The Guardians
The Guardians Threads
Enticer - "Reaper of the Earth/Dying Aged" single (1989)
I haven't heard this obscure 7" single since the early 1990's but it's held up beautifully, despite the thin demo-quality production job. Enticer were a five-piece band from my hometown of Sydney whose sound sat somewhere between power metal & thrash metal & this single is a great example of that with the A side "Reaper of the Earth" leaning more towards the power metal side of the equation & the B side "Dying Aged" angling more towards the thrash one. Both are enjoyable inclusions, particularly "Dying Aged" which is a very solid piece of Aussie thrash indeed. The vocals of Steve Sidhu soar over the top of fast tremolo-picked speed metal riffage while the dual guitar solos blaze away around them. This is about as metal as it gets & I've been surprised at my much it's appealed to me to be honest. I'd recommend it to those thrash fans that struggle to find power metal with enough balls to keep their interest.
For fans of Iced Earth, Paradox & Savage Messiah.
4/5
Tokyo Blade - "Time is the Fire"
The twelfth full-length from this NWOBHM act. I'm well across their first two album but haven't heard anything they've released since 1981. I wasn't too fond of their 1980 self-titled debut but didn't mind the follow-up "Night of the Blade". All the Iron Maiden tragics out there might wanna investigate this one but I'm not sure it interests me enough to explore if I'm being honest.
So with the start of a new year it's once again time to have a look at the covers for all the releases for each clan. I personally like to rate a whole stack of covers all at once, rather than doing them one at a time throughout the year, as it allows me to get a better feel for where each cover sits in comparison to others. With that in mind, I've just rated every cover for releases in The Guardians for 2024.
Below are some of the releases that are currently competing for the prestigious 2024 The Guardians Cover of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on the 1st of February, so there's still time to get your ratings in.
The following link will take you to the Gallery, displaying the top Guardians releases that you have not rated yet: CLICK HERE
I've been hammering these three early maiden classics all day and raising the horns to mark the passing of Paul di'Anno. RIP.
How's it going, fellas? As we welcome the first days of October, the noble Guardian Knights are eager to hear about a new stronghold worthy of their graceful protection. This time, it is my honor to be their knight captain, so I've striven to select an aptly grand mission in this year's debut full-length from US old-school heavy metallers Savage Oath, "Divine Battle".
Heavy metal stands strong, fellas! I find it properly heartwarming that, despite its more than fifty-year existence, the subgenre is still capable of spawning genuinely delightful records. The album boasts a proper, gritty, old-school sound, catchy, triumphant choruses, and even a slight hint of doom, mostly due to the vocal performance that, to me, sounds a lot like how Ozzy would sound if he could actually sing :]. Lately, I simply can't stop listening to this beauty. If all that sounds good to you, dive right in!
https://metal.academy/releases/50773
Hey there, Rex. If you're up for any ideas for your possible "powercore" (power metal/melodic metalcore) band, the new Jeris Johnson album Dragonborn is for you. Particularly the first half in which most of the songs from that section genuinely exemplify this rare epic modern combo.
I'm back for monthly Feature Releases and I wanted to shine some light on a modern band attempting a done-to-death retro sound that has stood the test of time for me at this point. Canadian Heavy Metal band Riot City screamed onto the scene with their 2019 debut Burn the Night, complete with a strong, classic high-pitched vocalist and a nice amount of energy from the rest of the band. Despite that, it wasn't until a vocalist shift for 2022's Electric Elite that this band started getting some serious playtime for me, since I personally find this album to be a strict upgrade over their debut.
If you're looking for a classic Heavy Metal fix this month, feel free to check this one out and let us know what you think below.
This came up on facebook, and I decided to take a gander. I don't usually go for this... I usually hate this, but I found one that I would actually call a great album. You get symphony, operatic soprano-but I like her voice much more than most, and a guitarist doing his best Yngwie Malmsteen impersonation. It has some kind of X-Factor I can't put my finger on. Check it out: THey only have a little over 1,000 monthly listeners so this is still under the radar.
Well this next album is gonna cause some divisive discussion...
The most essential part of the history of Rainbow involves two members. First off, there's the band's main founder, ex-Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. He and Deep Purple were touring with support from blues/hard rock band Elf. That band was known as an early one for the legendary Dio (RIP). Impressive by Dio's mighty magical voice, Blackmore invited him for a different project, one that would become a great success, resulting in Blackmore leaving Deep Purple and Dio disbanding Elf.
As you can hear in Rainbow's 1975 debut, their hard rock sound combines the blues of Elf with the early metal of Deep Purple. Yeah, I'm saying it, this album is metal! Though their metal side would be more pronounced in their second album. But with a large amount of blues/hard rock in the album as well, I say the rock/metal ratio is 50:50.
