What are some releases that have shaped up power metal a decade after Helloween's first 3 albums?
So last week, a new member named Guyo commented on Rex's review for Angra's Holy Land. Looks like a nice comment, but there was one sentence that really caught my attention: "Remember that in 1996 the concept of Power Metal didn't yet exist, so technically this album isn't Power Metal; it was called melodic Speed Metal."
Look, I won't put this guy down for how much they know, but with all due respect, that's not true at all. The term was first coined in the mid-80s, with the genre having been pioneered by Helloween with their first 3 albums (Walls of Jericho and the Keepers of the Seven Keys duology). There are also a couple American bands at that time who also started developing the European power metal sound while staying in US power metal, like Riot and Savatage. As well as several albums in the early to mid-90s that would be a sin to deem NOT power metal, from bands like Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, and Running Wild.
But OK, let's say power metal wasn't a thing until after 1996. What would be some power metal releases that have shaped up in the genre in say the late 90s and early 2000s that would qualify as pioneering the genre if that's the case? I've narrowed down my list to albums from that era that I've considered essential to the genre and I enjoyed when I was at the height of listening to that genre 10 years before this post (some not as much as I do now). Here's what I've come up with:
Startovarius - Visions (1997)
Stratovarius - Destiny (1998)
Stratovarius - Infinite (2000)
Rhapsody (of Fire) - Legendary Tales (1997)
Rhapsody (of Fire) - Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998)
Nightwish - Angels Falls First (1997)
Nightwish - Oceanborn (1998)
Nightwish - Wishmaster (2000)
HammerFall - Glory to the Brave (1997)
HammerFall - Legacy of Kings (1998)
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica (1999)
Sonata Arctica - Silence (2001)
Avantasia - The Metal Opera Part I (2001)
Avantasia - The Metal Opera Part II (2002)
Elvenking - Heathenreel (2001)
Angra - Rebirth (2001)
DragonForce - Valley of the Damned (2003)
Kamelot - Epica (2003)
Well those last two albums (by DragonForce and Kamelot) are more like my own personal choices, as they were two of the albums that solidified my metal taste starting with power metal (along with of course, DragonForce's Inhuman Rampage).
So what do you all think are some releases that helped shaped up power metal after 1996, in the hypothetical scenario that the genre was supposedly invented around then? Discuss!
This is a genre I know very little about, Andi, but I have always thought that bands like Nightwish and Sonata Arctica were symphonic metal rather than power metal, or are the two terms synonymous with each other and interchangeable? Other than that I can't really contribute much to this discussion, sorry. For context, though, I did buy "Keeper of the Seven Keys" when it came out and never heard the expression power metal applied to it at the time (or to anything, to be honest).