Tag: The Metal Pigeon

I have always been a fan of rock and metal bands doing ballads, full stop. I grew up being introduced to rock through artists such as Bon Jovi, Journey, Europe, and Guns N’ Roses, and the idea of the ballad, or more accurately, the power ballad was ingrained in hard rock culture during that era. During that time, their purpose in an artist’s repertoire was abundantly clear — for artists to have a song that was less aggressive, less loud, and more likely to get playlisted on commercial radio and MTV, and to appeal to a wider (read: female) audience. It was a tried and true formula, one that yielded artists of that era their biggest hits, the most eyeballs, and less dudes only at their shows. For a younger me just getting into hard rock and soon enough metal, I found a band’s ballads a fascinating counterpoint to the more rockin’ and aggressive material that I was there for in the first place. It was like getting to see another dimension to their sound that they kept under wraps, the band only revealing it in brief glimpses (as you imagine, I wasn’t thinking too much of the commercial reasons behind it at the time). Guns N’ Roses had the surreal grandiosity of “November Rain”, Scorpions were making oblique socio-political statements I didn’t quite understand with “Wind of Change” (a far cry from “Tease Me, Please Me”), and even Metallica was breaking new ground with “One”, a song that absolutely transfixed me with its dynamic approach.

I talked about it a bit during my little biographical essay, but the metalheads I grew up with were pretty tough and serious about their attitudes on metal. If it wasn’t kicking your ass, they just didn’t wanna know about it, and so “Nothing Else Matters” was worthy of scoffing mockery only, Dave Mustaine was getting called a poser for “A Tout Le Monde”, and “Silent Lucidity” was music for your mom to change your diapers to (I’m not kidding these dudes were brutal). So I kept my love of rock and metal ballads a secret, and in fairness to those guys, their attitudes actually forced me out of my comfort zone and kicked off my interest in death metal and harder thrash metal, with me finding my own way towards black metal very soon after, where in a few years I was listening to more extreme stuff than they were. But given the climate of that mid to late 90’s era of being a metal fan, being the ages we were, this was all part of your identity. I wasn’t about to talk about how much I loved ABBA and Laurel Canyon artists on California AM country radio that my mom used to listen to, and I certainly couldn’t admit to having serious fan opinions on Bon Jovi’s 1995 These Days album.

It really was the dawn of power metal that changed this closeted attitude for me, because I instantly felt an affinity for power metal’s highly melodic stylings and often unabashedly traditional ties to classic metal. And part of these artists album blueprints usually came heavily influenced by the fact that the songwriters in these bands also happened to love ballads, and they were committed to releasing the music they wanted to play, regardless of releasing it in a world dominated by disaffected alternative rock and post-grunge. So Blind Guardian was releasing pretty blistering speed metal, but were unapologetic about having a ballad called “Lord of the Rings” square in the middle of their album. Helloween dared fan blowback even more after replacing Michael Kiske by continuing their commitment to having a ballad on each album, and the new crop of Euro-power bands popping up in the late 90s were all trying their hands at them. It made me reconsider my outward commitment to the tough metal fan ethos that had been ingrained in me, particularly when I sat with an old metal buddy of mine named B.J. who played Manowar’s “Master of the Wind” in his Jeep and talked about how much he loved it and I admitted out loud that he was right.

After that I quickly let go of any insecurity about liking ballads (or power metal for that matter), and it opened up so much for me music wise. I soon discovered Sarah Brightman on PBS one night and became a huge fan of her sweeping, elegant balladry, and I openly admitted that I really liked H.I.M.’s music, despite all their Hot Topic dominance in the early 2000s. This kind of attitude eventually fueled my frustration with the small mindedness of metal communities online, with many of them still using all kinds of epithets and slurs to refer to a metal band doing a ballad, or artists that were deemed as less than metal just because their sound was lighter in tone or perceived as cheerful sounding. All these accusations of an artist being “wimpy” seemed like a way to mask some insecurity or another, and I wondered in particular why some vocal power metal fans were so against the idea of a band in this subgenre writing a ballad (shouldn’t the often emotional and vulnerable nature of power metal as a whole have shaken off those aversions, like they had for me?). I realized that even within the smaller community of power metal fans online, that ballads were still viewed with suspicious and downright hostility at times. It’s slightly less so today, but that attitude still resides within the community as a whole.

One of the big reasons I started The Metal Pigeon all those years ago was to have a platform to talk about subjects such as this, ones that are deeply unpopular even with fellow power metal fans. I realize that I’m probably going to be talking to myself with this article, but no matter: I’ve decided to take a shot at crafting a list of the best ballads that power metal has produced. The following list is separated in the only way that made sense to me, to decipher who best tackled this very tricky songwriting feat the throughout their careers. In that spirit, we have a singular grandmaster tier representing the artist who is peerless in their mastery of the ballad; a masters tier for those artists who have a handful of truly excellent ballads in their repertoire; an apprentice tier for artists with just a few awesome ballads to their credit; and a novice tier for those artists who managed one spectacular ballad in their oeuvre. If anyone besides me cares enough to read through this piece, undoubtedly questions will arise as to why some other ballad or another is not represented on the novices list. I had to limit it to the songs that were top of mind for me, but I completely allow that it is a tier that is open to expansion and updating, particularly if a song strikes me as worthy down the line.

Before we get to the list, I should take a moment to describe what I look for in a great ballad. The obvious factors of great songwriting, unforgettable melodies, and emotionally affecting lyrics or vocal performances aside, the key quality for me is the notion of bittersweet, or as it’s known in Japan as Mono no aware. It’s the singular element that ties all of these songs listed below or on this article’s expanded Spotify playlist, that despite the minor chords or often sad or melancholic undercurrent that flows through these ballads, they are tinged with hope and some degree of optimism. This is what separates ballads from rock and metal artists from the sugary sweet balladry of actual balladeers such as your Michael Bublé’s of the pop vocal world. It’s also what separates them from depressing dirges, like those of your favorite doom metal band. A successful rock or metal ballad should run through you and make you feel longing, wistfulness, empathy, regret, comfort and warmth in a few emotionally charged minutes. If you go through the songs below via the linked YouTube videos or the aforementioned Spotify playlist that’s linked below, I think you’ll begin to discern that commonality that I hear.

(Link to TheMetalPigeon Best Power Metal Ballads playlist on Spotify)

---

The Grandmaster

Tobias Sammet (Edguy/Avantasia)

Standing alone at the top of the power metal ballads mountain is one Tobias Sammet, the chief songwriter and ringleader for both Edguy and Avantasia. Upon building my research playlist for this exercise, he amassed a staggering twenty three worthy ballads on it culled from the expanse of both band’s discographies. Now power metal purists might scoff and say that post 2006 or so, Sammet abandoned power metal in favor of a fusion of styles that included hard rock, AOR, and symphonic metal in addition to power metal, thus excluding him as a pure power metal artist. I think that’s a nonsense argument in a discussion about ballads, but even if we entertain that criticism for a moment, Sammet would still sit at the top of the leaderboard from his 97-03 power metal era with nine entries. I have always loved his musical approach to ballads, from the more stoic and epic in tone cuts of the early Edguy era, to the bombastic sweep of Avantasia’s power ballads, and his demonstrable love for bands like Europe, Magnum, and Bon Jovi in his more AOR-influenced ballads later in his career. I firmly believe that much of his success at penning such beautiful ballads is rooted in his composing with keyboards and vocals first, not guitar riffs. It naturally shifts the weight of the song to the vocal melody, and he’s incredible at crafting those.

