Eh, I'm not too excited about Finntroll's new album. They have waaaaay too many lineup changes. For me, Jaktens Tid was superb but my interest in them got killed off by Visor Om Slutet (boring IMHO). Though Trollhammeran was kinda good. Haven't heard much of Nattfood other than a few songs.

Sounds like typical death metal to me. Well if you want more melodic tunes, try 'melodic death metal' groups like Norther, Children of Bodom, Ensiferum or Insomnium.

zomg please don't base your impressions of power metal on Dragonforce or Symphony X. Or even Nightwish. There are tons of better power metal bands out there that don't sound so cheesy or corny. Being a power and death metal fan, I'd suggest you picking up albums from the following bands:

Not cheesy:
Blind Guardian (bite me, I'm a BG fan:P)
Nevermore
Iced Earth (if you like Metallica's 80s work, get IE's albums with Matt Barlow at the vocals)
Iron Maiden (okay, they're not power metal but some of their songs like Sign Of The Cross, Paschendale and The Clansman are power metal'ish)
Ensiferum (some growling vocals but they're -really- good. Don't pass this up if you love metal)
Dio
Virgin Steele (get the House of Atreus or Invictus albums)
Manilla Road (Open The Gates is fantastic imo even though a tad bit old school)
Persuader
Demons & Wizard (collaboration between two of the biggest power metallers in the genre, IE and BG)

Cheesy:
ManowaR
HammerFall
Kamelot
Gamma Ray/Helloween (don't like them but since most power metallers do, give it a try if you want. I just can't stand Kai Hansen's voice)
Tyr
Rhapsody....OF FIRE!!!!

EDIT: Oh shoot, I forgot to add Demons & Wizard to the not cheesy section.

This post has been edited by Wolfgard: Oct 8 2006, 10:39 AM

If you're new to metal, you might want to consider 'melodic' death metal instead of just normal death metal. Other than what soulfly mentioned, death metal despite its name doesn't necessarily deal with 'death' issues. It's just the style of singing which includes death 'grunts' and growls. Black metal on the other hand is more inclined to have ghastly themes in their songs, not that its a bad thing! Dimmu Borgir ftw!

As for corny power metal, well... I didn't say that was a bad thing. Hey, I started my love of power metal from listening to ManowaR's 80s stuff (Kings of Metal! Hail hail hail and kill!) and obviously they're one of the cheesiest bands ever. But it does get old when people start associating power metal only with Dragonforce or Nightwish without considering other better bands. Sad fact is, the best bands in the power metal genre don't get as much as exposure as DF or NW despite having better composition and guitar work. I'm glad you've decided to give my suggestions a try:)

Here's a link to my old post about what to download if you wanna give some power metal songs a try. It's at the bottom (check out IM's power metal'ish AMoLaD album too):

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=178412&st=1360

Sorry bout that. Symphony X is neoclassical/prog ala DT. I got it confused with Stratovarius/Sonata Artica (fkn groups with 'S' names).

Nevermore/Iced Earth are power metal bands afaik. American power metal, that is. Not european power metal. Both bands have roots in trash metal and that's why they don't sound much like bands from Europe. As for Iron Maiden, I didn't say they're power metal. Maiden plays NWOBHM, just that some of their songs especially those from Blaze Bayley and post-Bayley are power metal'ish in nature.

Manowar is 'so' euro power metal. Fact, they're the ones that spawned the 101 clones out there, including their own power metal successor, HammerFall. Btw, Sons of Odin from the latest single rocks! Even their own music label is about power metal and that includes Rhapsody.....OF FIRE!

Pantera is trash metal btw.