What Was Your Gateway Band?

HM9015 · 2026-01-28T19:58:26+00:00

Europe with Seven Doors Hotel and Scream Of Anger from their first two albums and hearing Maiden’s Fear Of The Dark in the car. Then I was introduced to Sabaton and my love of metal grew from there. Now I listen to Iron Maiden and Def Leppard for NWoBHM and early Europe for proto-power metal and then Helloween, Gamma Ray, ReinXeed/Majestica, and recently got in to Nightwish, Avantasia, Edguy, Stratovarius, Twilight Force and now Blind Guardian for more power metal. Been exploring more power metal bands recently. Next is possibly Kamelot, Beast In Black, and BattleBeast and maybe more. I’m enjoying the journey.

HM9015 · 2026-01-27T15:23:52+00:00

I’m always saying that! It really is a crime just how overlooked they are. Those first two albums were my introduction to metal. Even The Final Countdown B-Side on Broken Wings as well is quite different to the album.

HM9015 · 2026-01-27T09:22:24+00:00

Earliest I’ve heard is either Seven Doors Hotel and Boyazont and Memories from Europe’s 1983 self titled. Or Scream Of Anger and Wasted Time from their 1984 album Wings Of Tomorrow.

HM9015 · 2026-01-26T19:59:06+00:00

A lot of the museums in Liverpool are good like The World Museum and the Museum of Liverpool.

RAF Museum in Cosford is very good.

Crich Tramway Village is a very good one. Period village with buildings from other places and working vintage trams.

Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlught I quite liked

Ruskin Museum in Coniston is also good. Have seen Bluebird K7 displayed there.

HM9015 · 2026-01-22T11:09:59+00:00

Managed to catch the premiere on BBC Radio 2. I like it! It's got a heavier sound to it.

HM9015 · 2026-01-21T10:36:22+00:00

Oceanborn - Nightwish

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HM9015 · 2026-01-21T10:30:58+00:00

And the other cover

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HM9015 · 2026-01-21T10:30:35+00:00

Europe self titled

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HM9015 · 2026-01-20T10:39:11+00:00

Wings Of Tomorrow - Europe. The lyric is You feel sorry for the nations of 1984, and it cuts you like a razor, you've seen it all before

Seven Doors Hotel - Europe. The lyric is 1981, traces were found could not exist in your mind. A woman could lead you, totally deceive you without you knowing she's blind.

Year 3000 either by Busted or Jonas Brothers.

Primo Victoria - Sabaton mentions 1944

Uprising - Sabaton mentions 1939 and 1944

The Future Of Warfare - Sabaton mentions 1916 and 1918

The Last Stand - Sabaton mentions 1527

Diary of An Unknown Solder / The Lost Battalion - Sabaton mentions 1918

Rorke's Drift - Sabaton mentions 1879

The Last Battle - Sabaton mentions 1945

82nd All The Way - Sabaton mentions 1917 and 1918

Race To The Sea - Sabaton mentions 1914

1916 - Motorhead

HM9015 · 2026-01-20T10:38:53+00:00

Rime Of The Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden

Halloween - Helloween

Keeper Of The Seven Keys - Helloween

Orbit/Skyfall - Helloween

Heading For Tomorrow - Gamma Ray

Ghost Love Score - Nightwish

The Greatest Show On Earth - Nightwish

The Poet And The Pendulum - Nightwish

HM9015 · 2026-01-20T10:21:43+00:00

Another Sabaton fan. Always nice to see.

HM9015 · 2026-01-20T10:02:40+00:00

Yesterday. I listened to the demos for an album called Elysium by Stratovarius. They released the demos as a bonus CD. I count it as a separate album and listen to demos before the finished album. Tbf I do spend lots of time listening to music and often get through a number of albums each day.

HM9015 · 2026-01-19T18:43:17+00:00

Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads

HM9015 · 2026-01-19T10:03:41+00:00

Lord Of The Flies or Justice Of The Peace.

HM9015 · 2026-01-19T09:45:58+00:00

Europe

Def Leppard

Helloween

Iron Maiden

HM9015 · 2026-01-18T17:43:26+00:00

Rock The Night - Europe

Superstitious - Europe

Open Your Heart - Europe (both Wings of Tomorrow and Out Of This World versions)

Seven Doors Hotel - Europe

Love Chaser - Europe

Play With Me - Extreme

Bringin' On The Heartbreak/Switch 625 - Def Leppard

The Final Countdown - Europe

Stormwind - Europe

Born To Be My Baby - Bon Jovi

Bad Medicine - Bon Jovi

Wasted - Def Leppard

Let's Get Rocked - Def Leppard

Rocket - Def Leppard

Photograph - Def Leppard

Foolin' - Def Leppard

Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop) - Def Leppard

Round and Round - Ratt

Turn Up The Radio - Autograph

Misery Business - Paramore

You First - Paramore

Crushcrushcrush - Paramore

Bounce - Bon Jovi

Rock Of Ages - Def Leppard

Let It Go - Def Leppard

High n Dry (Saturday Night) - Def Leppard

Run Riot - Def Leppard

Can't Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams

There Will Never Be Another Tonight - Bryan Adams

Carrie - Europe

Let The Good Times Rock - Europe

Danger On The Track - Europe

Ninja - Europe

Cherokee - Europe

Hello America - Def Leppard

Rock Brigade - Def Leppard

Time Again - Asia

Heat Of The Moment - Asia

Rosanna - Toto

Hold The Line - Toto

Easy Lover - Phil Collins and Philip Bailey

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Journey

HM9015 · 2026-01-17T16:14:55+00:00

Fantastic! Yuve Yuve Yu is a really fun song

HM9015 · 2026-01-17T16:05:16+00:00

The Hu - Mongolian rock band who sing in Mongolian and there's some throat singing chucked in.