Yet it was Sammet’s lyrical approach to ballad writing that sets him apart from most of his power metal peers, that being his welcoming of romantic love as a theme, which as you’ll discover throughout the rest of this exploration is pretty darn uncommon. For sure he sometimes delved into the mainstays of power metal balladry lyrical themes, such as loneliness, isolation, light vs dark, a journey to be undertaken, etc. But Sammet mostly wrote unabashed love songs, starting early in his career at a time when he would still get flak for it, mostly from those aforementioned insecure listeners, whose aversion to anything without double bass and galloping riffs included any kind of seemingly unmanly sentiment being expressed in the lyrics. It’s hard to ignore lyrics in ballads, the vocals often front and center in the mix, and Sammet would take a direct approach in his ballads instead of couching his sentiments in his usual metaphors and metaphysical imagery. And even when he did venture away from romantic themes, he tapped into a wellspring of lump in your throat hopefulness that few in popular music, let alone power metal, can shape and wield as artfully as he has.

(As mentioned above, there’s simply too many Sammet ballads to cover in-depth here, but I’ll pick out a handful to focus on, with the rest having to take their spotlight in this article’s companion Spotify playlist. Some of these aren’t my personal favorites, but I tried to pick songs that illustrate Sammet’s range and versatility as a ballads songwriter, a prolific one at that.)

“Scarlet Rose” (Vain Glory Opera, 1998)

This was one of the rare guitar oriented ballads early on in Sammet’s career, with Edguy’s Jens Ludwig’s unforgettably beautiful acoustic guitarwork bookending these initial verses before the song explodes into power ballad territory with the Scorpions-esque “Still Loving You” treatment at the end with loudly ringing chords and a fully electrified solo that follows the acoustic passage midway through. I know “Land of the Miracle” is the obvious pick for a standout ballad early in Edguy’s career, but everyone knows that tune, and I feel some of these very early Edguy ballads get overlooked. This gem was a massive leap forward from the admirable yet rough “When A Hero Cries” off Kingdom of Madness in 1997 — and for a broader perspective on how quickly Sammet was learning his ballad craft, hear the massive difference on the 1995 Savage Poetry demos of “Roses to No One” and “Sands of Time” in comparison to the re-recording of that same album in 2000 (as The Savage Poetry).

“Farewell” (The Metal Opera, Pt. I, 2001)

Arguably the most iconic moment from The Metal Opera, Pt I, Sammet recruited Within Temptation’s Sharon Den Adel for a ice queen ready guest spot on this spectacular, joyfully exuberant folky power ballad. Brimming with shades of Blind Guardian’s Nightfall In Middle Earth musicality, this stunner was adorned with Miro Rodenburg’s phenomenal studio orchestration and in particular, a distinct flute-esque sound that piloted the top line melody throughout the song. But regal is perhaps the best adjective here, because I’m hard pressed to think of another power metal ballad that really inspires you to stand heroically with one leg up on your computer chair, back straight, arms akimbo while you look off into the distance (the wall) while this soundtracks whatever’s happening in your mind’s eye. The Wacken 2011 live clip is goosebump inducing.

“Forever” (Hellfire Club, 2003)

I wanna highlight this because its not only a beautiful song, but it was coming off Edguy’s first foray with mixing hard rock influences into their power metal brew, and you hear that in spades with this unabashedly 80s inspired power ballad. It’s actually hard to pinpoint individual artists here as inspirations because Sammet really does blur the lines between AOR styled hard rock power ballads and Edguy’s own idiosyncratic sonic palette, but when Ludwig’s guitar solo kicks in, I think glimpses of Guns N’ Roses filter through. The other important distinction here is the presence of the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, being one of the few moments that a real orchestra has provided the backdrop to a power metal ballad. The presence of real strings lends depth to the atmosphere, particularly with how they swell during the chorus, their lyrical arrangement adding gravitas to Sammet’s soaring vocals.

“The Story Ain’t Over” (Lost In Space Pt.1, 2007)

One of the biggest hits of Sammet’s career, this song has achieved a bit of iconic status amongst power metal fans as being a genre classic, and certainly it ranks atop the affections of many of his die-hard fans. I’ve found myself having to take breaks from listening to it for lengthy stretches over the past two decades because of just how much I overplayed it when the Lost In Space EPs first came out and we all collectively wondered why this song wasn’t on The Scarecrow album proper as a single in it’s own right. There is something undeniably magic about its majestic sweep and theatricality, even Sammet’s unusual phraseology due to being an English as a second language speaker is endearing. Sammet was able to merge the grandeur of Jim Steinman’s songwriting for Meatloaf and Celine Dion with the magic of Magnum (not a coincidence that Bob Catley helmed co-lead vocals here), this is arguably the quintessential Avantasia power ballad.

“Thorn Without A Rose” (Tinnitus Sanctus, 2008)

A genuine bright spot amongst the turbulent tracklist of Tinnitus Sanctus, this nostalgia soaked 80s AOR power ballad was a continuation of the Bon Jovi meets Europe vibes that began with the Rocket Ride era (in particular that album’s fine power ballad “Save Me”). There was a time when I felt the intro verse was a little too slow paced for the rest of the song, but in time I grew to appreciate that gradual build up. The structure of the refrain here is classic 80s pop metal, with group vocals for emphasis on “Tomorrow!” and “…a thorn without roses!” And there’s something particularly affecting about the imagery in these lyrics, Sammet painting a picture of loss and sorrow over the passage of time (“You reach for the distance / And when you arrive the distance is gone / Already gone”). I always thought the song’s lone reference to romance was an incredibly strong piece of imagery as well (“I’d never known that dying embers / Would hurt more than the blazing fire we’d lit”), proving that Sammet was getting better as a lyricist, something we’d see a lot more of in later Avantasia albums.

“Alone In Myself” (Space Police, 2014)

It was a toss up for me to discuss this absolutely soulful gem off Space Police or the overlooked and underrated “Every Night Without You” from the woeful Age of the Joker album in 2011 (so I’ll talk about both a bit!). The latter was a classic pop-metal ballad with a surprising blast of late 90s power metal flourish via the placement of triumphant orchestral swells in the bridge, complete with punctuating horns that gave it a regal flavor ala Vain Glory Opera. But “Alone in Myself” inverted those stylistic choices, being built on pensive church organ sounding keyboard lines, rhythmic lowkey riffing, and drummer Felix Bohnke’s best Phil Collins impersonation ala loud/soft dynamic drum patterns. It all made sense when the chorus hit, with Sammet’s lamenting vocals being reinforced with a choir vocal that sang along to the lead vocal line, and providing interstitial harmonies that really gave the whole thing a genuine gospel vibe. I love how different this song is compared to the other Sammet penned ballads, it remains unique even to this day in his catalog.

