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Perth trio Trilogy began life as Saracen way back in 1980, making them arguably the first Western Australian metal band. They were built around talented vocal, bass & synthesizer whiz Jon Ryder who was known as Australia's answer to Rush's Geddy Lee & Saracen's impressive technical skills quickly made them a major player in the Perth live scene. Things looked set to come crashing down when guitarist John Meyer decided to leave Saracen in order to join legendary Oz rock group Rose Tattoo in 1983 but the remaining duo would find the answer shortly afterwards in Black Alice axeman Jamie Page (Black Steel/Angus McDeth/Project X) whose Eddie Van Halen-influenced style would become a significant asset for the band. The change in personnel would trigger an adjusted moniker too with Saracen moving on to new horizons as Trilogy in 1984. After proving themselves in the live arena, the newly solidified unit would record their debut full-length "Life on Earth" at Bonsai Studios in Perth with producer Brett Lyons. It would go on to gain Trilogy the exposure that they were after, particularly oversees where the European audience appreciated the complexity & professionalism of Trilogy's mildly symphonic sound. The honeymoon period wouldn't last too long though as Paige would quit the band shortly afterwards in order to relocate to the UK, at which time Trilogy would experience a homecoming with former guitarist John Meyer & revert back to their original Saracen moniker for their second & final album.

When I first became involved with the Australian metal scene in the very late 1980's, I would often see Trilogy's name floating around. Older metalheads would also mention them in conversation but, for one reason or another, I didn't find myself checking them out until earlier this decade. I was reasonably impressed with what I heard too & I can certainly understand why the trio would have been a fairly big deal in their hometown of Perth. Despite being released independently, "Life on Earth" is a classy record in many respects & you can easily hear that Trilogy had already paid their dues by cutting their chops in the live scene. These guys all really knew what they were doing with their chosen instruments but also understood song-writing concepts too. In saying that though, "Life on Earth" does hint at a band that were still finding themselves stylistically as there are three very clear points of influence to be found across the ten tracks on offer. The first is the obvious Rush comparison with Ryder very clearly being inspired by Geddy Lee. Ryder's impeccable bass chops & higher-register vocal tone sound dominate the listener's focus & it's kinda hard to understand how someone can reach this level without reaching greater heights in terms of commercial success. The second influence is that of NWOBHM giants Iron Maiden with the galloping basslines, melodic guitar/keyboard harmonies & up-tempo energy of the more metallic material drawing clear comparisons. And the third source of inspiration was clearly drawn from US hard rock mega-group Van Halen with Paige's guitar solos displaying an unquestionable devotion to Eddie Van Halen who was also my greatest guitar idol during my formative years.

The tracklisting has its ups & downs but generally settles at a pretty decent average. One of the highlights comes from flashy instrumental "The Hammer" which is built around concepts drawn from Van Halen's turbo-charged "Hot for Teacher". My personal favourite is the Maiden-esque heavy metal banger "Pariah" though as it presents Trilogy as very fine & undeniably classy metal act. Things didn't go so well on the fairly flat heavy rocker "Playing With Your Life" or the overly cheesy AOR power ballad "Holding You Close" though so you've kinda gotta take the good with the bad. I don't think Ryder's vocal delivery was ever going to allow Trilogy to feel like a red-blooded metal band so they tend to dance between heavy metal & hard rock a lot of the time. The symphonics aren't overdone which I appreciate but they do seem to have fooled a lot of the world into believing that Trilogy were a fully-fledged progressive metal band which isn't the case, despite the inclusion of a couple of more progressive rock numbers in "Holding You Close" & "Wasting Time".

Overall, it's hard to complain too much about "Life on Earth" as it would appear to have fulfilled Trilogy's intentions nicely. 80% of the album is well worth listening to & I'm actually a little surprised that they didn't go on to bigger & better things to be honest. It's been a while since I've checked out their subsequent release in 1986's "Next in Line" but it's on my radar for the next few months so I'll be interested to see how it compares. As it stands though, "Life on Earth" is unlikely to disappoint too many of our The Guardians members but I don't think it'll become compulsory listening for many either.

