Melodic Heavy Metal

Vikings and metal tend to go together very well, and the idea of combining the two has obviously been made popular by the likes of Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth and German power metal band Rebellion, and now a new challenger has arrived to prove themselves worthy of fighting for Odin. That band is Brothers of Metal, from Sweden, and they have unleashed their debut Prophecy of Ragnarok, which is not only an incredibly addictive power metal album, with varying influences from other genres and a ton of different exciting elements, but it also happens to be perhaps the very best Viking themed metal album I’ve ever heard, as the band takes familiar ideas and mashes them together perfectly, while also managing to create their own distinct sound that really has to be heard…

"In the Beginning" is the debut album by Swiss melodic metal/melodic hard rock band "Crystal Ball", originally released in 1999 and reissued this summer by AFM records following the reissue of their iconic album "Hard impact". While lately recognized as a heavy/power metal outfit with high profile release in these genres, "Crystal Ball" stated out as a band that drew elements from both hard rock and metal standing right between the two. In fact the melodic hard rock/glam metal sound of the late `80s was vastly influential on their early works.

When cooking up one of your favorite old recipes, sometimes adding different spices and/or ingredients to the usual mixture will excite your taste buds, and in the end, bettering the original formula. The same can be said for music, and CRYSTAL BALL is a perfect example…

One of the top Metal singers of the past decade, Norway’s Jorn Lande vocals resonate again with bluesy lung vigor overtones in JORN’s eighth original studio album entitled “Traveller”.

Skyforger is the ninth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. Like the previous album, the lyrics to Skyforger are English translations of Finnish poems based on the Kalevala and written by Pekka Kainulainen. Unlike the two previous albums, it is based on different parts of several episodes, but all told from a single character's point of view. In this sense it is a return to Tales from the Thousand Lakes which told stories from different parts of the Kalevala. The last two albums focused on Kullervo and Lemminkäinen, respectively, and this one focuses on Ilmarinen. The album's sound has been described as melodic death metal with influences from progressive metal, power metal and folk metal.

With little doubt, there is a great deal of similarity among today's female-fronted heavy metal bands, especially those in the European theater. (They're few and far between in America). The formula is the same. Some lass with operatic vocals combined with basic melodic heavy metal, touched with some power metal at times, but always steeped in some classical symphonic motif…