Power Metal Reviews
High tempos, soaring vocals, memorable choruses, and majestic melodies – often harmonies – all made me an avid power metal fan as an early teenager. And despite getting into other genres through the years, my love for power metal never really faded away. As a result, quite a large part of my Album of the Week reviews have been about power metal albums. You can find all the power metal reviews published on Kevy Metal right here. Overlaps with my heavy metal reviews inevitably exist.
If you are looking something that isn’t listed here, I might still have reviewed it. I didn’t start properly tagging my reviews until a few years in. You can use the search bar to search for any artist or release you want to know more about using the search bar at the bottom of the page.
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Album of the Week 01-2021: Arouge – Arouge ~Bogyaku No Kikoshi~
Arouge started out as the high school band Sleazy Luster when the members were still in their mid-teens. Kitsutaka and bassist Jun Fukuda quickly proved to be extremely capable songwriters. Their debut album offers more than enough evidence for that. Somehow, Arouge managed to combine the powerful, riffy bottom-end of…
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Album of the Week 51-2020: Aria – Noch’ Koroche Dnya
‘Noch’ Koroche Dnya’ was Aria’s first release after their string of classic albums (‘Geroy Asfalta’, ‘Igra S Ognëm’ and ‘Krov’ Za Krov”) and arguably their last great album with singer Valery Kipelov. Given the circumstances under which the album was recorded, it is a small miracle that the album came…
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Album of the Week 49-2020: Anthem – Burning Oath
Unlike many of their contemporaries, Anthem never actually released any bad albums. They just laid low for a while when the nineties inevitably ruined the music business for traditional heavy metal. They did, however, struggle a little bit with how many productional traits associated with power metal they should incorporate…
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Album of the Week 48-2020: Them – Return To Hemmersmoor
Is it possible for a band to be better than the one they model themselves after? Them seems to prove it is. Starting life as a King Diamond tribute band, Them eventually started writing their own material that in my opinion surpasses anything the horror metal master ever released. It…
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Album of the Week 47-2020: XYZ→A – Wonderful Life
Hidden behind this atrocious album cover – admittedly, I really don’t like dogs – is one of the most pleasant musical surprises of the year. It should not be too surprising that a record featuring an all-star line-up of sorts, including Fumihiko Kitsutaka on guitar, recorded something I like, but…
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Album of the Week 46-2020: Kinniku Shojo Tai – Omake No Ichinichi (Tatakai No Hibi)
After crazy eclectics Kinniku Shojo Tai reunited about a decade and a half ago, they decided to focus on what they did best. Melodic power metal, muscular funk rock, Queen-ish layered bombast and proggy weirdness. If that already sounds quite eclectic to you, you would not be wrong. Post-reunion Kinniku…
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Album of the Week 45-2020: Aria – Kresheniye Ognëm (2020)
Licensing issues prevented Aria from releasing their two albums with Artur Berkut internationally or even including tracks from them on compilations for years. As a result, the band simply decided to re-record the albums with their current – and best – singer Mikhail Zhitnyakov this year. Not a bad idea,…
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Album of the Week 44-2020: Seikima-II – News
In the nineties, Seikima-II basically released two types of albums: distinctly old school heavy metal albums and poppy hardrock albums with a glossy production. The former tend to be more to my liking, but both sides of the aisle have one notable exception. ‘Kyofu No Restaurant’ is easily the most…
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Album of the Week 43-2020: Sanctuary – Into The Mirror Black
When Warrel Dane announced during his lifetime that he had the master tapes to the entire show of which five songs appeared on the extensively bootlegged ‘Into The Mirror Live’ EP, I was excited to see its full release. Dane wouldn’t live to see the release of the full show,…
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