For fans of Rush, Saracen (AUS) & Surrender.

Making my full return to The Guardians has leveled up my motivation to explore more releases from all of the clan's different genres; heavy metal, power metal, symphonic metal, and neoclassical metal. For classic heavy metal, I still haven't gotten a lot of appeal for the more popular bands that helped develop the genre, but releases like this one by Judas Priest, Ram It Down, show that these kinds of bands and albums should never be taken for granted...

The band had already released 10 albums before this one, and they were having tons of commercial success with global tours and arenas. They were having the time of their lives, but at what cost? The heavier metalheads were turning away from the band because they were dissatisfied with their more mainstream sound in Turbo. However, what they didn't know was, Turbo was meant to be part of a double album titled Twin Turbos, an idead turned down by their record label. The speedy heavy metal material written for what would've been the second Twin Turbos disc ended up recorded for its own album, Ram It Down. All pounding heaviness and melody, with no synths in sight!

The opening title track is filled with energetic speed that was missing in Turbo. It has massive soloing by guitar duo Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing, alternating between each other, similar to how DragonForce would do it 15 to 20 years later. And this is the album before the pinnacle of Judas Priest's career that is Painkiller. After that is "Heavy Metal". You might think it would maintain their metal redemption based on the song title and the intro solo, but it just leads to what sounds like a Turbo B-side. I'm talking about the industrial percussion behind the riffing, as well as the vocals sounding a little odd. At least there's some more kick-A soloing midway through. Adding in a bit of their 70s roots is "Love Zone". Then "Come and Get It" has a little more of the Turbo sound bled through.

Their later speed is hinted further in "Hard as Iron", particularly in the bass and drums. What a shame this wasn't a live staple because it's perhaps the best track here. An absolutely underrated kick-A speedy tune, again an early sign of Painkiller! "Blood Red Skies" is an 8-minute industrial-infused epic. Apparently it was originally over 10 minutes long but ended up trimmed a bit. That would've surpassed "Run of the Mill" from their 1974 debut Rocka Rolla as their longest song at the time. Anyway, the first minute sounds more like a soft ballad, then electronic beats come in alongside dark riffing. Rob Halford's vocals range from his usual falsettos to unusual whispers. Strange but I like it. In fact, that song would've fit quite well in a Terminator movie soundtrack. "I'm a Rocker" is another solid anthem, describing the life of a rockstar. That would've fit well in one of the Back to the Future movies. Speaking of which...

"Johnny B. Goode", the Chuck Berry classic that people know from the first Back to the Future, is given a metal makeover. Some love it, some hate it. I'm one of the people who love it, especially the soloing melody. All that's missing is the epic shredding performed by Marty McFly at the end of his version. "Love You to Death" is the one track that doesn't have much business here. The doomy "Monsters of Rock" ends the album with a more appropriately fitting tale of heavy metal than in the song "Heavy Metal".

It's strange how well some albums turns out for me when I don't expect them to. I thought Ram It Down would be a heavier take on the glam cheese from Turbo, but it's more of a somewhat polar opposite than a total counterpart. The rapid drums and guitars help fire things up, alongside the vocals and bass. I would've loved this album a lot if not for a couple tracks that almost come out as stinkers. That being said, the fist has really slammed down like the one in the iconic cover art made by Mark Wilkinson, pounding with metal anthems that are both either popular or in need of attention. Any kind of metalhead should give this offering some listening....

Favorites: "Ram It Down", "Hard as Iron", "Blood Red Skies", "Johnny B. Goode", "Monsters of Rock"

The UK was the ultimate birthplace for classic heavy metal. The two biggest pioneering bands of the genre are Black Sabbath and, of course, Judas Priest. However, there comes a time when one of those bands would water down their sound for the mainstream. For Judas Priest, their brief direction in Turbo is not as pretty as it looks...

