What are /r/PowerMetal's favorite Products & Services?

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Yeah, just like The Art of War covered all kinds of eras of warfare... like Panzers, the Wehrmacht, the Battle of Gallipoli, the Winter War, the Eastern Front, the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Battle of the Passchendaele.... wait a moment... :P

Here's exhibit one: http://www.gloryhammer.com/sabaton_greatesthits.mp3

The main themes from Night Witches, The Art of War, Primo Victoria, 40:1, Atterro Dominatus. All played one after another. I'm sure you'll notice something :).

As most people who write songs that are over 7 minutes long are able to do exactly that, I love and prefer long songs, not only in Power Metal but in all of music.

Edit: Calculated some average song lengths:

Avantasia - The Scarecrow: 5:48

Blind Guardian - Imaginations from the other Side: 5:29

Edguy - Hellfire Club: 5:06

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II: 5:29

Sabaton - The Art of War: 03:49

Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night: 05:15

Stratovarius - Nemesis: 05:15

(yes, The Art of War is a stupid example)

Look up the songs Resist and Bite, Primo Victoria, To Hell and Back, No Bullets Fly, Carolus Rex, Gott Mit Uns, Ghost Division, 40-1, The Price of a Mile, Night Witches, The Art of War, Screaming Eagles, Uprising, White Death...and if you get through all those and enjoy them, you'll find the rest on your own. If you do...welcome to war nerd metal, it's great fun.

I like them, but I think most of their albums are mediocre. Carolus Rex and The Art of War are the exceptions -- both are really good.

That's fine though, as they're more a live band than a studio band. They seem to just want to put songs out there that are enjoyable in the sort of live shows that they do.

However, writing entire albums with only that kind of material doesn't make for very good albums. I think it's silly that something like Heroes, which is barely more than an EP with a lot of singles on it, gets AotY over albums like Noble Beast, Black Moon Risisng, The Heart of the Matter, etc.

I have it. I'm learning to sing, so I couldn't help but to download it. Sharing is ~~caring~~ actually a handy way to make sure that digital content sticks around forever

http://www.filedropper.com/pathfinder-auditionfiles

Hopefully someone on here can pay me back the favor if the same happens to me

If someone from Pathfinder doesn't want me to share it, it's verified, then the mods are free to wipe out my post if I don't see the takedown request myself. I hope they don't mind because things like this are very handy as a learning tool

If the above link doesn't work, the op can message me and I can try sending it by another means provided that this post didn't get the takedown request

She's one of the nicest people you could ever want to meet, too. Note that she hasn't been in Xandria since 2008. She's just announced an allstar collaboration she's working on called "The birdcage".

Custom ear plugs are nice, but get something to hold you over until then, I implore you. You can get high fidelity ear plugs on Amazon for cheap with quick shipping. The amount they alter the sound quality is minimal to none, they are only meant to reduce volumes, so long as you go with high fidelity ear plugs. I bought these for my girlfriend and I: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B015IQ6HI4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Please listen to a guy that has had both ear drums rupture twice.

I'll get us started. I have a few grievances i'd like to vent about.

Sabaton fans have surpassed Dragonforce fans as the most obnoxious fanbase in power metal. Everything Sabaton does is the greatest thing ever according to them. If there was ever a band undeserving of their popularity its Sabaton. Now, I will say, I actually really enjoyed The Art of War and to a lesser extent, Carolus Rex, but for the most part they are way, way below par. And what they write can barely be called metal. At least with Dragonforce, they wrote stuff that sounded like metal.(Albeit, a very poor attempt) Sabaton is bombastic pop music.

Inb4 800 responses telling me that Sabaton don't take themselves seriously.

If you don't like harsh vocals in any capacity, you shouldn't consider yourself a metalhead. I don't know if its me, and I never go around telling everyone i'm a metalhead, but on the inside I identify as what one would call a metalhead. If you don't like harsh vocals you are just a giant vagina.

I don't know if i'm mentioned this before or now, but Japanese metal is a scourge. I came across this steaming pile the other day and found myself on the verge of subconsciously jamming a shiv into my wrist. This is the worst stuff i've ever heard and i'm positive all the fans of this shit also have a girlfriend stuffed with cotton.

This is one of the first power metal songs I really loved.

