US power metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 Then
Traditional heavy metal 1976
The classic form: high vocals, twin lead guitars, choruses to raise a fist to. Leather and studs.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny. Before the leather, and already perfect.
Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) - 3 What you asked about
US power metal 1983
The American version, rawer and closer to thrash than its melodic European cousin.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction. The best US power metal album, no argument.
Jag Panzer, Ample Destruction (1984) - 4 Where to go next
Celtic metal 1994
Irish melodies and traditional instruments over black or heavy metal.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness. No tin whistle, and the most Celtic of the lot.
Primordial, The Gathering Wilderness (2005)
Assembled from the tree: every genre US power metal descends from, in order. US power metal has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.