---

The Masters

Hammerfall

One of the key figures of the power metal movement in the late 90s, Sweden’s Hammerfall introduced ballads as an integral part of every album in their career, beginning with the title track of their immaculate debut album Glory to the Brave. It’s fair to say their ballads divide their audience, because those of us who love them really love them, while detractors say that they’re the worst aspect of the band’s sound. Those latter folks are unfortunately missing out, regardless of whatever reason they have for objecting, because while not every Hammerfall ballad hits the mark, the ones that do are embedded with the DNA of what we pinpointed earlier as being crucial to the magic of a great rock and metal ballad. These are bittersweet perfection.

“Glory to the Brave” (Glory to the Brave, 1997)

You have to give Hammerfall credit for being unafraid of including a ballad on their debut album, a fully traditional sounding heavy metal album with a kick of speed ala Helloween that could almost solely be credited as the singularity for the EUPM style and approach to cement the definition of the term “power metal”. That they were already delivering an unfashionable approach to heavy music in the late 90s was one thing, but to reinforce it with a piano led, seven minute plus power ballad was another. I’ve always heard shades of the influence of Scorpions and Accept on this song and it’s cousin “Remember Tomorrow” on the follow-up Legacy of Kings in 1998. I’m thinking specifically of those band’s classic tunes such as “Still Loving You” and “Seawinds”, with their tales of world weary experience and a long journey to come. This isn’t my personal favorite Hammerfall ballad, but I can concede it’s their most epic.

“Always Will Be” (Renegade, 2000)

I love the way the lead guitars in the intro here sound like they’re coming from far off, over a distant hill perhaps. This is a fine example of how Hammerfall and singer Joacim Cans in particular can evoke melancholy with just a few chord patterns and subtle vocal inflections — you can hear the latter on the pre-chorus when he sings “You were the wind beneath my wings, taught me how to fly”. Although this song speaks of longing for lost romance, I’ve always felt that its musical accompaniment suggested something far more grander, a sort of soul searching vibe. The best bit here is the middle bridge with “When I turn to the east, I see no dawn / But after darkness comes the light”, because the vocal melody its sung to is so emotively stirring that I find it downright inspirational. Is this how gospel music fans feel when listening to CeCe Winans?

“Dreams Come True” (Crimson Thunder, 2002)

My personal favorite ballad by the band, “Dreams Come True” is emblematic of the fundamental qualities that make power metal ballads so appealing to me, with its bittersweet mix of melancholic tones and dewy eyed lyricism. I’ve always loved the guitar tone in this song, the acoustics bright and vibrant sounding, right upfront in the mix to dance alongside Cans’ emotional vocal melodies (in fact this might be their first song without any electric guitar whatsoever.) Should a song about the narrator staring deep into the eyes of someone who could get him to “surely melt and die” be set to such a beautifully sorrowful melody? Apparently yes, that’s how Hammerfall interpret these feelings and clear the goddamned hall if you’re not onboard. They have yet to play this one live, but they use it as the outro track when they’re taking final bows, with Cans always visibly singing along. C’mon guys, I need to hear this performed at least once.

“Restless Soul” (Steel Meets Steel: Ten Years of Glory, 2007)

One of the new songs specifically written for the band’s decade long career retrospective, this song is Hammerfall’s most skyward reaching, symphonic metal drenched ballad ever. The orchestration is a crucial element here, rocketing up the drama during the chorus as it soars alongside Cans’ vocals. They flipped their formula around on this one, beginning loud and then descending into softer verses, and I love their placement of the group backing vocals during the chorus as a point-counterpoint to the lead vocals. The backing vocals always fire me up on this one, and its not a surprise to see a guy like Thomas Hackmann in the credits here, he’s been a backing vocalist for numerous power metal bands recording around Germany for ages now. It’s harder than it seems to make songs sound as epic as this, but Hammerfall execute it here by carefully arranging simple elements in clever ways.

“Second to One” (Dominion, 2019)

Deep into their career, Hammerfall has continued to deliver emotionally loaded ballads, and none finer than this one off the otherwise uneven Built to Last, their last middling album before they righted the ship with Dominion three years later. Heavily reliant on a bed of piano but driven largely by Cans’ solo vocal melody, this is one of the most sparse ballads the band has ever delivered. The openness has given it room to serve as a platform for a vocal duet, with Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo joining Cans on a special version released as a single in early 2020, and also joining the band for a live duet rendition found on the Live! Against the World double live album. I love her voice, and she adds a more theatrical edge to the song on the studio duet, but the original is what I keep coming back to again and again.

Kamelot

There was a time, long ago now, when Kamelot broke the mold for power metal in so many ways. One of the ways was through then singer and co-songwriter Roy Khan’s incredible talents as a lyricist and vocalist. His talents in both those areas shined brightest when he was ceded the lone spotlight, as was often the case on the band’s ballads during that glory era of the band. I will admit that I have enjoyed a few of their post Khan-era ballads with current singer Tommy Karevik, but while they’re enjoyable in the moment, they lack the enduring impact of the songs crafted via the classic Thomas Youngblood-Khan partnership. Ages back I wrote one of my most popular articles in this blog’s history on Khan’s lasting legacy on the band, and the crux of what I was arguing there still rings true today, that he was unparalleled as a lyricist and a vocalist in power metal, and when considering these ballads, a case can be made that he’s still without equal.

“A Sailorman’s Hymn” (The Fourth Legacy, 1999)

Simply put, this is one of the most beautiful acoustic ballads in power metal history, a simple repeating guitar figure with folk undertones in it’s melodic motif, accompanied by swathes of piano and keyboard strings courtesy of the great Miro Rodenberg. Though it was Khan’s second album with the band, The Fourth Legacy was where he finally got to make an impact as a songwriter, working in tandem with Youngblood to craft a power metal classic for the ages, and you can really hear his delicate touch with vocal melodies here (also I’ll give a nod here to it’s sister medieval folk ballad “Glory” towards the end of the album). Delivering a perfectly paced narrative performance, Khan’s relatively plaintive vocal delivery here is still punctuated by just the right amount of emoting at various key moments. Few singers would feel comfortable enough to carry the entire melody of a song on their backs, but Khan made it seem effortless on this masterpiece.

“Don’t You Cry” (Karma, 2001)

Likely the sweetest ballad on this list in tone, sentiment and musical arrangement, “Don’t Cry” is a rightfully dubbed classic from the incredible yet often overlooked Karma. Built on a renaissance faire ready acoustic guitar melody with Khan at his emotive best (those falsettos!), “Don’t You Cry” was bolstered by the presence of an actual string quartet providing a delightfully sugary accompaniment. The lyrics here relate more to Queensryche’s “Silent Lucidity” in that it’s a ballad about comfort instead of a lament about the loss of romance. Youngblood wrote this about the death of his father and it’s said that the verses are him dealing with the grief of that loss, while the chorus serves as his father replying with words of comfort. Pretty heavy stuff packed in a ballad that didn’t feel weighed down by the subject matter, the lightness of the sonic palette and the soft touch of the arrangement making this an absolute joy to listen to repeatedly.

