In The Pit · 02/07/2023
Yesterday we drove to Brande-Hörnerkirchen north of Hamburg to see Italian power metal band Wind Rose playing at the Hörnerfest 2023. I've discovered Wind Rose a while back already and their live performances have always made me smile, so I did not hesitate to get us day passes for the Hörnerfest for July 1st. Hörnerfest is an open air festival focusing heavily on folk, pagan and medieval music. The festival runs for three days and offers camping, medieval encampments, jugglery, axe...
Genre Tourism · 12/05/2023
A reluctant deep dive into HammerFall’s Glory to the Brave—the power metal classic I tried not to like, but kind of did. Against my will.
Genre Tourism · 19/03/2023
136 days till W:O:A 2023. Today's blog article is about Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum. Founded in 1995 Ensiferum can look back on a career of nearly 30 years and a discography of eight studio albums. Ensiferum's line-up has changed many times and guitarist/vocalist Markus Toivonen is the only founding member left. I've listened to the latest albums Thalassic (2020) and Two Paths (2017) as well as the debut album Ensiferum (2001) and the sophomore album Iron (2004) so far. I felt a bit more...
Genre Tourism · 29/01/2023
Warkings’ debut Reborn offers ten tracks of polished power metal, theatrical war themes, and historical roleplay—none of which manage to leave a lasting impression. A concept album that proves even Odin can’t save you from boredom.
Genre Tourism · 14/01/2023
Battle Beast’s debut album Steel is a synth-soaked, sword-wielding power metal joyride. No subtlety, no shame—just riffs, grit, and pure fun.
Genre Tourism · 03/01/2023
211 days till W:O:A 2023. I am sure everybody knows Doro. Even I knew her before starting my metal blog project and that says something. For 40 years Doro has provided the world with the radio-friendly traditional heavy metal with admirable consistency. I got to be honest, after listening to so much black metal and death metal the last couple of months, switching to Doro the other day took some getting used to again. However, seek and ye shall find - I found something to like with each band I...
Genre Tourism · 02/12/2022
243 days till W:O:A 2023. With Dutch band Delain I am writing my first article in the category of symphonic metal. Coming from Deicide and Defleshed to Delain was quite a turn and it took me a couple of days to open up to this very different kind of metal. I picked Delain's latest studio album Apocalypse & Chill from 2020 and when I played the album for the first time my first thought was "Sounds like Within Temptation". Yeah, guess what - Delain was founded in 2002 by Martijn Westerhold,...
Genre Tourism · 31/10/2022
275 days till W:O:A 2023. #womenofmetal! I already noticed that W:O:A 2023 will host a number of all-female metal bands and I am excited to introduce the Burning Witches today. I've had a lot of fun listening to them so far. Burning Witches are a Swiss metal band founded in 2016 by guitarist Romana Kalkuhl. Kalkuhl, also guitarist with ATLAS & AXIS, wanted to form an all-female metal band for some time and in 2016 she had found a matching cast. Burning Witches play oldschool heavy metal,...
Genre Tourism · 01/05/2022
It's funny how all those metal bands are somehow connected. Some names just keep popping up with several bands. Remember Kai Hansen from my last blog article? Vocalist of Helloween till 1988? Well, he is also present on Blind Guardian's second studio album Follow the Blind, joining vocalist Hansi Kürsch on THE iconic Blind Guardian song Valhalla. This song is literally drifing me crazy, it's been stuck in my head for days now. Sudden erruptions of "VALHAAAALLA" from various family members...
Genre Tourism · 28/04/2022
Power metal - I've been waiting to start with this special subgenre of heavy metal! And what better band to start with than German band Helloween who have been called "fathers of power metal" and are part of the big four of power metal together with Blind Guardian, Sabaton and DragonForce. So. What is power metal? The most distinguishing features of power metal are: fast tempo, uplifting lyrics often based on mythology or fantasy, clean and high-pitched vocals, strong choruses, anthemic...