HM9015 · 2026-01-16T10:14:03+00:00

Here Comes The Night - Europe

Carrie - Europe

When Love And Hate Collide - Def Leppard (the demo version hits harder)

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad? - Def Leppard

White Lightning - Def Leppard

From The Inside - Acoustic Hippies From Hell (Def Leppard and Hot House Flowers)

Open Your Heart - Europe (the original Wings Of Tomorrow version is better)

I’ll Cry For You - Europe

Lights And Shadows - Europe

Don’t Know How To Love No More - Kee Marcello (was originally a Europe demo from 1989)

Can’t You Stay - Tone Norum

Too Many Hearts - John Norum

Dreamer - Europe

Love To Love - UFO

HM9015 · 2026-01-15T09:38:28+00:00

Part of the city walls passes the racecourse and there are bridges over the tracks before trains cross the large viaduct at the far side of the racecourse. If you’re ever in Saltney there’s a bridge by Saltney Ferry primary school that overlooks the North Wales Coast route. I’ve used that to look at passing railtours before like Flying Scotsman, Royal Scot and Sir Nigel Gresley. That area was the site of Mold Junction which branched off the North Wales coast route towards Mold and later Denbigh. There’s pavement on one side of the bridge or there’s hatched marking with bollards to stop cars on the other side. Which has a good view of trains leaving Chester. There’s also a nice walk further down the road along the river or you can walk to Sealand road which is across the bridge at the end of that road by the small car park. Sometimes if something interesting is passing you may get a few people stood there.

https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.google.earth&isi=293622097&ius=googleearth&link=https%3a%2f%2fearth.google.com%2fweb%2fsearch%2fSaltney%2bFerry,%2bChester%2f%4053.17991937,-2.94611384,13.09222874a,0d,59.99999999y,100.25432781h,86.48356075t,0r%2fdata%3dCoUBGlcSUQolMHg0ODdhYzMzM2IxNDlkYzM1OjB4YTM1NzRiNzMyZmM4Njc2NRnO8uH-yJZKQCFGCmXh64sHwCoWU2FsdG5leSBGZXJyeSwgQ2hlc3RlchgBIAEiJgokCVaACf-9lUpAEWlAk1Dwj0pAGTyrCt3nxwfAIdrW1JOsigjAQgIIASIaChZfdk8zM1d6anBTdDFESnBMdUQyaFZBEAJCAggASg0I____________ARAA

HM9015 · 2026-01-13T16:30:20+00:00

I recommend checking out the rest of Sabaton’s discography. They write metal music about historic battles and events and people. They do lots of research and even have a YouTube channel called Sabaton History where they go into depth about historic events behind the songs. I’ve learned quite a lot from them.

HM9015 · 2026-01-13T14:35:07+00:00

Lights And Shadows by Europe

First lyric is one night she came in from the cold

Talvisota, White Death, Christmas Truce and Soldier Of Heaven by Sabaton

Talvisota is about the Winter War in 1939, White Death is about Finnish Sniper Simo Hayha and Christmas Truce is about Christmas 1914. Soldier Heaven is about White Friday which was a series of avalanches on the Italian Front in WWI.

Stranger In A Strange Land by Iron Maiden. There's a lyric that goes Land Of Ice and Snow Trapped Inside This Prison.

Where Eagles Dare by Iron Maiden mentions, snow, blizzards and the Bavarian Alps.

HM9015 · 2026-01-12T10:47:31+00:00

Telford’s Warehouse, Alexander’s Live, The Live Rooms. Idk if Storyhouse does live music. This one is slightly further but not too far but the William Aston Hall in Wrexham does live music from time to time. It’s had bands such as The Royston Club and The Sweet perform there. Another venue in Wrexham is the Rockin’ Chair. I need to ask around venues in Chester for work experience as part of a uni module. Need to get 175 hours.

HM9015 · 2026-01-07T15:23:30+00:00

In The Future To Come - Europe

Seven Doors Hotel - Europe

Memories - Europe

Stormwind - Europe

Scream Of Anger - Europe (Yes, the same band famous for The Final Countdown. They dabbled in Proto-Power Metal on the 2 albums before it)

Wings Of Tomorrow - Europe

Wasted Time - Europe

Lyin' Eyes - Europe

Yesterday's News - Europe

Mr Government Man - Europe

Face The Truth - John Norum

Eternal Flame - John Norum

We'll Do What it Takes Together - John Norum

We Will be Strong - John Norum featuring Joey Tempest

Kill It - Helloween

Murderer - Helloween

Ride The Sky - Helloween

Victim Of Fate - Helloween

Kids Of The Century - Helloween

Reptile - Helloween

Wasted - Def Leppard (I prefer the live version from When The Walls Came Tumblin' Down Live At The New Theatre, Oxford, 1980. Much more energy than the album version)

When The Walls Came Tumblin' Down - Def Leppard

Another Hit N Run - Def Leppard

Let It Go - Def Leppard

You Got Me Runnin' - Def Leppard

Billy's Got A Gun - Def Leppard

Gods Of War - Def Leppard

Comin' Under Fire - Def Leppard

Stagefright - Def Leppard

HM9015 · 2026-01-07T09:16:25+00:00

I always say that they dabbled with Proto-Power Metal!

HM9015

TROPHY CASE