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[RagnarokIV]

What happened to the power ballad?

Ballads and power ballads have different meanings throughout different years. But I ain't here for stupid bullshit you prick - I'm referring to the most common type - the 80s POWER BALLAD aka the best kind.

Music now is weak as fuck, no soaring vocals. No power behind the guitar, in fact there is no fucken guitar!

Post you favorite MODERN power ballads.

The criteria is that is MUST be modern - only releases after the year 2000 (because this is niche) will be considered modern.

It MUST contain 80s production and composition sensibilities i.e gated massive reverb drums, chorused guitars, heavy reverb, huge harmonies.

Examples:

I Am I - See You Again (2013)



Gorgeous clean guitars, gated drums, melodic guitar solo, powerful and beautiful expressive vocals. Great lyrics - the modern GOAT

Power Quest - When I'm Gone (2003)


The typical compressed 80s digital piano (heard on so many tracks). Builds from paino and acoustic guitars into huge crescendo

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

 

[RagnarokIV]

LMAO twat get out

 

[RagnarokIV]

Bonus points for a key change on the last chorus!

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Gotta look towards overseas for amazing ballads...

Jorn, Avantasia, Edguy, Hammerfall, Freedom Call, on and on I could go. There's new bands like Nestor that are incredible and just nail the 80s ballad sound and style... Many many more. It just sucks how life doesn't let this stuff shine anymore at all.

 

[The Janitor]

I don't know if this qualifies but it's a new 80s inspired band that i'm listening to:

 

[Kacho]

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

 

[RagnarokIV]

I don't know if this qualifies but it's a new 80s inspired band that i'm listening to:

Apreciate it but we're talking exclusively about ballads.

Instant minor chord compressed, chorussed and reverb up the ass. You know what I mean... Beautiful. Thank you so much.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Apreciate it but we're talking exclusively about ballads.




Instant minor chord compressed, chorussed and reverb up the ass. You know what I mean... Beautiful. Thank you so much.

Yea man I live and breath rock, metal, old type ballads like this.. Been in my blood for 45 years now and it's so incredible that we have guys that still make it happen. Here's a band that imo is the most 80s modern 80s band ever... Take a listen

 

[RagnarokIV]

Yea man I live and breath rock, metal, old type ballads like this.. Been in my blood for 45 years now and it's so incredible that we have guys that still make it happen. Here's a band that imo is the most 80s modern 80s band ever... Take a listen

Check out PQ man, they were 80s rock without even chasing the genre. One of the best bands I've been proud to share the stage with.

They do the Meatloaf huge story kinda stuff incredibly -



If you ain't interested in the long ass stuff this will see you through -

 

[jason10mm]

Yeah, this is gonna be euro music...the thread

Powerwolf


Gloryhammer


Alestorm


Wind Rose


Tyr


pretty much the whole napalm records catalogue, they have so many. Lots of american metal just went to emo, IMHO, they all nosedived into some sort of grunge nu-metal hell pit.

And of course if you want real 80's style metal with Spinal Tap attitude...Steel Panther

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Check out PQ man, they were 80s rock without even chasing the genre. One of the best bands I've been proud to share the stage with.

They do the Meatloaf huge story kinda stuff incredibly -



If you ain't interested in the long ass stuff this will see you through -

Dude that is some good shit right there I will fully listen tonight, absolutely loving that first song so far... And I love both styles as I am a big fan of longer songs like that we get with bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarious etc..

Let me ask are you a fan of Savatage? That's probably my be all end all band, been listening to them since Sirens, Dungeons are calling etc... And loved them all through their years until they morphed into Trans Siberian Orchestra. Jon Oliva, Chris Caffery, Zak Steven's, just amazing artists. If you haven't ever listened givd them a try sometime, they're just top tier.

Here's a ballad from Avantasia - Tobias Sammet and Klaus Meine...

 

[jason10mm]

Dude that is some good shit right there I will fully listen tonight, absolutely loving that first song so far... And I love both styles as I am a big fan of longer songs like that we get with bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarious etc..