You may have seen it in the Nightmare City animation a while ago.

Sorry for the typo - should be "Southern Cross".

Entire albums. Listen to The Art of War and Carolus Rex. The former is about famous battles in World Wars 1 and 2 with references to "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu throughout, whereas the latter tells the story of Carolus, a King of the Swedish Empire, and the events that led up to his rule.

>It's Nightfall, isn't it?

Hmmmm maybe, eventually, one day certainly :)

The thing with choruses, and the album pretty much delivers great choruses consistently, is that although I do enjoy them just like everybody does, I will eventually get tired of them, because choruses or refrains tend to be one super catchy simple melody, and when songs don't have particularly interesting build-ups, they just become tiring after a few repeated listens. At least that's my case, to me hearing The Art of War is just a game of waiting for the epic chorus, so it gets hard for me to value an album by the quality of the choruses.

>It doesn't touch Carolus Rex, though.

Somehow the gods aligned for this one, not sure how but it was a really good one.

I'm surprised this got such a high rating from the Salt Empire.

Overall, it's one of the better Sabaton albums released (along with, IMO, Coat of Arms and Carolus Rex) but does have a bit of filler.

Granted, I only got this album because I found the deluxe edition that came with The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Worth the $11 I paid to get it, but sadly, it doesn't fit on the shelf with the rest of the albums (damn thing comes in a DVD case instead of your standard jewel case).

IMO, Sabaton doesn't really put out good albums. They put out good songs. Carolus Rex and The Art of War are really their only albums worth listening to as such. Everything else could have just been released as singles and it wouldn't have made a difference.

Also have been listening to Carolus Rex a lot (as well as Heroes and Primo Victoria, The Art of War). To me Carolus Rex is their best album by far, there is no song on the album that I don't think is fantastic. Then again i didnt like Attero Dominatus and Metalizer pretty much at all, so im a weirdo probably.

The only one that comes to mind immediately for me is Kamelot's The Black Halo, based (loosely) on Faust.

Also, Sabaton's The Art of War was influenced by, and has spoken excerpts from Sun Tzu's book of the same title. Not sure that's really what you're looking for, though.

Well, the opened with Ghost Division and Closed with Metal Crue. Other than that, I can't remember the exact order, but the songs were:

Primo Victoria

Uprising

Into the Fire

The Price of a Mile

Coat of Arms

Carolus Rex

Midway

Attero Dominatus

The Art of War

Cliffs of Gallipoli

I feel like they played Panzer Battalion, but I can't remember. But yeah, a pretty fucking awesome setlist if you ask me.

Right around the time The Art of War came out, my friend showed them to me, raving about the chorus on "Ghost Division". I got really into that album for a while, branched out a little to some of their other albums, but ultimately listened myself sick of them. I still think they're pretty good, but I rarely listen to them anymore.

You are a genre warrior though, because going with the feel, and not what the reliable sources say is what genre warrioring is. It really matters not what your feeling is, because "power metal" is a genre, and genres are decided by the public, not by your opinion.

That's why wikipedia, and pretty much everywhere that classifies albums have DoG labelled as symphonic.

Discogs can be good for obscure releases. Make sure you find a release that has a decent price. Something might also appear on eBay at a reasonable price. https://www.discogs.com/Dark-Moor-The-Hall-Of-The-Olden-Dreams/master/349908

NWOBHM is definitely a genre, that's why you can listen to a NWOBHM band like Hell, Angel Witch, Saxon and hear the distinct similarities between them, as i've always said about heavy metal in general 'it's all about the twiddly-diddly, man' and British new wave epitomises this.

Amazon. It was actually reissued last year (I think, maybe earlier) with some extra tracks (the two previous bonus tracks and a 'single' edit).

Here in Canada I've seen it in local stores, picked up a copy too.

I became a huge Sabaton fan in 2008, just before they released Art of War. Songs like Primo Victoria and Wolfpack just clicked for me. And then The Art of War - man, that album was killer. I've seen them so many times live that I lost track. It was really great "back in the time" when they played small club shows and you could actually shout a song name at the stage and they would spontaneously play that song! :D

I must admit, I've become kind of "decoupled" from the band lately. Their albums are getting repetitive (Carolus Rex grew on me, but Heroes... eh) and it's kind of weird to see how big they have become. Not that I don't grant them the success, but I miss the "closeness" you had with them when they were smaller.