“Wander” (Epica, 2003)

There’s a review of the Epica album on Amazon from a guy named Lord Chimp whose words about this song (and it’s companion ballad that we’ll talk about below) have always stuck with me. He talked about how the sound of this song was akin to the summery magenta flush of longing — er something like that, basically that the sound design of this song matched the setting and theme of the lyrics. Khan sings of the events of “one summer’s night within the month of June” and “flowers in mahogany hair, and smell of earth in bloom” when two star-crossed lovers meet at the wishing well. His lyrics in this song are incredibly evocative and conjure such powerful images, even in the abstract when he sings “My shade will always haunt her / but she will be my guiding light”. Led by an elegantly crafted orchestral arrangement, this is theatricality in ballad form at it’s very best, simultaneously vivid and captivating yet also sounding effortless and dreamlike.

“On the Coldest Winter’s Night” (Epica, 2003)

Our friend the aforementioned Lord Chimp also noted that quite opposite of the summery glow of “Wander”, the chill of winter seemed to permeate this aptly named ballad. He described this song as frostier and darker in tone, and in my favorite line from his review, “A simple plucked guitar figure feels like cold snowflakes on the skin”. Too right Lord Chimp. The details that abound in this masterpiece of a ballad give it so much musical depth, from the casually articulated piano runs, to Rodenberg’s restrained use of orchestral swells to accent Khan’s vocal narration. This is also one of those few times I paid attention to the bass work more than the guitars, because one André Neygenfind, the live bassist for Avantasia is a guest musician here laying down some jazz double bass alongside Olaf Reitmeier’s acoustic bass. It all does lend a grounded earthiness and fireplace warmth to this scene of Ariel and Helena’s bittersweet reunion. Once again, Khan’s lyrics are just a chef’s kiss… rarely in power metal is subtlety such an integral part of a songwriter’s choice of diction like it is here.

“Abandoned” (The Black Halo, 2005)

I was hard pressed to choose between “Abandoned” and the pair of ballads from the last two Khan era albums (Ghost Opera’s “Anthem” and Poetry For the Poisoned’s “House on a Hill”) for this brief look back on Kamelot’s oeuvre, but be assured that both of those are on the playlist. I was always in particular taken with the latter where Simone Simons returned for her second duet with Khan and they serenaded us with a blast of melodrama that would inform later Kamelot balladry during the current Karevik era. But “Abandoned” off The Black Halo is one of those tour de force type tracks that defines the greatness of a vocalist, with Khan swinging from his deep tones of hushed pensiveness to that jaw dropping controlled explosion of emotion at the 3:11 mark. It was arguably the emotional high point of their excellent concert film One Cold Winter’s Night, and I’d argue it was the emotional center of The Black Halo, coming at a crucial despondent juncture for our protagonist Ariel in his trials and tribulations.

Blind Guardian

The bards would immediately find themselves on a Mount Rushmore of power metal these days, but back in the late 80s before that label came to mean what it would in the mid 90s, Blind Guardian were largely considered as a speed metal band. Then they released Tales From the Twilight World and Somewhere Far Beyond, and it was ballads such as “Lord of the Rings”, “The Bard’s Song”, and “The Black Chamber” that would not only separate them from their peers, but provide the evidence for fans and journalists to apply the power metal label to them retroactively. Their balladry was oriented around acoustic guitars, but rather than employing them for their soft sounds to platform power ballad hooks, they wrote medieval folk inspired ballads that were sparse and breathed. Hansi Kursch’s vocals were the perfect mix of melodic, rich and full of character while retaining his rough throaty texture he unleashed on their heavier and faster songs. His lyrics were transportive, speaking of tales of faraway, imaginative worlds and painting pictures so vivid you felt you were there, right around the campfire, seeing your breath in the cold night air.

“The Bard’s Song” (Somewhere Far Beyond, 1992)

Maybe no other song on this list needs as little introduction as this evergreen classic from the bards’ 1992 album Somewhere Far Beyond and well, every live album they’ve released in their career. A concert staple since forever, this is the kind of song that most of us know the lyrics to by heart by virtue of having heard it over and over again because it never gets old. I’ve gestured along to it on car rides, inside pavilion tents at renaissance festival campgrounds, on a friend’s third floor balcony in a utterly drunken state where in retrospect way too many of us were hanging out one night, and of course in concert as recently as this past April of 2024 where we serenaded Hansi in Austin because he simply doesn’t need to sing that much of this at all since the crowd is doing it for him. Similar to some of their other ballads on this list, the bards differentiated themselves with the tone and musicality of their ballad songwriting from other metal bands, crafting folky, campfire ready acoustic guitar based sing-alongs instead of anything resembling a power ballad.

“A Past and Future Secret” (Imaginations From the Other Side, 1995)

It’s easy to point to “The Bard’s Song” as the genesis of Blind Guardian’s anointing as bards, as the fans have affectionately come to refer to them as — but I’ll argue that it really was cemented here. The narrative structure of this hushed masterpiece is framed lyrically as a bard telling the tale of King Arthur to a gathered crowd. It’s not explicitly detailed where the setting of this crowd is, perhaps in the center of a village or a packed tavern, but a circle of travelers around a campfire is as likely as any. And I don’t need truth serum to admit that I’ve always thought this was the band’s best ballad, a singular moment that was so captivating the first time I heard it that I had to replay it multiple times before letting the album carry on. For me, it’s the absolute passion Hansi is giving, not only in his engaging performance as the narrator, but in those damned epic, full throated screams that are mixed to sound like distant battle cries. I don’t think I’ve ever heard another song quite like it, this mix of gentle acoustic balladry with these ferocious, rage and despair filled screaming vocals that should sound out of place and jarring, yet… simply don’t. I think it was this song that made me realize how transcendent Blind Guardian were, that they could infuse real passion into fantasy lyrics and make them come alive and feel emotional and vital.

“Lord of the Rings” (Forgotten Tales, 1996)

Originally recorded for their 1990 major label debut Tales from the Twilight World, the band wisely reimagined this epic tune for their 1996 grab bag compilation of other reworked songs and surprising cover songs (the Beach Boys anyone?). This is the superior version of this tune, with a sharper arrangement that benefits from the spacing required by the keyboard orchestrations, loses the clunky drums that admittedly cluttered up much of the original version, and adds in layers and layers of backing Hansi vocals towards the ending crescendo that really empowers the melodies and creates a beautiful finish. It was really interesting to listen to this version and go back to the original, while tracing the band’s songwriting development from the five to six years in between. Their experiences on Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations From the Other Side in particular helped mold their understanding of how to utilize vocal harmonies and layering to maximum effect, something we’d see more of on their later work including one of the ballads listed below.