Let me ask are you a fan of Savatage? That's probably be all end all band, been listening to them since Sirens, Dungeons are calling etc... And loved them all through their years until they morphed into Trans Siberian Orchestra. Jon Oliva, Chris Caffery, Zak Steven's, just amazing artists. If you haven't ever listened givd them a try sometime, they're just top tier.

I like TSO except when the spoken word bits go too long (and the story is often vaguely creepy) or the jesus stuff is a bit thick, but for the most part is pretty good, then by hour 2 they slip in some good savatage riffs and that power metal edge.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I like TSO except when the spoken word bits go too long (and the story is often vaguely creepy) or the jesus stuff is a bit thick, but for the most part is pretty good, then by hour 2 they slip in some good savatage riffs and that power metal edge.

Yea i agree.. I love all the stuff that sorta isn't xmas stuff tbh, Night Castle is my favorite for some good ballad work, some crazy solos on thst album. But for me it's all about Tage, I just have listened to everything from sirens up to poets a gazillion times.

Whats cool tho is hopefully the final album will drop soon, poor Jon broke his back and that totally put off the release of the album.. He said recently he has enough material for 4 albums, That they want to tour first... But the song called Curtain Call apparently makes eveyeone cry that listens to it, which man I just get chills thinking about how awesome that song will be. But yea I wish they never totally veered away from Savatage after Poets.

 

[Kacho]

Relevant to this thread

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

What happened to the power ballad?

Ballads and power ballads have different meanings throughout different years. But I ain't here for stupid bullshit you prick - I'm referring to the most common type - the 80s POWER BALLAD aka the best kind.

Music now is weak as fuck, no soaring vocals. No power behind the guitar, in fact there is no fucken guitar!

Post you favorite MODERN power ballads.

The criteria is that is MUST be modern - only releases after the year 2000 (because this is niche) will be considered modern.

It MUST contain 80s production and composition sensibilities i.e gated massive reverb drums, chorused guitars, heavy reverb, huge harmonies.

Examples:

I Am I - See You Again (2013)



Gorgeous clean guitars, gated drums, melodic guitar solo, powerful and beautiful expressive vocals. Great lyrics - the modern GOAT

Power Quest - When I'm Gone (2003)


The typical compressed 80s digital piano (heard on so many tracks). Builds from paino and acoustic guitars into huge crescendo

Both of these are awesome man thanks for posting them and getting this thread going. Going to really explore their albums especially Power Quest, wild I never caught them over the years.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Primal Fear is insane imo, Ralf breaths fire just one hell of a band. But since we're talking ballads one of my favorites

 

[KyoZz]

I'm in love with what Poets of the Fall did for the Alan Wake series. I don't know if it really fits into those categories, but anyway

 

[jason10mm]

Relevant to this thread

Sadly, yes. Even somewhatbrecent bands I like, such as Sabaton, Nightwish, Trivium, etc are probably all 50+ dudes and whatever younger hottie chick they may need. You got The Warning, Pretty Reckless, Jinger, The Hu, and such but its pretty sparse. AFAICT there are no Metallicas, Iron Maiden, Megadeth type CRUSHERS out there, though I think Powerwolf is massive in europe though, might just be the hype I see online.

Hip-hop/rap has a stranglehold on american pop culture thats hard to explain (to me, anyway). All that stuff sounds like crap and it seems like the same 10 guys have been getting every award for like the past 15 years. Same with girl pop and the few guys in that space. It's the same names over and over.

I'm hoping the music pendulum swings back towards rock, just need a new raw sound to drive it. As much as I love power metal that stuff was never that popular outside of a fairly narrow clique. But rock should be front and center again. Just need to drive JayZ out and get a rock band doing the superbowl

 

[niilokin]

my favorite




also great new stuff from og-as-fuck band

 

[Insane Metal]

 

[kevboard]

Orden Ogan, The Ice Kings:


a very somber Power Metal Ballad with slight folk elements... not sure if this fulfills your requirements tho lol

 

[kevboard]

Here's a ballad from Avantasia - Tobias Sammet and Klaus Meine...