Pär Hulkoff from Raubtier is about as close as you're going to get, but the music is more industrial. Same themes. . .sort of - it's a lot of war. . .but it's all in Swedish.

Snowy Shaw reminds me a lot of Joakim too, but maybe it's just because I always see the two of them together. Snowy's voice is diverse as fuck though - he can pull of Sabaton very, very well (I have a live video of him doing The Art of War somewhere).

EDIT: It appears I uploaded that video to YouTube!

I think Heroes was Sabaton's best album so far. Primo Victoria and The Art of War are close seconds, but I definitely like Heroes the best. Carolus Rex and Coat of Arms are okay and have their better songs, and Metalizer is just kinda bad. Anyone else feel the same?

Edit: forgot the Art of War. fixed that.

Primo Victoria - A little rough around the edges but the songs are catchy and energetic as you would expect. The guitar work is actually borderline interesting, not sure why they moved away from that.

Attero Dominatus - Probably their worst album. Way too similar Primo Victoria but minus the enthusiasm. The title track and Angels Calling are the only real highlights.

The Art of War - Crisp production and some actual great songs - Ghost Division, Cliffs of Gallipoli, and 40 to 1 are pure awesome.

Coat of Arms - First four songs are awesome, like they could be on Art of War then I guess they just decided to quit making music or something. Has the contender for worst song ever The Final Solution. Also I can't stand The White Death.

Carolus Rex - Has some of their most creative work and it's a shame they decided to go in the opposite direction for their next album.

Heroes - Catchy, energetic songs that lack any sort of substance or charm from previous efforts.

Sabaton very nearly had a tiebreaker as well, but Carolus Rex beat The Art of War by a single vote!

I also decided not to enforce the year ratios provision (didn't even bother to check what the changes would be). I figured that any changes made to the results there would ultimately not be in service of making the best possible list, but would just be enforcing that rule for no gain. There's a pretty good spread of years as is. If you guys really want it enforced, let me know.

5) Everything before Hellfire Club. I really think Rocket Ride is mediocre at best. Nothing special.

8) Keeper 1 & 2, Time of the Oath, The Dark Ride are all definitely better. I think Gambling with the Devil is a good album tough, I was surprised.

11) Also both Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus are way better than Coat of Arms. Again I found Coat of the Arms mediocre. Nothing special and I was really disappointed after the awesome: The Art of War.

But I think that all depends on what you discover when in your career as a metal head. I assume you started listening to metal around ~2006/2007 and Rocket Ride was one of your first metal album. ;-)

> well, they had this DVD-sized box set of Phoenix Rising, but that won't fit in my CD collection area so I didn't get it

I know this struggle. My version of Sabaton's The Art of War is the one with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, so it's in a DVD case.

Luckily, albums like Freedom Call's Beyond and Kamelot's Silverthorne has digi-paks inside to have them with the rest of the CD's.

Thanks so much for the kind words, Ian :D yeah, it was very important to me that these lyrics be appropriate, right, and not overbearing. If this album came off as with a "woe is me" attitude I'd shoot myself, I'm very proud of what we accomplished and I think the music and lyrics work very well with each other to drive home the story.

The essential power metal albums for ME personally are:

1. 'Live' by Blind Guardian
2. 'Somewhere Out in Space' by Gamma Ray
3. 'The Art of War' by Sabaton
4. 'The Universal Migrator pts. I & II' by Ayreon
5. 'Magica' by Dio

You should only be worried if you plan to keep not wearing ear protection. There's nothing to worry about if you start wearing them now!

A lot of people don't wear them, but lots of people do lots of dumb things. Concert volumes regularly exceed 85 decibels, which is the threshold for what can damage your hearing. The fact that you've gotten away without hearing loss so far is no indication you'll continue to do so.

Case in point: my dad randomly got tinnitus at a concert in his early 60s. He'd been to all kinds of shows with and without ear protection for most of his life. He started taking it more seriously as he got older, but he forgot his ear plugs that night, and now he lives with that mistake every day of his life.

I know a lot of people are weirded out by ear protection because they're worried ear plugs will diminish the concert experience. I promise they won't. Even if you just use the cheap foam ones, the sound will still envelope you. You'll still feel it pretty much the same as ever.