“Curse My Name” (At the Edge of Time, 2010)

This was a knowing nod to the band’s past acoustic campfire balladry ala “A Past and Future Secret” and “Skalds and Shadows”, albeit a touch sped up with the presence of an actual violin and flute providing a peppy, folk inspired accompaniment. The introduction of these instruments and the unorthodox vocal harmonies set to military drumming during the bridge sequence combined to elevate “Curse My Name” from more of the same into something that felt truly fresh and vibrant. It takes a legitimately great song to get friends to sing (or silently mouth) along to it during car rides without any shame or embarrassment. There is some excellent vocal layering happening towards the back half of this song, with Hansi almost vocal battling the group backing vocalists in a duel — this is the kind of thing that few power metal bands ever try and even fewer get away with, just because I suspect its far more difficult to arrange without coming across as clunky and sounding cluttered.

“War of the Thrones” (At the Edge of Time, 2010)

The bard’s most elegantly dressed ballad and my favorite track off this album, “War of the Thrones” married thoughtfully layered vocal harmonies to solitary piano lines and understated keyboard strings to magnificent effect. It was startingly cheerful in tone, diametrically opposed to its lyrical subject matter and the source material of A Song of Ice and Fire that it was inspired from. I just love the little moments through this song, the piano flourish nine seconds in for no reason at all other than “oooh pretty”, and Hansi’s pronunciation of legacy as “lege-acy”, as well as the momentary bridge that soars (“Watch the river it flows / Now and ever / I cannot believe in more / And now my time will come”). But this song might have my favorite ending of any song on this list, or any Blind Guardian song ever for that matter, when the group choir vocals join Hansi in a gloriously epic vocal extension of his main vocal melody (it starts at 4:06 for reference). I can’t begin to describe the sheer joy hearing this for the first time brought me, and every time I hear it since then, my ears perk up at attention, and my spirit lifts just for a moment.

Sonata Arctica

Sonata Arctica’s Tony Kakko is perhaps the one other songwriter on this list that has pure talent to be counted as a grandmaster alongside Tobias Sammet, for the sheer quality of the band’s early ballads and his unorthodox way with lyrics that was part charming, part clunky, and very heart on sleeve. Yet both he and the band are placed in The Masters category largely due to his wayward fall from power metal grace, not coincidentally timed with the departure of guitarist extraordinaire Jani Liimatainen, whose presence in the lineup with his power metal forward inclinations influenced Kakko to the good stuff (and if you’ve heard Sonata’s ballads post-Liimatainen, you’ll know that Kakko unleashed all his eccentric tendencies since then). Despite this, Kakko’s brilliance as a lyricist and songwriter is on full display with this small handful of songs — he like Tobias Sammet wasn’t afraid of romantic themes, and he crafted genuinely immersive stories within them, with sympathetic characters and scenarios that were swimming in pathos.

“Letter to Dana” (Ecliptica, 1999)

I’ve always been fascinated by the perspective of the narrator in “Letter to Dana”, off the band’s debut album and power metal masterpiece Ecliptica, because it pitted conflicting emotions against each other in a bizarre yet engaging way. If you haven’t heard the song in ages or just never paid much attention to the lyrics (its worth the minute to glance over them), but the gist is that our narrator has penned a letter to Dana after her father’s death in which he casts judgement on this childhood friend that he is declaratively still in love with, for the choices she made throughout her life (“My eyes might have betrayed me but I have seen / your picture on the cover of a filthy magazine. / And I think my heart just cannot handle that”). He says at one point that although he told her he’d wait for her forever, now that he knows she’s in someone else’s embrace (I guess he’s assuming one road leads to another here) he’ll have to lie for the first time in his life. So… he’s humble bragging about his life as a man devoid of sin here I guess? There are loads of theories about the meaning of this song on Songmeanings.com, but you need not read them to enjoy Liimatainen’s aching solos, Kakko’s passionate phrasing, and that glorious keyboard melody during the finale (the 4:10 mark).

“Tallulah” (Silence, 2001)

Arguably the band’s most beloved ballad, “Tallulah” not only introduced legions of us around the world to a distinctly unusual name (apparently Native American in origin as well, not Finnish like I naively assumed), but this song could rightfully be considered the most mushy song in power metal history. Yet for all its sticky sweet, syrupy nature, Kakko managed to tug all of our collective heartstrings with lyrics like “I remember little things, you hardly ever do” and “It’s easier to live alone, then fear the time is over”. The entire verse passage where his narrator describes the loaded minutiae of his interactions with Tallulah and the significance of her letting his hand go is for all its romance novel subtext, pretty powerful in its lyrical impact. I think Kakko’s greatest gift as a lyricist has been his imperviousness to embarrassment, or maybe its his embrace of vulnerability — either way, he penned lyrics here that other singers would likely feel a little conspicious singing, and that some of us quietly felt self-conscious at enjoying. I’d be remiss in not mentioning my love for Kakko’s penchant for adding beautifully timed vocal overlays that add that extra oomph to the overall emotional resonance of the lyric, such as at the climatic ending refrain where he adds in an extra “oooooovveeerrrr” (the 5:02 mark). Even with the lyric “I see you walking hand in hand, with long haired drummer of the band” being a very real thing here, this is inarguably one of the greatest power metal ballads of all time.

“Mary-Lou (Acoustic)” (Orientation EP, 2001)

The original version of this song as a bonus track on import editions of Ecliptica is pretty good, but this re-worked acoustic version that landed on the Orientation EP that I had to order from Japan for I dunno, 40 something bucks back in the day, was perfection itself — and so worth the money alone (not to discount their legendary cover of “The Wind Beneath My Wings” on the same release). Similarly to “Letter to Dana”, this song sees Kakko voicing a narrator who is speaking to mothers in general in a moralizing sermon about “Mary-Lou”, who ran away as a teenage misfit with a boy, found a job as a waitress, got pregnant, the boy bounced to see other women, and now her existence was reduced to “nothing to do / eating for two”. I’ve always been fascinated by Kakko’s framing of these sad tales, where “Letter to Dana” gave off creepy stalker vibes from the narrator, this one gives off a smug yet similarly creepy vibe, with the narrator telling mothers that their little angels “ain’t always so clean”. Excuse me sir? Get out! Lyrics aside, the vocal melody at work here is masterful, and Kakko imparts genuine passion in his inflections, awash in pathos which helps bring Mary Lou to life.

“The Misery” (Winterheart’s Guild, 2003)

This was an overlooked gem from Winterheart’s Guild, a tremendous album where most of the attention understandably went to “The Cage” and “Victoria’s Secret”. This time, instead of depicting the stories of troubled young women or pining after some winter princess who skipped off the band, Kakko turns inwards, giving voice to the narrator’s burden of being a songwriter tormented by erm, misery in order to write songs. Its an interesting lyrical idea because he’s personifying this emotion and singing to it, which is its own kind of disturbing, but it does remind me of his buddy Tuomas Holopainen’s lyric writing, particularly the line “I am the playwrite and you are my crown”. This was years before Holopainen wrote “The Poet and the Pendulum”, but he was exploring similar ideas on Century Child which came out shortly after this Winterheart’s Guild. I wonder how much of each other’s work influenced one another, because Tuomas dropped the fantastical bent of the early Nightwish albums after awhile, likely taking a page from Kakko’s preference for more human oriented stories. The inverse occurs here, with this being the most Nightwishy tune Sonata Arctica ever penned.

