Eurovision 2018: 9 Other Hungarian Bands You Should Hear
7. Wisdom
Power metal
FFO: Blind Guardian, Hammerfall
Is there anything more fun than European power metal? The melodramatic, keyboard-laced ying, to the speed and thrash metal-influenced yang that is US power metal, Wisdom embody everything that our exuberant off-shoot of the genre represents.
Formed in 2001 by bassist Mate Molnar and guitarist Gabor Kovacs, play a riff-heavy, keyboard-backed brand of heavy metal that saw them gain an early reputation, playing as a support act for Iron Maiden's Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour in 2003 - before they had even released an EP. The debut EP came in 2004, by which point they had already toured with Saxon, UDO and Doro.
The band aimed to build a narrative similar to that of Vic from Megadeth or Eddie from Maiden, and as such, much of their music is centred around the stories of a character called Wiseman. As a result of this, each of their albums have built upon the character's biography.
The band's popularity has risen exponentially over the years., touring with Judas Priest, Powerwolf, Heaven and Hell and Sabaton and have worked in the studio with Mats Levén (Candlemas/ex-Yngwie Malmsteen), Joakim Brodén (Sabaton) and Fabio Lione (Angra/ex-Rhapsody of Fire).