The band Crimson Glory is considered a prime example of this type of USPM, while others would be Pharaoh and Heir Apparent. White-collar USPM artists are less hard hitting, adding more melody and progressive elements to the USPM sound. Some artists in this style of USPM have been known to take the genre quite close to the European power metal sound, such as Iced Earth, further demonstrating the relation between the two types of power metal music. The artists Helstar (who eventually adopted a more thrash metal based sound), Jag Panzer and Riot are some of the more well known blue-collar USPM acts. The two types of USPM are commonly known as Blue-collar USPM and White-collar USPM respectively.īlue-collar USPM artists feature the harder, thrashy sound. Some artists are more hard hitting and thrashy, while others take the music in a slower, more melodic and progressive direction. There is quite a level of variance within US power metal. USPM vocalists tend to use high register singing, something which is also heard in European power metal, though it is not considered an essential ingredient in the USPM sound, with some vocalists taking the music in a rougher direction. Typically, the USPM term is used to label artists that sit somewhere between traditional heavy metal and thrash metal, with some artists leaning more towards one or the other and often completely crossing over with the other style. USPM acts just did it a different way to what is now more widely accepted as the (European) power metal sound. The idea was to add power to the music that other heavy metal bands at the time didn't have. US power metal acts kept the genre closer to traditional heavy metal while European power metal acts kept it closer to speed metal.
The best way to describe power metal as a whole is that it's a cross between traditional heavy metal and speed metal. They're not wrong either, but also not entirely correct. It is because of these vast differences that some metal fans have trouble with recognizing the two forms of power metal as the same genre. Generally USPM bands were closer in style to their traditional heavy metal roots, especially when compared to the later European power metal sound, which is commonly called just Power Metal without the European prefix, with USPM used just to differentiate. They played faster and more aggressively, albeit not to the levels of thrash metal, though some artists would cross over with thrash as well as speed metal. US bands wanted to go one better than their UK counterparts and so the sound that would become known as USPM began to take shape. It's development could be described as the American reaction to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Like European Power Metal, the United States in the name refers to the genre's origins, rather than any specific requirement for artists to be from the US in order to play the style, though most USPM acts are, indeed, American. United States Power Metal, USPM for short and sometimes alternately called American Power Metal is one of the two main types of heavy metal music to use the term power metal, the other being European Power Metal.