Avantasia and Magnum are 2 bands that are generally worth a look if this type of music is even remotely up your alley I'd say.
Bob Catley of Magnum is basically on all Avantasia albums, and Sammet is a massive Magnum fanboy (which is why Catley is on every album)

this entire Album is amazing, and on the title Track, Catley had Sammet on a Magnum album for a change lol

 

[jason10mm]

Just saw this. Good god if don't thinkni could survive a day, much less 4. But sooooooo many bands. Who knew Flyleaf or stabbing westward still existed? Kittie back in action? Gloryhammer and alestorm? Fuuuuuuck why do I live 2000 miles away?

 

[rm082e]

Hip-hop/rap has a stranglehold on american pop culture thats hard to explain (to me, anyway). All that stuff sounds like crap and it seems like the same 10 guys have been getting every award for like the past 15 years. Same with girl pop and the few guys in that space. It's the same names over and over.

I'm hoping the music pendulum swings back towards rock, just need a new raw sound to drive it. As much as I love power metal that stuff was never that popular outside of a fairly narrow clique. But rock should be front and center again. Just need to drive JayZ out and get a rock band doing the superbowl

Rock will never come back into mainstream popular culture. The reality is the record labels push what they can sell, not what people want. They can't sell rock music because the audience for rock music will just pirate it. Rock and metal bands can still sell out arenas when they put out new albums and go on tour, but you won't hear that music on a radio station, in popular movies, see those bands play on SNL and late night shows, etc. It's not in the industry's financial interests anymore.

 

[jason10mm]

Rock will never come back into mainstream popular culture. The reality is the record labels push what they can sell, not what people want. They can't sell rock music because the audience for rock music will just pirate it. Rock and metal bands can still sell out arenas when they put out new albums and go on tour, but you won't hear that music on a radio station, in popular movies, see those bands play on SNL and late night shows, etc. It's not in the industry's financial interests anymore.

The hell you are saying? Why would rock fans pirate? You think rap/hip hop is immune to that?

The thing today is rock/metal requires 3-5 friends in their garage to forge a sound that launches their career. Corporate rock is terrible and the fans know it. Pop/rap seem ok with fake sound but metal demands honesty.

Those 3-5 friends are doing youtube videos instead of playing instruments. Alas the wellspring of metal (in America at least) has just shifted. There are few clubs where these bands can earn a bare bones living while they develop

 

[kevboard]

Just saw this. Good god if don't thinkni could survive a day, much less 4. But sooooooo many bands. Who knew Flyleaf or stabbing westward still existed? Kittie back in action? Gloryhammer and alestorm? Fuuuuuuck why do I live 2000 miles away?

I'm not a fan of Gloryhammer's new singer tbh.
how awkward would it be if Angus McSix was there too tho? although, it would be kinda genius if they played into it and build a story around the whole Angus McSix and Angus McFife thing, like a pair of multiverse concept albums, one by each band, where they clash

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Avantasia and Magnum are 2 bands that are generally worth a look if this type of music is even remotely up your alley I'd say.
Bob Catley of Magnum is basically on all Avantasia albums, and Sammet is a massive Magnum fanboy (which is why Catley is on every album)

this entire Album is amazing, and on the title Track, Catley had Sammet on a Magnum album for a change lol

Dude yea love Bob and all those guys that work on each other's albums and what not, love Magnum, Avantasia etc.. Jorn Lande is one of my all time favorites the guy is such a beast. That album you linked man I agree so awesome, have it on my Spotify and it's awesome.

Some of my other favorites are Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Iron Savior, Freedom Call... So many more.

