September 2023 Feature Release - The Guardians Edition

It's another month and that means it's time for another round of Feature Releases for Metal Academy. I've decided to go with some modern, but retro-inspired Heavy Metal with Philadelphia's Sumerlands, a band that came onto my radar after their 2022 release Dreamkiller became a personal favorite of mine. There's a bit of crossover between Sumerlands and Eternal Champion in terms of band members, so if you're more familiar with them, this is a slightly different take on that classic US Heavy Metal style. I've only checked out Dreamkiller before nominating this and apparently they started with a different vocalist, so I'm interested to see where Sumerlands ends up for everyone.

I wanted to like this album, there's basically no reason for me to not like this album. I like NWOTHM bands, and I like the sort of epic concept they've got going here. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it...but there's nothing I actually like about it. Nothing that I could call in any way, bad. It just found a way not to appeal to me.

I did notice a funny comparison though. The mystical and dark lyrics along with the heavily electronic voice effects on the lead singer made me think of Idle Hands/Unto Others. But whereas Idle Hands has some very cringey lows and some very amazing highs, this just sort of didn't make that same mark that Idle Hands did.

3/5