h22s

EPIC. Okay, if you get past the dragon slaying, fairy tale enchanted land themes of this genre, it's really good. Most people just hear Dragonforce and say "wow, these guys play fast, so they must be good," when in fact, there's many better power metal bands out there that don't play as fast but still have talent. Check out Helloween, for example. Other personal favourites of mine are Edguy, Kamelot, and Evergrey.

Shade

Evergrey is indeed kickass, Best Buy needs to carry more of their CD's. Recreation Day would have to be one of my favorite songs.

Vampiro

DragonForce is fine when you're in a car with a bunch of friends, otherwise there's not much there. They just doesn't hold up against other great Power Metal bands. Some examples:

Concerto Moon - a japanese band that plays some amazing Power, tons of variety in their music (just ignore the engrish);

Demons & Wizards - vocalist from BG, but in my opinion a bit better. Their latest album isn't quite as good as the S/T, but still great;

Kamelot- "Melodic" Power. The Black Halo is probably one of the better albums I've ever heard. They're a band that keeps getting better, so I can't wait until their next album;

Opera Magna - relatively new band, but my God are they excellent. At first they almost sound like your generic Power bands, but there's actually a lot to their music. Epic indeed;

Twilightning - They can get a little boring, especially on their latest album. But still a fun band to listen to. Delirium Veil was very good;

X-Japan - Probably one of the better known Japanese bands. And for pretty good reason. They make some damn good Power Metal. Just a fun band to listen to overall;

Barilari - I haven't actually heard too much from this band, but what I have heard was pretty good. Their use of harpsichord is very nice.

Et cetera.

Klarth

Evergrey are prog last I checked.

Machinae Supremacy - KICKASS. They use the SiD sound chip from a Commodore 64 as synth, and it really produced a totally unique sound. Think power metal + oldschool game music.

Helloween - Undisputed kings of PM. Songs like "Keeper of the Seven Keys" should prove that to anybody. ANYBODY.

Sonata Arctica - Good selection of crazily melodic PM here. Their vocalist's a bit annoying at first, but once you get past him, whoa.

h22s

Evergrey are progressive power. Still haven't checked out Sonata Arctica (it's against Cody's wishes), but I plan on grabbing some soon.

Vampiro

They can be REALLY generic and cheesy at times. But songs like Wolf and Raven manage to be excellent.

Sabredog

Demons & Wizards's latest album was pretty crap, in all fairness. I found most of the songs unmemorable.

Blind Guardian, on the other hand, kick ass without exception. :0

Wintersunn O)))

I would advise against Sonata Arctica, because of the cheesiness overload, and the few inevitable good songs aren't worth the countless boring ones.
Thumbs down.

Angelwing

Personally, I love Sonata Arctica. Don't listen to these numbskulls, and check 'em out.

Helloween, Twilightning, and Kamelot are all good, too.

Pit

At Vance wins at the Power Metal.

Not to mention they're EPIC COVERS of Money, Money, Money, Eye of the Tiger, Caprice No. 16, Vivaldi Winter, Beethoven's 5th, and SHOUT.

h22s

Oh, totally forgot about At Vance.

flyyyyyy tooo the raiiiiiiiinboooow