"Man on the Silver Mountain" is a classic opener, right from that memorable riff. It's the most metallic sound here while combining their heavy metal side with hard rock. And that's just the start of the variation that would occur in the rest of the album. What makes that track the fresh classic highlight is how guitar-driven it is, as Blackmore slides through his riffing and soloing. Dio's vocals help give that guitarwork more atmosphere. More of that top-notch guitar playing appears in "Self Portrait" which, I suppose you can consider a power ballad, but to me, it has more of a hard rock/proto-doom metal (doom rock?) song of early Black Sabbath. The bass can be heard greatly, and the lyrics have poetic appeal. "Black Sheep of the Family" has the nice prog-ish hard rock speed of the band whose song they were covering, Quatermass. Good, but not spectacular.
Then we have a more obscure yet underrated track in "Catch the Rainbow". This can work greatly live with the clean guitar and vocals of Ritchie and Dio, respectively. It's more effectively that way for a slow blues rock ballad. Would the band's later vocalists like Joe Lynn Turner and Ronnie Romero be able to master singing that song as greatly as Dio? Didn't think so... The more exotic hard rock/metal sound comes back in "Snake Charmer", with a serene guitar solo. "The Temple of the King" has cleaner mid-tempo blues rock that continues to have the torch carried by Dio's vocals and Blackmore's guitars.
"If You Don’t Like Rock ‘N Roll" is OK, but their attempt to push their usual hard rock back a couple decades into the rock 'n roll era just doesn't sound right for me, especially that annoying piano. They assumed right, I don't like early rock 'n roll. "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" is a mid-tempo hard rock/heavy metal march. One more highlight is an upbeat instrumental cover of "Still I'm Sad" by The Yardbirds. They take that band's blues/hard rock sound and give it a more metallic edge.
Other than that "Rock 'N Roll" track detracted a half-star from what would've been a perfect 5-star rating for the album, the music for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is all in amazing performance and mood. Although it is a rock/metal album, the more metal fans might find the songs laid back. Despite that, the heavy energy is what keeps things rolling. I must admit, I wasn't expecting that kind of approach, so consider me surprised. I never usually enjoy 70s music, but the "Roots of Metal" project is going mostly smoothly for me so far. If you enjoy Dio and Deep Purple, you might get a great kick out of this as much as their second more solidifying album. Catch that rainbow!
Favorites: "Man on the Silver Mountain", "Self Portrait", "Catch the Rainbow", "Snake Charmer", "Still I'm Sad"
4.5/5
Metal enough in my opinion: yes
It's been 5 months since I last listened to Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, so I decided to give it a little more listening today. Now back then I was in the zone of checking out albums from the 70s in this project, and many of the albums I was listening to at the time sounded metal enough for my ears, and my thoughts carried over to this Rainbow album that made me think similarly to what those other bands/albums have done. Then in this recent revisit after listening to and reviewing a lot of modern metal albums, I've realized that this Rainbow album sounds nothing like any release I would consider metal. I guess listening to an album at a different time can trick my mind, huh? So I now consider Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow more of a blues/hard rock record, and my rating has massively dropped down to 2.5/5. How sad... Metal enough in my opinion: no
Iced Earth - "Storm of the Nightrider" (1991)
I had a great deal of time for the 1990 self-titled debut album from Florida outfit Iced Earth after discovering them through a video compilation shortly after its release. The five-piece band more than made up for the vocal deficiencies of front man Gene Adam with a splendid blend of US power metal & thrash metal that ticked a great many of my metal boxes. Rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer's impeccable right-hand technique was of particular interest for the budding young axeslinger that I was at the time & I quickly committed to checking out Iced Earth's subsequent releases as well as their earlier "Enter the Realm" demo. 1991's "Night Of The Stormrider" sophomore album was a little bit different though with John Greely replacing Adam behind the microphone stand & Richey Secchiari filling Mike McGill's empty drum stool. The resulting recordings would see Iced Earth presenting just as strong a "Master of Puppets"-era thrash metal influence as "Iced Earth" did but the greater emphasis on creating an epic atmosphere through soaring melodic content saw the album sitting a little less comfortably next to your average thrash record & feeling much better suited to the power metal scene (both the US & the European ones). I have to admit that my struggles with power metal were very real at the time &, if anything, I'm actually a little more open the genre now so it's fair to say that I found "Night Of The Stormrider" to be pretty tough going which would see me distancing myself from Iced Earth until 1997's "Days of Purgatory" re-recording album would entice me into checking out what their early works might sound like with a more suitable production job & front man. Sadly, I wouldn't explore Iced Earth's more accomplished 1990's studio albums until 2014 when I was preparing to see them play live at Sydney's Manning Bar at which time I discovered that they had a lot more to offer than "Storm of the Nightrider" had delivered to me back in the day. Fast-forwarding to the modern day & it's been decades since my perceptions around the merits of Iced Earth's sophomore record were first developed. The unanimous praise that seems to be heaped on it have not gone unnoticed by me either so it's about time I gave the album a reassessment.
