History Main / PowerMetal

* MetalScream: More prevalent in the American scene, where vocalists tend to favor [[Music/JudasPriest Halford]]-esque shrieks or Dio-esque midranged belting over operatic vocals; European acts are typically more about clean, operatic styles, but a ballsier, more aggressive approach is still commonly seen in German and (to a lesser degree) Swedish acts. Japanese and South American acts also typically skew towards cleaner styles, but Halfordesque (Hibria) and Dioesque (Concerto Moon) deliveries can still be found in both scenes. It has become increasingly common for modern power metal vocalists to employ gruff, throaty vocals similar to thrash or, as with some bands, HarshVocals.

* ArcWords: Dragons, fire, warriors, heroes and even relatively childish things such as [[RatedMForManly men being manly]] and ''[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment iron swords made of steel]]''.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A very frequent theme of power metal. Possibly the only reason why power metal stays on the idealistic end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism despite lyrics about war, bloodshed, and/or violence.

* FanNickname: "Flower metal", "Pussy Metal", "Gay Metal", "Happy Metal", "Pop Metal". Note that some, if not all, of these epithets are ''almost exclusively'' used by fans of certain types of power metal at others, like USPM fans vs. Euro-power bands, or fans of heavier European bands like Music/GammaRay and Music/IronSavior at less aggressive bands like Music/SonataArctica and later Music/{{Stratovarius}}.

* RatedMForManly: The genre overflows with manliness due to the ubiquity of HeavyMithril and HotBlooded {{Large Ham}}s in the scene. Less prominent in J-power, in part due to overlap with the [[CostumePorn extremely flamboyant]] VisualKei scene, and in part because of Japan's large number of female-fronted and all-female power metal bands.
* RockMeAmadeus: The genre (particularly Japanese, South American, and some European bands) is notable for its extreme emphasis on painfully fast and technical guitar shredding, which is often inspired by or outright ripped off from famous ClassicalMusic pieces. Somewhat less present in USPM, but various bands (namely Symphony X, Heathen, Helstar, Apocrypha, and Toxik) are still famous for flashy neoclassical leadwork. Lastly, while the vast majority of shred players are neoclassical, some (namely Gus G. and Derek Taylor) are blues or jazz-based.

* Music/RunningWild
* Music/SacralRage (albeit in the style of USPM)

* Music/HeavensGate

* Music/RhapsodyOfFire
* Music/RunningWild
* Music/{{Sabaton}}
* Music/SacralRage (albeit in the style of USPM)
* Music/SavageCircus
* Music/SavageMessiah (also thrash)
* Music/{{Scanner}}
* Music/ScarSymmetry (though they are also MelodicDeathMetal, but, unlike Music/ChildrenOfBodom, they tend to use actual singing as well as the harsh vocals)
* Music/SchlafesBruder
* Music/SilentForce
* Music/SonataArctica
* Music/{{Stratovarius}}
* Music/{{Symfonia}}
* Music/TadMorose
* Music/{{Tarot}}
* Music/{{Terasbetoni}}
* Music/TwilightForce (An AffectionateParody to PowerMetal and HeavyMithril tropes, although not as overt as Music/{{Gloryhammer}}.)
* Music/LucaTurilli
* Music/{{Turisas}}
* Music/VanCanto
* Music/VisionDivine
* Music/WindRose
* Music/{{Wintersun}} (also MelodicDeathMetal)
* Music/{{Wisdom}}
* Music/{{Wolf}}
* Music/WutheringHeights
* Music/{{Xandria}}

* Adagio (also ProgressiveMetal, later material has some djent elements)
* Music/{{Alestorm}}
* Music/{{Altaria}}
* Music/{{Amaranthe}}
* Music/{{Amorphis}}
* Music/AncientBards

* Music/{{Artch}}

* Music/BattleBeast
* Music/{{Battlelore}}
* Music/BeastInBlack
* Music/BlackMajesty (an Australian band straddling the line between American and European styles)

* Music/BloodBound
* Music/ChildrenOfBodom (overlaps with MelodicDeathMetal)
* Music/CivilWar
* Music/DaedricTales (Overlaps with SymphonicMetal and MelodicDeathMetal)
* Music/TheDarkElement (overlaps with SymphonicMetal)
* Music/DarkMoor
* Music/{{Derdian}}
* Music/DiabulusInMusica
* Music/{{DragonForce}}
* Music/{{Dragonland}} (Overlaps with MelodicDeathMetal, although they rarely use the traditional deep throated screams.)
* Music/DreamEvil

* Elegy (also ProgressiveMetal)
* Music/{{Ensiferum}} (also MelodicDeathMetal and FolkMetal)
* Music/{{Epica}}
* Music/{{Epidemia}}
* [[Music/EternitysEnd Eternity's End]] (a Music/ChristianMuenzner project)
* Music/{{Evergrey}} (falls under ProgressiveMetal as well)
* Music/{{Fairyland}}
* Music/{{Falconer}} (also FolkMetal)

* Music/FrozenCrown

* Music/{{Gloryhammer}} (an AffectionateParody)

* Music/HammerFall
* Music/HeavensGate
* Music/HeavyLoad

* Music/{{Kalmah}} (Overlaps with MelodicDeathMetal. Later albums replace the power metal element with ThrashMetal)
* Music/{{Keldian}}
* Music/{{Kiuas}}
* Creator/ChristopherLee
** ''Music/{{Charlemagne}}''
* Music/{{Lonewolf}}
* Music/MachinaeSupremacy fuses this with ElectronicMusic
* [[Music/YngwieMalmsteen Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force]]
* Manticora (also ProgressiveMetal)

* Mercenary (also melodic death)
* Music/MetalForce
* Music/{{Narnia}} (a ChristianRock example)
* Music/{{Neonfly}}
* Music/{{Nightwish}} (also SymphonicMetal)
** Music/TarjaTurunen
* Nocturnal Rites
* Music/{{Norther}} (also MelodicDeathMetal)

* Music/{{Pathfinder}}
* Music/{{Persuader}}

* Portrait (''Burn the World'', earlier material was traditional heavy metal)
* Music/PowerQuest

* Music/PrettyMaids

* [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends Pentakill]] (Originally a side project, evolved into legitimacy when they hit No. 1 on Metal charts after their second album. Also IndustrialMetal.)

* Music/{{Epidemia}}

* Andy James

'''American Power Metal:'''

'''Canadian Power Metal:'''
* Music/UnleashTheArchers
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* Music/UnluckyMorpheus

->''[[HeavyMithril Lord of all]] [[Literature/TheSilmarillion Noldor]]''

* Music/{{Powerglove}}

* Music/{{Riot}} (early material is traditional metal)