Personally, I don't use the cheap foam ones. I have a pair of these and they're great:

https://www.amazon.com/Vibes-High-Fidelity-Concert-Earplugs/dp/B018WPOQSG

Just go man, you'll have a great time. The crowd size should be manageable, and you can stand at the sides or the back if that would help your nerves. Lots of people go to shows alone so you won't stand out in that respect.

You can chat with people in line if you want but you don't have to. Conversations in line or between sets are usually just about the band or other recent shows people have been to so it's pretty comfy to navigate - everyone there has at least 1 shared interest after all.

There's no elaborate etiquette or anything if that's what you're worried about. Just show up bathed with clean clothes and you won't bother anyone. Most people will be wearing a black band shirt with jeans, or something like cargo shorts if it's hot out.

During the show you can just stand where ever and headbang to yourself - that's what most people will be doing anyway. The singer will direct everyone to jump or clap your hands or point the mic to the crowd to sing a lyric at various points - you can do any or all of this or not, nobody will think you're weird.

My biggest recommendation, since you bring it up, is a pair of decent-quality, reusable ear plugs. I think I have these but you can find other brands. They'll protect your ears better than the cheap, disposable foam ones and preserve the quality of the sound better. Sabaton puts on a great show - have fun!

https://www.discogs.com/Sonata-Arctica-Winterhearts-Guild/release/1717935 looks like the UPC matches this one. Ah, the 3 looked like a 5, so it's a 2003 album

There's so much stuff on the disc to where if it's a knockoff CD, it's they did a really good job hiding it

A lot of boobs this year, huh? Not that I'm complaining.

My favorites have to be Nemesis, Victima, and While Heaven Wept (though I'd call them epic doom rather than power metal). There's something about those nice calm greyish blue tones and no ultra-saturated harsh colors that I really like. Though the girl in the Nemesis one has way too much eyeliner lol.

That untitled one with the Necromancer/Thief(?) dude and the broken wall is also super clean. I love it.

As cheesy as it is, I kind of like design on the Crystal Eyes one. I just wish it wasn't screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M BLUE!!", as well as the continents on the planet not really blending in well with the water.

Masterplan, Human Fortress and DragonForce look great as well, though that may just be my bias towards them for being fantastic albums.

I would say the really bad ones on here are are Stormwind, Galneryus (as much as I love them), Light Force, Jag Panzer, Stratovarius, Duke, Grave Digger, Sonata Arctica (Winterheart's Guild), Holy Mother, Manowar, Airborn, Last Empire and Powersurge. But nothing beats Conquest of Steel for absolute atrociousness.

Another drummer here! Can't find much of my stuff online. Here's a sample of a surf tune I recorded that ended up in a mercedes commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7-ZJGwZh4g Here's a ska song I recorded like 17 years ago (scroll down and preview "50's Song": http://www.allmusic.com/album/everything-off-beat-vol-2-mw0000049193#no-js

I have mics, daw, and audio interface. When it comes to metal I like to play along to stuff like Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Helloween, and Edguy. Mostly trying to keep up my double kick.

That's the source I'm citing, a podcast about vinyl that had Darcy Proper, the Mastering Engineer for the vinyl release, as a guest.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/407404/1742878

Nice, bought that for 20 bucks on discogs a couple months ago.

(I've also got Vengeance Ascending and Chained)

But apparently Confessions of the Maker is 8 bucks on discogs at the moment...https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=324569&ev=mb

Hm... his LinkedIn doesn't say too much

What kind of practice schedule do you have for working on your guitar playing? What kind of exercises did you do to get to play like you do?

What an excellent insight into the Japanese metal scene! I'd love to know your thoughts on our article from itcher magazine about Japanese female guitarists: http://itcher.com/mag/best-japanese-female-guitarists/

Do you know about the Eternal Jukebox? https://eternalbox.dev/jukebox_go.html?id=03UrZgTINDqvnUMbbIMhql

I tried it with Walking Dream and sadly it can't load it because of a format issue, but maybe soon?

I use pandora when I'm trying to find new things and grooveshark when I want to listen to specific songs. I've never tried any others but those two work pretty well for my needs. Grooveshark doesn't have every song but they have enough that I get by.

I will say though that my pandora channel plays lots of 80s heavy metal, goth, and instrumental stuff because I kinda disregard keeping it channel specific and just thumbs up whatever I like...

http://www.pandora.com/#!/stations/edit/116395361898659929

There's my pandora for shits and giggles.

Ok so turns out Twilightning WEREN'T on the compilation I was talking about (I just rememebr hearing them around that time).

The compilation is called "Absolute Power Metal - The Definitive Collection".

Here's one of the first pages I found on it that's NOT a link to a torrent :P https://musicbrainz.org/release/45471b78-f50a-475f-900d-c767e88a4d83

Have a listen mate, it's a nice collection of tracks. Should keep you busy for a while!

Also, why the fuck do I get a downvoted? Usually metalheads are not so downvotey. Must not be true metalheads.

They are not listed as 'Split-up' or 'inactive' because the 'band' (It's really just Lenk and Altzi + session musicians these days) never announced that they had split up and gone on hiatus. But they appear to be inactive. They played their last show in 2015 in Mexico and apart from a couple of Facebook posts there has been no activity since then.

Olaf Lenk has a Youtube Channel on which he does cover songs. Although it has been a year since the last one was uploaded and the last time he uploaded their regularly was 3 years ago. He even self-released an unplugged covers album in 2013 and plays occasional live shows.

Rick Altzi is in Masterplan and Herman Frank's band. Their last drummer is also in Masterplan as well as Victor Smolski's Almanac and was the live drummer of Freedom Call for a while. And I can't find any infos about the current bassist Chris Hill.

That is about all I know.

Bought it from Amazon. I considered making one myself but thought this would be the cheaper option. There’s five holes in the frame you can use to screw it in place, currently using three which seemed stable enough. It does weigh some 3kg, making it heavier than it looks.

It'd be nice to be able to buy the Dynazty record, but alas, Amazon lets us Canadians down again. At least Testament will be on its way soon!

I don't like it over any other albums. I think Fist For Fight, Primo Victoria, Attero Dominatus and The Art of War were all way better than their newest release but at least they're going back in the right direction and possibly because this time I've expected the absolute worst. Ohh and I'm swiss so the title track gets some sympathy points. ;-)

I liked this bit of the song, especially compared to the other song, but I really don't like them ripping off The Art of War. This might be it for me and Sabaton. I think Heroes might be the last record of theirs I enjoy. And that one had some fillers on it for sure.

I've been in the power metal mood for a while, no thanks to the discovery of this subreddit last week. Talk about an instant subscribe!

This past week was mainly full of Sabaton's discography (The Art of War and Carolus Rex are phenomenal albums and still among my top 10 favorite albums) and the discovery of Powerwolf, I'm liking the heaviness that made Sabaton such a favorite.

Also I went back to Heavenly - Virus and Serenity - War of Ages, I like full albums of good songs and both those albums have great strength throughout. Epica - The Quantum Enigma gets a listen through nearly every week, while not really PM it's my favorite symphonic album to date.

The new discovery this week was Twilight Force, their first album is quite fun to listen to, reminds me a lot of Gloryhammer's first.

I'm on the lookout for more bands to listen to, this subreddit was a great find for me.

Heroes is towards the bottom for me. All but one of the songs are good-great, but they're pretty much all what one would expect from a single. An album is more than merely a collection of songs for me -- my take on the song challenge [shameless plug!] does a pretty good job of showing what I value. Sabaton would score fairly high in the song area, but very low elsewhere for Heroes.

Carolus Rex and The Art of War are my favorite albums of theirs, particularly because they cater more to what I see as being a good album as well as having good songs.

> Also both Primo Victoria and Attero Dominatus are way better than Coat of Arms. Again I found Coat of the Arms mediocre. Nothing special and I was really disappointed after the awesome: The Art of War.

Oooooh yes.

Also, Heroes would have been a great album if it had come before the previous three.

Not overly thrilled with the band choices as a whole, but it's not awful. In any case, I voted:

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind - my favourite Maiden record. Probably not the most representative of influence on power metal, but it definitely has its moments.

Manowar - Hail to England - One of the definitive USPM records IMO

Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory - definitely their best. A true masterpiece, and the ideal white collar USPM album.