---

The Apprentices

Falconer

Sweden’s Falconer, rising from the ashes of folk metal band Mithotyn, made balladry a part of their sound due largely to the presence of vocalist Mathias Blad, a theatrical singer whose day job saw him performing on theater stages across Sweden and England. His vocal approach was not that of a metal singer in that he did not aim to project power through his voice with a screaming, Bruce Dickinson-ian delivery. Yet his voice was powerful, able to sing melodically with a natural strength that made everything he did seem almost effortless, and though that really came to the forefront when juxtaposed with metal riffs, the band’s ballads allowed him to employ the more delicate qualities of his vocals to gorgeous effect. Those old folk metal tendencies would also pop up again on these tracks, with guitarist/songwriter Stefan Weinerhall demonstrating a mastery of acoustic guitar oriented songcraft.

“Wings of Serenity (Acoustic)” (Falconer, 2001)

Another instance of a song whose original incarnation was a fully electric, metalized offering and subsequently converted to an acoustic affair, “Wings of Serenity” is the best of the re-imagined tracks on Falconer’s anniversary Ultimate Edition of their debut self-titled album (and they were all good). As much as I do love the original in the album’s tracklisting proper, this song’s lyrical imagery about admiring the grace and nobility of the eagle just lends itself to the acoustic ballad treatment. I love the little detail here of the gentle tambourine hits that punctuate in the distance during the chorus, adding to the idea that this song is sung in some far distant fantastical lands around warm fires with various people taking up instruments. The translation from metal to ballad with this song really speaks volumes about Weinerhall’s ability to write lyrical songs that are firmly anchored to the vocal melody. And with a theatrical vocalist such as Blad, such adaptations were seemingly effortless. It’s a shame this band didn’t write more ballads throughout their career.

“Portals of Light” (Chapters from a Vale Forlorn, 2002)

I defy you to find a more somber yet beautiful ballad in all of ballad-dom than Falconer’s achingly bitter lamentation “Portals of Light”, where Mathias Blad gives voice to the pain of someone losing their beloved. Stefan Weinerhall is at his core a lyrical songwriter, despite his penchant for awesome riffs and killer solos, and his talent at crafting a beautiful song on the strength of the vocal melody and lyrics alone is fully evident here. Accompanied mostly with a pianissimo, Blad’s theatrical training kicks into high gear here in interpreting these lyrics to give weight and deeper intonation on particular words or even syllables. I love the way he gently bends the ending words of those lines in the chorus (“inside” and “guide”), or the little lilt upwards he does while singing “What is there left to live for”. Fans of Blad will know that these little details are part and parcel of his overall approach throughout his work with Falconer, but they mean so much on delicate, softer songs like this, where a small thing like that can suggest so much about the meaning being imparted by the narrator. A masterpiece.

“Long Gone By” (Northwind, 2006)

My personal favorite Falconer ballad off what I consider the band’s third best album (after the debut and Chapters…), “Long Gone By” shares the medieval tinge of other Falconer tunes despite not sounding at all like something more on the nose like Kamelot’s “Glory”. This is largely due to the content of the lyrics, which I’ve always long suspected are Weinerhall dipping his pen into the inkwell of Tolkien’s universe, namely the events of The Silmarillion. When I actually sat down to read the lyrics of this song ages back, it only made me love the song more, because despite its rich musicality and maybe the most evocative and emotional guitar solo in the Falconer catalog (like hearing a cloud streaked sunset in your ears), the lyrics of the song speak about the elves leaving Valinor to sail for Middle-Earth (“Our robes have gone grey / As we sailed to mortal shore”). There’s a great verse in here about the elves wandering through the ages, with secrets getting lost due to the passing of time, and how they are “Recalling our lives / As tomorrow, it fades”. This is my Tolkien nerd showing, but I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the elves existing for thousands upon thousands of years, and this song nails the bittersweet underpinning that I’ve always felt when contemplating that idea.

Serenity

Similarly to their major influences in Sonata Arctica and Kamelot, Austria’s Serenity centered their balladry around the smooth tenor of Georg Neuhauser, one of the most gifted vocalists in the power metal scene in the last twenty years. His strength as a singer gave them the flexibility to allow him to carry their ballads almost exclusively through his vocal melodies alone. In the early era of the band with guitarist Thomas Buchberger, these songs were a nice change of pace from the dense, riff heavy songwriting that characterized so much of their earlier albums. In some ways though, they were previews for Serenity mach 2.0, post Buchberger, where Neuhauser’s vocals began to lead the way on almost all of their music, almost giving their sonic approach a tinge of musical theater (particularly heard throughout Codex Atlanticus). Serenity’s ace up their sleeve is their excellent use of co-vocalists on many of their ballads, pairing Neuhauser with a complementary singer to where both voices are highlighted. These duets seem designed towards elevating a song, highlighting the importance of two voices in telling an interwoven story. It comes across as genuine and sincere, a rarity in a subgenre where duets are often pitched more as marketing gimmicks.

“Fairytales” (Fallen Sanctuary, 2008)

Originally appearing on the band’s sophomore album Fallen Sanctuary as a keyboard string drenched quasi power ballad with crunchy riffs and fully electric solos on the backend (and Dreams of Sanity’s Sandra Schleret doing guest vocals, an odd but delightful surprise), “Fairytales” was re-imagined as a simple piano ballad as a bonus track years later on 2013’s War of Ages album with then co-vocalist Clementine Delauney. As we’ve seen with other examples on this list of songs that were re-imagined as ballads proper, this song too benefitted by scaling back the original’s layered instrumentation and vocals. Neuhauser’s vocal take on this piano version much more nuanced, delicate, and reigned in. His approach actually allows Delauney’s own lead vocals to serve as a perfect foil when they join together in their duet after their individual lead vocal passages. Given the heartbroken lyrical bent of this song, Neuhauser’s Kakko-ian vocal tone, it’s easy to draw comparisons to Sonata Arctica, but their approach would change gradually into something more symphonic and theatrical.

“Changing Fate” (Death & Legacy, 2011)

This banger of a power ballad arrived on the band’s formative album, Death & Legacy, and was a dividing line between their older progressive power metal leanings and the more symphonic metal direction they’d begin exploring on this album and beyond. Featuring the awesome Amanda Somerville on co-lead vocals for this duet, she and Neuhauser conjure up a stormy, rollicking, back and forth dance that spirals into a crescendo during the bridge where she is accompanied by a heavenly choir. I love the addition of subtle strings that accompany the acoustic guitars and piano throughout, eventually unfolding into a full blown orchestration arrangement as we build towards the aforementioned bridge sequence. The vocal melodies throughout this song sound natural, effortless, and indicative of Neuhauser’s skill at building entire songs around his voice first (something that would come to dominate their songwriting once guitarist Thomas Buchberger left the band).