So i also love the glam/sleeze rock side alot as well and Pretty Boy Floyd came back strong recently with a good album, love this ballad

 

[jason10mm]

I'm not a fan of Gloryhammer's new singer tbh.
how awkward would it be if Angus McSix was there too tho? although, it would be kinda genius if they played into it and build a story around the whole Angus McSix and Angus McFife thing, like a pair of multiverse concept albums, one by each band, where they clash

That seems like an issue with a couple bands. Queensryche vs Geoff tate, ripper and judas priest, Sebastian bach and skid row. I'm torn on the issue, I prefer bands that have og members but it's a real theseus ship issue for some. Saw Warrant a while back and their singer is close, but isn't Jani lane. But he's dead so there isn't an option. Versus journey with pinela. Lots of these old bands have singers who can't really keep up with the vocals of their youth, so what's the option? Replace? Use a track? Deal with the vocals as they are?

 

[kevboard]

Dude yea love Bob and all those guys that work on each other's albums and what not, love Magnum, Avantasia etc.. Jorn Lande is one of my all time favorites the guy is such a beast. That album you linked man I agree so awesome, have it on my Spotify and it's awesome.

I'm convinced Jorn Lande's voice can heal depression.
I was happy seeing him getting a bit more mainstream exposure through League of Legends

Some of my other favorites are Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Iron Savior, Freedom Call... So many more.

So i also love the glam/sleeze rock side alot as well and Pretty Boy Floyd came back strong recently with a good album, love this ballad

many of them are short-lived sadly. I was sure Jettblack had the potential to become pretty big in the scene... but 3 Albums later and they were gone

 

[kevboard]

That seems like an issue with a couple bands. Queensryche vs Geoff tate, ripper and judas priest, Sebastian bach and skid row. I'm torn on the issue, I prefer bands that have og members but it's a real theseus ship issue for some. Saw Warrant a while back and their singer is close, but isn't Jani lane. But he's dead so there isn't an option. Versus journey with pinela. Lots of these old bands have singers who can't really keep up with the vocals of their youth, so what's the option? Replace? Use a track? Deal with the vocals as they are?

for me it depends on the band. I don't mind modern Queensryche for example,

love this song:



but for Gloryhammer specifically I think Thomas Winkler's voice fit perfectly with the off-the-charts cheesiness of the band. the new guy feels a bit out of place... which is why I am happy Angus McSix exists, even tho you can hear Seeb's influence a lot, as some of the first album sounded like Orden Ogan leftover songs

but bands in that situation make the whole thing even weirder.
like Accept. to me UDO is the actual true modern Accept, so when Accept came back with a new vocalist it was kinda weird. Udo Dirkschneider's voice was essential for their sound imo.
and it got even weirder when Dirkschenider's second band... Dirkschneider, with actual former Accept members, went even more retro Accept than UDO already was.
UDO is the evolution of Accept, and Dirkschneider is retro Accept, all while the actual band Accept exists again as well... with less former Accept members than Dirkschneider... that's just weird

Gloryhammer and Angus McSix are now in a similar situation, although not as extreme as Accept, UDO and Dirkschneider

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I'm convinced Jorn Lande's voice can heal depression.
I was happy seeing him getting a bit more mainstream exposure through League of Legends

many of them are short-lived sadly. I was sure Jettblack had the potential to become pretty big in the scene... but 3 Albums later and they were gone

Hah dude I been loving Jorn with Pentakill, just so good.. Edge of night is a favorite as well. The thing that kills me is Jorn would've been absolutely insane in the 80's... His voice is such a perfect mix of Coverdale and Dio, and his own sound just a monster.

Jettblack sounds pretty good dude I'll explore them a bit. That's reminding me a bit of Beast in Black if you've listened to them any. Yea there was a nice burst of some bands in the late 2000s and 2010s that came out and just didn't last but were awesome.

