http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerMetal

Lord of all Noldor

A star in the night and a bearer of hope

He rides into his glorious battle alone

Power metal is a subgenre of metal which grew out of Traditional Heavy Metal and Speed Metal with the help of progressive rock in the late eighties, and is characterized by a more melodic sound than most other subgenres. An emphasis on speed, especially fast guitar solos, is also frequently present. Many power metal bands also have fantasy-based lyrics and themes with singing styles usually being higher-pitched clean vocals, operatic vocals or Soprano and Gravel; however, lower-pitched cleans and Harsh Vocals are not unheard of.

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Because the genre formed practically simultanously in Europe and North America, there are distinct differences in styles from the two scenes. While both scenes share the same New Wave of British Heavy Metal influence, American styled power metal tends to be also influenced by classic thrash metal and is codified with bands such as Iced Earth, Vicious Rumors, and Jag Panzer, while European power metal is also influenced by Progressive Rock and Progressive Metal, causing European bands to usually be more melodic with a heavy focus on keyboards; this is codified with bands such as Blind Guardian, Rhapsody of Fire and Nightwish. To add to this, beginning in The '90s and ramping up in the 2000s, Japan began to produce its own brand of power metal, with most bands producing styles and sounds reminiscent of neo-classical metal bands like Stratovarius and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. Japanese codifiers include Galneryus, Concerto Moon and Versailles. South American (largely relegated to Brazil and Argentina) power metal, meanwhile, tends to lie somewhere between Europower and J-power; it's usually grittier than Japanese power (but still fairly light for the most part) but also tends to be "shreddier" than a lot of Europower and also tends to overlap with prog. While it doesn't really have a particularly distinctive sound, famous South American acts include Angra, Rata Blanca, Viper, Shaman, and Hibria. Additionally, Finland is home to a variant of it that is essentially Melodic Death Metal with extremely prominent power metal elements and heavy use of keyboards; Finnish melodeath/power codifiers include Children of Bodom, Norther, and Kalmah. Lastly, there is shred; while usually not viewed as a power metal subgenre, it has historically had extremely heavy overlap with the genre due to shred-style leadwork in power metal and guitarists from established acts forming instrumental rock and metal side projects and thus gets a mention.

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Power metal is also known for the ease it can be fused with other styles, to the point that Symphonic Metal, Neo-Classical Metal, Thrash Metal and, correctly or otherwise, Progressive Metal are often considered directly linked to power metal, and a lot of early progressive metal acts (Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, and, to a degree, Watchtower) overlapped with the genre. 3 Inches of Blood is a blatant fusion of Thrash Metal and power metal and Symphony X is the Trope Codifier of progressive power metal.

Or in laymans' terms: power metal is what would happen if you take five teenagers, lock them in a room with every single Iron Maiden, Rush and Metallica CD, a few classical records, and every Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook ever, let them out ten years later, and made them really good at playing instruments.

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Not to be confused with literal metals for powering up your goods.

Examples of bands frequently associated with power metal:

Due to the stylistic differences between American, European, and Japanese Power Metal, this list is sorted by region.

North American Power Metal:

European Power Metal:

Japanese Power Metal

South American Power Metal

Almah

Andre Matos (solo band of the former Angra and Viper vocalist)

Angra (also prog and folk)

Barilari (solo band of Rata Blanca vocalist Adrian Barilari)

Hangar (also prog)

Hibria

Rata Blanca

Shaman (also prog)

Tierramystica (also prog)

Viper

Shrednote do not add individual guitarists who have not released solo material, and do not add technical solo guitarists who lack any power metal in their sound (e.g. Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, or Jason Richardson); shred in this context is instrumental guitar-oriented music that uses power metal and traditional heavy metal as its foundation

Michael Angelo Batio

Jason Becker

James Byrd

David T. Chastain (not to be confused with Chastain, which he also helms and is a full band)

Rusty Cooley

Gus Drax

Gus G (earlier material, his later works are vocal-oriented and mostly fall under hard rock)

Stephane Forte (some djent and industrial elements, but ultimately rooted in power metal)

Marty Friedman

Darren Housholder

Andy James

Toby Knapp

Jeff Loomis

Kiko Loureiro

Tony MacAlpine

Yngwie Malmsteen (Trope Codifier, mostly on his earliest material; he generally stuck to power metal after that)

Vinnie Moore

Christian Muenzner

Joe Stump

Syu

Joey Tafolla

Derek Taylor

Jacky Vincent (some metalcore elements, but his solo work is ultimately rooted in power metal)

Paul Wardingham (some djent elements, but ultimately has enough power metal influence to qualify)

Tropes commonly associated with power metal: