FrigidSymphony wrote:
You're forgetting everything else they've done since they started playing. DragonForce have 4 nearly identical albums, Manowar have an extremely strong catalogue, with enough coherence between albums to make sure it's Manowar, and with enough variation to keep you interested.
And as for the latest album, the orchestral bullshit pisses me off too, but if you take all those tracks out, and keep King of Kings, Loki (God of Fire), Blood Brothers, Sleipnir, Sons of Odin and Die For Metal you've got a very strong EP

Yes Dragonforce sounds indeed identical, but only if you are listening superficial. Because the songs are so long and so fast and so much overloaded, it's hard to get the subtleties. But if you invest time, the structures are getting clearer.
If you are cutting the songs to 3-4 Minutes, decreasing the soli, put more variation into it, make more songs a little bit slower...you will get Hammerfall Part 2. And do we really need a second Hammer Fall?
Just listen to "A Flame For Freedom". It could be 1:1 on a Hammerfall Record. Or the very short Bonus Track "Strike of the Ninja". We have tons of Power Metal Bands with the same songs. But Dragonforce are different and they standing out - and I think it's good, because they bring fresh air to the genre.
To Manowar: King of Kings is maybe the best song they ever wrote, Sleipnir is also good, and Loki too. And if you put this songs on a CD, you'l get a very good single.

But in general, Manowar is IMO toooo stereotypical. Too much posing, too less good music.