Tossing this number out here because the solo in this that Chris Caffery gives us is for me one of the most goosebump solos ever, Paul's vocals (rip) and the pianos, just insane... This solo gives me chills every time.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

for me it depends on the band. I don't mind modern Queensryche for example,

love this song:



but for Gloryhammer specifically I think Thomas Winkler's voice fit perfectly with the off-the-charts cheesiness of the band. the new guy feels a bit out of place... which is why I am happy Angus McSix exists, even tho you can hear Seeb's influence a lot, as some of the first album sounded like Orden Ogan leftover songs

but bands in that situation make the whole thing even weirder.
like Accept. to me UDO is the actual true modern Accept, so when Accept came back with a new vocalist it was kinda weird. Udo Dirkschneider's voice was essential for their sound imo.
and it got even weirder when Dirkschenider's second band... Dirkschneider, with actual former Accept members, went even more retro Accept than UDO already was.
UDO is the evolution of Accept, and Dirkschneider is retro Accept, all while the actual band Accept exists again as well... with less former Accept members than Dirkschneider... that's just weird

Gloryhammer and Angus McSix are now in a similar situation, although not as extreme as Accept, UDO and Dirkschneider

Dude... I absolutely fucking love Udo.. The dude is just a beast in metal.. I like some of the new accept material but I agree udo is the one and will forever be Accept . I have been listening to him my whole life and just today was blasting his shit on the way to some work. It's a shame Udo can't just get back with Accept.

Was similar for as Metal Church, I was stoked when Mike Howe came back... Still can't believe he's gone. Same with Wayne, just man those dudes had insane tubes... I still play the hell out of their albums to this day.

Dude that new QR song is badass, thanks for sharing!

 

[kevboard]

Hah dude I been loving Jorn with Pentakill, just so good.. Edge of night is a favorite as well. The thing that kills me is Jorn would've been absolutely insane in the 80's... His voice is such a perfect mix of Coverdale and Dio, and his own sound just a monster.

jup

Jettblack sounds pretty good dude I'll explore them a bit. That's reminding me a bit of Beast in Black if you've listened to them any.

Beast in Black is great yeah.

one of my favourite albums in recent years

 

[kevboard]

Some of my other favorites are Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Iron Savior, Freedom Call... So many more.

oh, btw., anyone who is into early to mid 90s Blind Guardian and you haven't heard Savage Circus, you're missing out.

the band was founded by ex-Blind Guardian drummer Thomen Stauch with the goal to make songs in the style of Imagination from the other Side.
Iron Savior's Piet Sielck was also part of it, and did a lot of the songwriting and composing too (which you can hear, it's like if Iron Savior and Blind Guardian had a baby)

they got Jens Carlsso from Persuader as the vocalist because he can get eerily close to the sound of Hansi Kürsch at times.

instead of Blind Guardian's fantasy book focus, Savage Circus is all about Fantasy-horror books, like many Stephen King books were turned into songs.

here's Of Doom and Death, based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower


sadly they only released 2 albums because Piet Sielck didn't have enough time to work on both Iron Savior and Savage Circus material.

 

[Duellist]

 

[Duellist]

Not sure if what I posed is what you’re looking for or not. Modern power ballads are trickier to label than the old 80’s hair metal/rock ones. For instance I would consider this a power ballad where someone else may not. Whatever it is it kicks tons of ass imo



Or this one

 

[PSYGN]

Oops, I missed the modern part

 

[DaciaJC]

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Just saw this. Good god if don't thinkni could survive a day, much less 4. But sooooooo many bands. Who knew Flyleaf or stabbing westward still existed? Kittie back in action? Gloryhammer and alestorm? Fuuuuuuck why do I live 2000 miles away?

Sorry that this is not entirely on topic op but I thought slayer retired? My girlfriend is talking about going to this. Thursday doesn't do much for me but the rest of the weekend is damn good. At least half a dozen bands each day i'd like to see.

 

[Unknown?]

Not sure if this counts as a power ballad, but I think so. Always loved There was a Time by Guns N Roses. The Bucket head solo at the end is amazing!

 

[HRK69]

This is one sexy thread

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Not sure if what I posed is what you’re looking for or not. Modern power ballads are trickier to label than the old 80’s hair metal/rock ones. For instance I would consider this a power ballad where someone else may not. Whatever it is it kicks tons of ass imo



Or this one

Nice mentions, Eclipse is awesome

 

[El Muerto]