty good, if super cheesy. Too bad that's their only song. Thanks to me liking it on Pandora I get a bunch of other stuff from them showing up, and it all sounds exactly the same except not as good. The lyrics are similar. The backing sound is almost identical. The vocal style and range could have been copy/pasted. Cheese isn't a bad thing, but Rhapsody of Fire these guys are not.
So, what do you guys think about these and other power metal bands? Most of the thread seems to revolve around death metal and black metal and such, which I'm not really big into (the growled vocal style never really did anything to me). There's a lot of additional stuff that comes up on Pandora but then I'm dumb and never write any of it down (and Pandora web app doesn't save my listening history). It's how I get through the day.