The US saw the rise of the two popular genres in the 80s; glam metal and thrash. The glam sound has then made its way overseas, as UK metal artists like Def Leppard would switch gears from their earlier heavy metal sound. Glam "metal" is generally more of a hard rock genre and the only reason for some bands to sacrifice some integrity is to make some cashola. Turbo is Judas Priest's sole attempt at following the glam trend, filled with synthesized guitars.

They already crank up the glam heat in the opening hit "Turbo Lover". The drumming rhythm and guitar riffing are indeed in more of the glam side, but those along with the vocal strength of Rob Halford help make that song be recognizable as a true classic. "Locked In" is far more glam-ish than the previous song. This is where some of the strength is lost. "Private Property" doesn't reduce any of the poppiness going on in the guitar tones nor the lyrics of love and sex. "Parental Guidance" was written as a "f*** you" to Tipper Gore and the PMRC, and I can respect the band for standing up to the (wo)man.

But I can't respect the next track "Rock You All Around the World". It's just too cheesy for me, and I prefer to get my cheese from power metal. Now we're getting some slower metal with the 6-minute epic "Out in the Cold". It starts with a long intro that makes more use of their guitar synths, leading into guitar riffing, all done by the legendary duo of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton. Furthermore, the soloing is filled with memorable melody without too much shredding. Truly a diamond in the rough!

"Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days" is another sweet and sappy glam track. All it's good for is being the soundtrack for a sunny day at the beach. Venice Beach. More for glam fans than metalheads. "Hot for Love" is another one of the best songs here, even with some glam. "Reckless" closes the album somewhat decently.

It's easy to come across the singles from Turbo via radio and TV, but that's sadly what many listeners only hear from the album when they don't buy it. Still one of the singles is a great one, along with 3 underrated highlights and, oh yeah I forgot to mention, the speedy bonus track "All Fired Up" paying homage to their roots. The rest, however, is just the metal equivalent to bubblegum pop. Luckily their next album would prove that selling out is not a long-term option for these metal gods....

Favorites (only ones I really like): "Turbo Lover", "Parental Guidance", "Out in the Cold", "Hot for Love", "All Fired Up" (bonus track)

Through no conscious effort on my part, I completely missed the Blaze-era albums that Maiden put out in the 90s. The fact that I have never heard or read a good word about that period anywhere has ensured that I have never bothered to find out if I was missing anything at all. I guess I am comfortable for once in not knowing if the criticism was justified or not. As such, listening to Brave New World is essentially me listening to the follow up to Fear of the Dark. Acknowledging that this approach does neglect an important comparator, it is still more than a valid reference to base my review on and arguably is unique amongst the Bayley-bashing that normally goes on.

Fear of the Dark was poor, making up for none of the lost ground that No Prayer for the Dying sacrificed before it. In my review scenario then, if I am not treating Brave New World as a standalone release, it has an easy task. The bar was already low, let’s be honest, before BB entered the fray. Brave New World feels like it would have been a great opportunity to kick on from the duller years and make this a proper reunion album that realised once again the glorious melodies that Maiden had for so many years been able to consistently deliver. And you know what? They almost get there. In fact, no, in fairness they do get there for some of the album. The first three tracks are consistent winners, well-written and hooky as you like. Later, too there are treats like ‘The Mercenary’, ‘The Nomad’ and ‘Out of the Silent Planet’. Whilst I could not go so far as to say the reunion is held together by the same glue that made them such a strong songwriting machine for so many years (Bruce does sound a little disconnected at times), it is encouraging to find some enjoyment from an artist I had all but written off some years before this album had been released.

Consistency is my main gripe with Brave New World. Tracks like ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘Fallen Angel’ are just not of the same quality as the above-mentioned ones. The terrible closing track is perhaps one of the worst tracks I think Maiden have ever released and I can only guess that they simply had little other material to bring for consideration given the track is frankly laughably bad. Has this album managed to pique my interest into any later releases? Well, yes and no. I won’t be dashing off to jump into Dance of Death by any means but I have been able to take heart from some semblance of quality still being present in one of my teenage go to bands of yesteryear.