The first thing I noticed about "Night of the Stormrider" upon this revisit is the production job which isn't amazing to be fair. Jon Schaffer's rhythm guitar sound is a bit dry which I don't feel provides his skill sets with the best platform. The lack of bass guitar in the mix doesn't help either while the use of synthesizers is often a little over the top. Still... I found that I was able to get used to the sound over a few listens to the point where it definitely made less of an impact by my third spin. New front man Greely's vocals are like chalk & cheese with Gene Adams' delivery with Greely opting for a theatrical, operatic approach that reeks of power metal indulgence. I do really enjoy the moments where he pushes up into Rob Halford style falsetto territory though as he reminds me very much of Judas Priest's classic "Painkiller" album at times. Sanctuary/Nevermore front man Warrel Dane sometimes comes to mind too actually.
The stylistic approach of "Storm of the Nightrider" is very much what I remembered with the band keeping one foot in Iron Maiden/Judas Priest territory while galloping forwards with some of the most precise right-hand thrash riffage this side of James Hetfield with the other. Unlike the self-titled debut though, this record simply doesn't "feel" like thrash metal even though it's so clearly dominated by the consistent use of fast thrash guitar work. The added melodicism, consciously epic atmosphere & over the top vocal style are all at odds with the mentality of your average thrash band & I feel that the US power metal tag covers a wide enough area to encapsulate the sounds heard on this record. The fluency of the song-writing is still a work in progress though as there are many examples of disparate parts simply being pasted together & the art of the segway would be an area that Iced Earth would get much better at by the end of the decade.
I have to admit that I've been a bit hard on Iced Earth in regard to the quality of the material though as there aren't really any genuinely weak tracks included so I do find myself enjoying the album as a whole these days. It certainly helps that the tracklisting kicks off with one of the best inclusions in the excellent "Angels Holocaust" with its symphonic flourishes & face-tearing vocals. The excellent "Pure Evil" is the other clear highlight in my opinion & is probably my favourite track on the record to be honest. The rest of the songs are all pretty good without ever pushing me to consider awarding my higher scores. All of the material sits at a very consistent level of quality but I'm not sure that I ever feel that I'm listening to a tier one metal band because "Night of the Stormrider" is just a little too consciously extravagant for my taste &, as a result, I hold a preference for the darker records either side of it. I can definitely see why it appeals to some people so much these days though, particularly those with a penchant for thrashy US power metal like Metal Church & early Nevermore or Jon Schaffer's side project Demons & Wizards.
3.5/5
Ozzy Osbourne - "Just Say Ozzy" E.P. (1990)
While listening to this month's The Guardians feature release "No More Tears" I was reminded that I spontaneously picked up this largely overlooked live E.P. from the local record store some time shortly after it was released. I think it might have been the first of Ozzy's solo work that I laid down my hard-earned cash for actually & it was driven by my enthusiasm for Black Label Society & Pride & Glory guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde's work on Ozzy's previous studio album "No Rest For The Wicked" which I believe might have been my introduction to Ozzy's solo material in general. And if I was looking for a showcase for Zakk's chops then I probably couldn't have asked for more than I got with this half hour of high-quality heavy metal to tell you the truth.
The E.P. features four of Ozzy's solo tracks (three taken from "No Rest For The Wicked" & one from his previous album "The Ultimate Sin") as well as two classic Black Sabbath tunes ("Sweet Leaf" & "War Pigs") & all of them are worth hearing. Ozzy's vocals aren't at their best & he sounds a little bit like he's running on auto-pilot at times (particularly during "Bloodbath In Paradise" where he's noticeably pitchy) but his voice certainly suits the Sabbath material far better than it does his solo material which is a long-term bug-bear of mine. Wylde's guitar playing is the real drawcard here though & it doesn't disappoint for a single second of this record. In fact, I'd suggest that he's a tighter musician than Randy Rhoads was in all honesty. He just sounds like he's in complete control of his instrument at all times as he nails every single nuance of the material which makes his performance worth whatever it was that I paid for this otherwise fairly inessential release. Opener "Miracle Man" is comfortably the best of the solo work but it's unsurprisingly the Sabbath material that stands out as the best inclusions here with "War Pigs" being the clear highlight. If you can't get enough Ozzy-era Black Sabbath or 80's Dio in your life then I'd recommend that you check this E.P. out & Black Label Society fans will probably wanna get in on the action too just for the Wylde-card.
4/5