Helloween - Predetermined, but 100% agreed. By far the two most important power metal albums ever.

Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side - I suppose for influence it wouldn't be the winner, but certainly in terms of quality it destroys everything else.

Stratovarius - Visions - Not my favourite Stratovarius release, but I feel it's more representative of the subgenre and important than their new work.

Rhapsody of Fire - Symphony of Enchanted Lands - Not too much to say here, but this is probably the best Rhapsody release.

Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica - I'm always surprised when people talk about anything else from this band. As good as some of their other work is, nothing comes close to touching Ecliptica, which is a milestone for the subgenre.

Gamma Ray - Somewhere Out In Space - Coin toss between this and Land of the Free, but I find this album to be a bit more consistent.

Kamelot - Didn't vote because I don't really like them

Angra - Angels Cry - Most memorable release of theirs IMO

Edguy - Theater of Salvation - Could have gone with any number of albums, but from a pure power metal perspective, this is probably the best choice.

Sabaton - The Art of War - Not my favourite Sabaton, but one of their most consistent and with many of their "hits"

Symphony X - V - No real reason behind this one. It's the only one I really listen to.

Galneryus - Don't listen to them so I didn't vote.

Disappointed about the lack of HammerFall, Dragonforce, Freedom Call, Firewind, and a few others.

Oh nice. I bought 2 packs, these are just the ones I'm not interested in. I also got the regular "Twist in the Myth", Sabatons "The Art of War" (which leaves me needing only one more from my favorite bands discog so I was happy as shit), Helloweens "The Dark Ride" and Threat Signals self-titled

Quality post, very informative. I haven't heard the album yet, so I can't comment on that, but the comments calling them a Sabaton/powerwolf clone worry me. Urban Breed-era Bloodbound(Specifically Tabula Rasa) is better than anything Sabaton and Powerwolf have done(With the exception of The Art of War) so its a shame to see they have reduced themselves to ripping off the flavor of the week.

My top picks: Aquaria's Shambala

Stratovarius' Infinite

Hammerfall's Glory to the Brave

Kamelot's Epica

Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth

Sabaton's The Art of War

to name but a few...

In the final edit, I would only change the Symphony X to TDWOT and the Dark Moor to Autumnal. I would also change the Sabaton back to The Art of War.

Edit: Was there a discussion involved with the selection? This looks to me more like a popularity contest rather than a "canon".

Nah, they stole Eons of the Night's.

Looking more into it, it looks like the artist's name is Ken Kelley, and he has done art for bands like Manowar and Kiss

I use alpine earplugs (these) and they are fantastic.

found the japanese pre-order of Sonata Arctica's Ninth Hour

50 (canadian) bucks for it after shipping...crap...

actually, cd japan's is pretty much the same, but i trust amazon more.

Usually I complain about how power metal releases are never available on Day 1 in Canada, and that's still partially true for the new Sabaton, but I was able to get it at HMV. But my complaint is that I was checking HMV's website for stock, and it seems like multiple stores had way more copies of the special edition than the regular edition. The location I went to got 3 copies of the special edition and 1 of the regular (which was on hold), so I had to spring for the more expensive one to get it quickly, even though I don't really want the extra DVD. I'll definitely watch it and enjoy it, but I feel like this is a pretty good scam that labels can pull. I suppose I should just be happy that it was available at all, because I've really enjoyed it thus far.

Also, I listened to the third Almah last night, and while it has some good songs, it isn't as good as Fragile Equality. I feel like it's a lot more hit or miss. Unfold just came in too, so I'm going to check that one out later today, but I predict it will be their worst album because it is by far the longest.

Heh, I play(ed) Tenor Horn, now French Horn for about 7 years. As well as piano for 10, and more recently guitar for just under a year. How oddly similar.

To start learning piano, if you don't have a basic grasp on music theory, you won't get very far. Find a teacher, buy a cheapish standalone keyboard such as this - good luck, and it's never too late to start if you have enough determination

Found it in the UK version of a popular online store :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bards-Song-Blind-Guardian/dp/B0000953T1?ie=UTF8&keywords=blind%20guardian%20the%20bard%27s%20song&qid=1460059512&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4

Somewhat unrelated, but I've had these JVC earbuds for 3 years so far and they're still working perfectly. Longest a set of earphones have lasted for me yet.