“The Perfect Woman” (Codex Atlanticus, 2016)

This was the band’s first post-Buchberger album, and the beginning of Neuhauser really taking control of the songwriting by leading the band in a vocal melody first direction (something he now shares with Marco Pastorini thankfully). This gambit paid off in spades on Codex Atlanticus, with the subject matter lending itself to a vocal melody forward, theatrical, almost Broadway-esque approach to the songwriting. That applied to the power ballad on offer as well naturally, with “The Perfect Woman” being one of the band’s very best songs, and the high point of a phenomenal album. On this list anyway, this ranks up with Falconer’s “Wings of Serenity” as the strangest lyrical topic for a ballad, being about Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa. Such an unusual topic demanded a light touch, breezy and effervescent even, which is exactly what the Broadway treatment here provided in spades. There’s something refreshing and sunny about this song that comes across as the perfect tone for a historical topic that didn’t need over the top histrionics and unnecessary gravitas.

Ancient Bards

I have a hard time putting into words how much I adore Sara Squadrani as a singer, and how much of a travesty it is that Ancient Bards barely have a couple of ballads in their admittedly short discography. She’s not the most powerful singer, nor would I argue that her voice is the most distinctive, but I think perhaps more than any other woman singing in the power and symphonic metal subgenres, she makes the most of her talent through her vocal choices in phrasing, inflection, and raw earnestness in her delivery. In that way she reminds me of Anette Olzon during her stint with Nightwish (and why I loved their music even more with her in the band), and similarly, there’s precious little of her recorded output available to us. I’ve left off “All That Is True” from Souless Child here, because although its a good song, it was their first crack at really attempting a ballad and had thinness in spots that they’d fully understand how to address on the next album.

“In My Arms” (A New Dawn Ending, 2014)

This was the song that got me into this band, via its unconventionally sparse, making the best of a limited budget music video. For such a lore heavy band (their own original Black Crystal Sword Saga, the Italians love their sagas), “In My Arms” does represent an emotional moment within that storyline. Yet even if you’re not interested in the specifics of the lore, this song works on its own despite references to characters such as Sendor and Daltor. That’s largely because the dramatic sweep of the refrain here is so affecting in itself, with Squadrani delivering heavy, heavy lyrics about the death of an infant child. You’d expect something so somber to be delivered in death doom dirge mode, but this song actually sweeps upwards in stages as it moves along, calling attention once again to that bittersweet principle at work.

“Light” (Origine: The Black Crystal Sword Saga, Pt. 2, 2019)

Infinitely more cheerful, “Light” is perhaps the most Disney princess ready power ballad you’ll ever hear coming from a metal band, but I think if you can pull it off, its worth doing. And Ancient Bards pulls it off with ease, once again through Squadrani’s incredible performance, her clean soaring tones providing natural uplift to a vocal melody that is meant to sound empowering. The song is their leanest and most economical ballad to date, layered with orchestrations and choirs on the backend, but the arrangements are kept to a minimum for the most part, leaving just lead vocals over a piano bed. Once again, the lyrics fit into their own lore, but this song in particular saw the band keeping things as broad as possible to work as a standalone single. I’m sure some balked at the tone, sentiment, and indeed the bright sunrise laden, gesturing on the Adriatic shore music video (to say nothing of the cutaways to interpretive dance), but I imagine those naysayers disliked ballads to begin with.

Helloween

Michael Weikath famously said once that an album isn’t complete without a ballad, and I’m right there with you Michael (well… we’ll make an exception for death and black metal, you know what he’s trying to say). That is of course an extreme opinion to many, and for some melodic metal bands, it might not even be the right move (those bands that aren’t gifted in writing quality ballads for example… many who were excluded from this list), but for guys such as Helloween fans Tobias Sammet and Oskar Dronjak, it clearly was. That Weikath and the Helloween bunch didn’t land higher on this power ballads tier is a bit of a shame, because they certainly have the numbers game on their side in terms of sheer quantity. But when they managed to hit the sweet spot, as they did on the two cuts below, it was a bullseye.

“Forever and One” (The Time of the Oath, 1996)

Someone might be wondering where the hell is “A Tale That Wasn’t Right” from Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I, and the truth is that it was always my least favorite song on that album… and while I like parts of it, I just don’t think it was a very cohesive ballad. It wouldn’t be until Andi Deris was at the vocal helm that Helloween struck genuine gold with “Forever and One”, a composition solely credited to Deris that was haunting and heartbreaking. It was a significant step forward from Deris’ first crack at a ballad on Master of the Rings, “In the Middle of a Heartbeat”, which though boasting a solid hook, didn’t quite gel enough everywhere else. I was fortunate enough to catch Helloween in Dallas in 2023 where Deris and Michael Kiske sang this song together in an unforgettable duet, easily the highlight of one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It made me remember right then my memories of the late 90s power metal scene, reading interviews with both Helloween and Kiske, and how they swore they’d never reunite, and how surreal it was to see the scene I was watching. This song was a perfect soundtrack to a genuinely happy moment for me.

“Hold Me In Your Arms” (Straight Out of Hell, 2013)

A classic power ballad from the Helloween in the vein of 80s AOR hard rock, this string drenched slice of romantic melancholy was a Sascha Gerstner composition, surprisingly enough. I would have figured something like this to come from Andi Deris himself, especially given his hand in crafting some of those early era slick Pink Cream 69 tunes such as “Close Your Eyes” and “Ballerina”. But Gerstner has proven himself to be a pretty great songwriter in his own right during his time with Helloween, and maybe those few years running with Chris Bay in Freedom Call contributed to that in some formative way. This is a slow burner, with an almost Queensryche feel to that introductory verse, and its unusual for a ballad to not include any kind of prechorus situation at work. The chorus here just rockets directly upwards from ground zero, and it speaks to how strong it’s arcing hook is that it doesn’t need any assistance in getting up there. I love the understated guitar solo there, just a few sparse figures stitched together, matching the tone and vibe of the song as a whole.

Dragonforce

Ages ago, during their run with original vocalist ZP Theart, Dragonforce included a ballad on every album, and though the pair below were clearly the cream of the crop, the others were good songs by a band who understood what the sweet spot was of all the hits that rock bands used to land with ballads in the 80s and 90s. That being big, BIG choruses of course. Dragonforce’s lyrics have always skewed towards functional nonsense, in other words, lyrics that are meant to sound epic and might be coherent enough, yet ultimately are pieced together in service of working for the music as a cohesive binding agent. That sounds like a slight, but actually, I think it speaks towards just how talented these guys were at writing songs from a music first perspective that were specifically designed with a particular goal in mind. In that sense, they stand apart from the others on this list. It’s a shame they’ve drifted away from ballads, a reason I can only suspect is perhaps due to new vocalist Marc Hudson having an aversion to them.

“Starfire” (Valley of the Damned, 2003)

There’s a charming naivete and exuberance coursing through “Starfire”, the ballad on Dragonforce’s hallowed debut album. This is dating me but I remember this song as one of the original Dragonheart demo songs on on the old MP3.com, and thinking at the time that if they went back and polished it up (there were strange tempo issues on that version) that it would be a great ballad. Nearly three years later they would do just that, and it made all the difference — Theart’s vocals were steady this go around, fuller and more confident in his delivery, and they fixed the timing issues and tightened the whole thing up. The result was a song that shimmered and soared, and despite its awkward construction and visible seams it felt like a genuinely emotional sentiment was pouring through, one of deep nostalgia.

