The New Music Thread - The Guardians Edition

They've apparently been "working" on this since the Nightfall in Middle-Earth days (1998), so hopefully it's good! The single "Point of No Return" is out and it sounds good but not great? I wish it was a bit more dynamic, everything feels super loud, but maybe that's the YouTube quality talking. 

Cirith Ungol - "I'm Alive" (Release date: 25th October)

The new live album from these Californian heavy metallers.

Angel Witch - "Angel Of Light" (Release date: 1st November)

The fifth studio album from these NWOBHM legends.

Pretty Maids - "Undress Your Madness" (Release date: 8th November)

The sixteenth studio album from this long-serving Danish heavy metal institution.

Legacy of the Dark Lands was such a letdown. I thought that BG would do something different with the orchestration due to the lack of metal, but it just feels like an extension of Nightfall in Middle-Earth without the metal band. The production is super blown out and awful sounding during the massive swells/climaxes and even though Hansi's vocal performance is great there just wasn't anything else there. Such a shame. 

Nightwish have just announced their new album titled Human :||: Nature, set to be released on April 10th. I really loved Endless Forms Most Beautiful when it came out but looking back now it certainly had its problems, but I could only imagine they're going to keep going down the theatrical film score path, so hopefully it's not too overblown. 

Some great classic metal news: Cirith Ungol are putting out a new full-length on 24th April, Forever Black, their first album of new material in almost 30 years!

I'll have to check them out, I've never heard of them! It's always exciting (but normally a letdown) seeing bands return after ridiculously long hiatuses. 

Covering their King of the Dead album for the podcast was my first experience with Cirith Ungol and I really liked it. I must admit that the slower doomier stuff is much more my cup of tea than the more traditional stuff (if you can call anything they do traditional), but thankfully that's most of the album's run-time. I'll check out the new album for sure.

It's good to see that they still use fantastic Michael Whelan artwork on the covers!

West Coast metal veterans Metal Church released "From The Vault" on April 10 via Rat Pak Records. This latest release is a special edition compilation album that features 14 previously unreleased songs from the Mike Howe era, including four newly recorded studio tracks including a redux of the band's fan favorite classic "Conductor", The remaining tracks are compiled from various recordings in the band's history and include five tracks from 2018's "Damned If You Do" recording sessions, three cover songs and two live tracks, "Agent Green" and "Anthem To The Estranged", which was recorded at the famous Club Citta, Kawasaki, Japan on the "Damned If You Do" world tour. Tracks 1 through 4 were mixed and mastered by Chris "The Wizard" Collier (KXM, WHITESNAKE, PRONG, KORN) and tracks 5 through 14 were mixed and mastered by Kurdt Vanderhoof.

Howe comments: "This album is for the fans and has some really cool unreleased tracks on it, I think METAL CHURCH fans everywhere will really enjoy it."

The new album from seminal NWOBHM outfit Cloven Hoof entitled "The Age Of Steel" which is due for release on 24th April.

The new album from Finnish heavy metal stalwarts Oz entitled "Forced Commandments" which is to be released on 24 April.

The new album from unheralded NWOBHM stalwarts Tokyo Blade entitled "Dark Revolution" which is due to be released on 15th May.

What are y'all's favorite Power Metal album so far this year?

I honestly haven't checked out too much Power Metal this year, there's just an influx of amazing Black Metal releases that has kept my attention. Demons and Wizards was disappointing to me, so I guess it would have to be Brothers of Metal - Emblas Saga? Even then that one is a guilty pleasure since it's just so absurd. Really fun listen. I'm gonna have to catch up and try to seek some more stuff out as the year progresses. 

I revisited Nightwish for their new album Human Nature. Most of the metal songs were great, and even though it's often a bit too symphonic, there are a few epic symphonic moments as well. The first and last parts of the half-hour 8-track symphony "All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World" were the only parts of the suite that I like. At least I think it's better than when Blind Guardian went completely orchestral for their album Legacy of the Dark Lands.

I love that this discussion is being had by members of The Guardians. I can't comment in any way as I haven't heard a power metal album released in the last few years, but then a quick look at the clan icons above this post confirm that any comment I make shouldn't be given all that much credence.

Carry on! 

I was pretty disappointed by Human Nature, but it's not bad. I have no idea why they're not using Floor's voice in more ways, she's a fantastic singer, she's just written so one dimensional to me through the entire album. While the symphony was beautiful, it felt mostly pointless to me? I wish they would have incorporated it in a different way or built up to it better, I'm not sure. It just wasn't what I wanted out of a B-Side of an album like that. 

It looks like I need to check out Almanac, Nightfear, and Ilium to catch up a bit on 2020 Power Metal, and those are pretty obscure, so I think Power Metal has been pretty quiet overall this year so far.