“Dawn Over a New World” (Sonic Firestorm, 2004)

Dragonforce’s best ballad and one of the all-time masterpieces of their career, this song arrived on the album that brought the concept of extreme power metal to the world. Yet for all Sonic Firestorm’s frenetic crackle and electricity, the heartbeat of the album was locked into this cinematic, mountaintop sung power ballad that was a brief respite from the album’s breakneck pace. To this day, I’m still no sure what these lyrics are supposed to be referencing, what epic event has befall our narrator to where he’s making such a bold and promising declaration (hint: likely nothing!), but I still get caught up in the drama being presented therein. The chorus here has a wide, expansive arc, and Theart really sounds like he’s giving everything he has here, that he really feels conviction for these lyrics. It’s simultaneously heartwarming and empowering.

---

The Novices

Silent Force – “Spread Your Wings” (Worlds Apart, 2004)

Okay despite the presence of the annoying kid during the first few seconds here, this is an oft overlooked gem of a ballad on Silent Force’s incredible Worlds Apart album, itself one of the defining albums that arguably falls into the tail end of that Golden Age of Power Metal we all so often reference (well, us power metal nerds anyway). The man with the golden pipes carrying this tune on his back with strong, muscular vocal melodies is one DC Cooper, one of the more unheralded classic metal/hard rock vocalists of 90s and early 00s when you consider his early work with Royal Hunt as well (Paradox anyone?). This tune always reminded me a bit of Queensryche’s “Silent Lucidity” thematically in that it seemed to be about parental guidance with the narrator speaking to a child. Cooper’s little changeups in vocal inflection are so subtle yet masterful throughout, his performance always holding my interest every time I listen to this song. Easily the band’s best ballad, it was a shame they didn’t try more of them with Cooper in the lineup.

Gamma Ray – “Farewell” (Land of the Free, 1995)

So this is a bit of a tale of two songs, because as Gamma Ray fans know, this quasi-power ballad starts off one way, and veers off wildly in a totally different direction with Hansi Kursch on board as co-pilot, and then kinda returns to it’s piano ballad state to finish things off. But I felt it merited inclusion here because it’s first minute and change is so emotionally affecting that its long been a favorite Gamma Ray song of mine that I’ve had to be careful not to overplay. People give Kai Hansen a ton of crap for not being a great singer, but I found his vocals during this section to be perfect in their imperfect, rough gravelly tone, singing “Do you remember? / How we used to play / Like kids in the sun” over a gorgeous solo piano line. The layered backing vocals here (by the great Thomas Hackmann) and their placement as ending accents to Kai’s lead vocal lines were a gorgeous touch by producer Charlie Bauerfiend, and a preview of what he’d come to expand in his work with Blind Guardian later on. Longtime keyboardist Dirk Schlächter wrote this one, and it did indeed feel a little different from Kai compositions, but in a very good way, lending the band a multidimensionality that made Land of the Free such an enduring classic.

Power Quest – “When I’m Gone” (Neverworld, 2003)

Most of you know that I’m a Power Quest fanboy and don’t need a lot of prodding to praise them in all their underappreciated glory, but here’s a deserved mention. Coming off their classic 2003 album Neverworld, “When I’m Gone” matched in power balladry the intensity, exuberance, and excitement evoked by the rest of the album’s more energetic and uptempo songs. What defined this album wasn’t technical virtuosity, but Steve Williams heartfelt and earnest songwriting, and this song’s meditation on grief, loss, and carrying on is genuinely moving. This song’s success is the combination of its relatively simple elements, the subtle keyboard orchestration, minimalist instrumentation by the band, and vocalist Alessio Garavello’s brightened delivery… it all adds up to magical effect. There’s an undercurrent of genuineness and honesty that underpins this album, and you hear it all bubble up to the surface here with these naked and raw lyrics. Bittersweet formula at work to the max here, proof that Power Quest wasn’t the ultra cheery band that casual power metal fans tend to peg them as.

Demons & Wizards – “Fiddler on the Green” (Demons & Wizards, 1999)

It would be disingenuous to not include this song on even a personal list of great power metal ballads, as this one is, because even though Jon Schaffer is persona non grata these days in metal circles, I’m including this because fifty percent of this band is the great Hansi Kursch, and his work deserves to be heralded regardless. Schaffer for his part wrote a hell of a song here, and honestly, if he didn’t do what he did, a couple Iced Earth songs would likely be on this list because the man knew his way around a power ballad (“When the Eagle Cries” being a notable exception to this). The duo’s debut album was excellent throughout, but this singular moment of acoustic based balladry was the emotional heartbeat of the entire record. Hansi’s vocal delivery is nothing short of stunning, heightening the impact of vocal melodies that come across as almost nursery rhyme-esque. And Schaffer’s little acoustic guitar lead figure at the 1:44 mark that serves as the bridge before the explosive ending have to his credit always been my favorite micro-moment to enjoy here. Though they tried, they’d never get anywhere close to the wallop this song packed with any of their subsequent ballads, which makes this one all the more special.

Dream Evil – “Losing You” (Dragonslayer, 2002)

Sitting in the middle of one of the most accomplished debut albums in power metal history, Dream Evil’s “Losing You” shows a side of power metal that was influenced by the hard rock golden throats of the 80s such as David Coverdale and Joey Tempest. Dream Evil vocalist Niklas Isfeldt turns in a performance here that still stands as perhaps his finest moment, among a discography full of incredible ones. His tone is smooth, nuanced, and that subtle Swedish accent adds a touch of distinctiveness to the way he stresses syllables or delivers phrasing, and he introduces a vulnerable depth to the loaded verse passages here. I’ve always loved that this was a deliberately scaled back and reigned in power ballad on an album full of bombastic, over the top power metal. Even the beautiful string accompaniment seems to be designed for a minimalist approach, never overwhelming the rest of the instrumentation or Isfeldt’s vocals. Yet for all the romance related lyricism, this is a muscular song, crafted with confident melodies, a strident rhythm section at work, and guitarist Gus G. and Frederick Nordstrom’s wild and passionate lead melodies.

Manowar – “Master of the Wind” (Triumph of Steel, 1992)

Collectively, we all give Manowar a bit of stick, and deservedly so for the most part. Yet it would be willfully ignorant to not acknowledge that they have made some excellent music at points in their career, and perhaps their finest singular moment is this masterpiece of a ballad. Whereas their power ballad “Heart of Steel” on their previous album Kings of Metal was overwrought and hollow, “Master of the Wind” was delivered with gentle orchestral swells, an often hushed vocal approach by Eric Adams, and with mystical touches such as the lone pan flute accompaniment. I love that we get a fade out on the reiterations of the chorus, a choice that leaves us feeling wistful upon hearing the final “…fly away”. Lyrically, this also one of the more mature statements by Manowar (not a high bar I know), a simple metaphor about life and destiny, and its easy to take solace in Adams belting out “Nothing is as bad as it seems”. Among friends of mine, this song has developed a bit of a mythical quality, sage-like in its meaning that it imparts and something you should listen to every once in a while for a pep talk. I’m not even kidding.