Oh dear! What have we here I hear you ask? Well, this Brisbane-based trio were one of the earliest metal bands to come of my adopted home state of Queensland back with 1985's awfully titled four-song "Daddy's Little Girl" E.P. being their first proper release. Vice weren't exactly a household name in this country so I didn't get around to checking this relatively unknown release out until earlier this decade &, even then, it was only out of sheer completism. I would suggest that the cover art alone would have scared off the majority of punters from this century but, you know what, someone's gotta do it so I recently decided to take the plunge by returning for a second helping, purely in the name of the glorious Aussie metal scene that I love so much.

The horribly titled "Daddy's Little Girl" was released on the completely insignificant Sundown Records label right in the middle of the 1980's. One look at that cover will probably tell you that Vice were at least loosely associated with the glam metal movement &, if that was the case, then you'd be correct because a good half of their sound fits that description pretty comfortably. However, they also possessed a much tougher heavy metal edge at times & opening track "Morpheus" will no doubt have you second guessing yourself with its powerful, down-tuned, bottom-string chug riff that's been pulled straight off of Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave". It's a great opener actually & I really enjoy it. It also sounds very different to other three tracks on the release. "Morpheus" is immediately followed by a very commercial sounding & misguided cover version of The Supremes "Stop ...in the Name of Love" which is certainly well performed & energetic but doesn't do a lot for me personally. The lengthier "Into the Night" sees things descending further with front man Peter Sharman's vocals struggling to find his feet amidst the glam/heavy metal instrumentation before the more than decent closer "Thriller Between the Sheets" rewards our patience with an up-tempo heavy metal feel that reminds me a lot of the punk-infused electricity of Iron Maiden's debut album. The variation in approaches across the four songs tells the clear story of a young band who were still trying to decide on what musical direction they should take so it can come across as unfocused but it does keep you on your toes nonetheless.

The production job on "Daddy's Little Girl" is more than acceptable for such an underground release of the time as it presents the band's strengths quite well. Peter Sharman would appear to be the main attraction with his big, masculine, powerful tone tending to make up for his occasional pitchiness with sheer charisma. The guitars of Dr Dave Warner (unfortunately not the former Australian opening batsman) are loud & proud while drummer Scott Allard would appear to be influenced just as much by hard rock as he is heavy metal, alternating between the two across the four songs. My enjoyment does tend to vary depending on how successful Sharman is at tackling each track though &, when he's in his element, Vice can be well worth hearing. I do think they were a significantly better heavy metal band than a glam metal one though so I've found myself enjoying the two more metallic inclusions a lot more than the two glammier ones. In fact, Vice don't really sound much like a glam metal act on the two songs that bookend this release which can only be a good thing in my opinion. Unfortunately, the two tracks that make up the middle of the E.P. do exist which has led to me deciding that "Daddy's Little Girl" probably isn't for me so I can't say that I'd recommend it to members who are looking for a hidden Aussie gem.

For fans of Twisted Sister, Axatak & early Kings Cross.

Sydney five-piece Critical Mass were a name that I saw floating around the live scene in my home city during the early 1990's but never had the opportunity of experiencing in the flesh as far as I can recall. I did, however, get the chance to check out this one-off album which would occasionally find its way onto the CD player of whoever's house the after party happened to be at though. Critical Mass had begun life as a cover band called Foreign Order in the late 1980's before changing their moniker & attempting originals but they didn't really amount to much before calling it quits around 1993/94. I was familiar with vocalist Greg Moore through the 1989 "Into Reality" demo tape from Sydney speed/heavy metallers Enticer (3.5/5) which I quite liked but the rest of the band didn't really come from any level of metal pedigree & it shows on their sole full-length.

The "Unholy Wars" album was released through Vampire Records in 1992 which surprises me really. Label owner Danny Kaleda was a well-known member of the local metal community thanks to his long-standing "Monday Night Metal" radio program on 2RRR (a show that I was a guest on at least once) & Vampire would be responsible for putting out high-quality extreme metal records like Sadistik Exekution's "The Magus" & the first couple of Nazxul releases. It seems a little strange to me that he'd associate himself with such a mild-mannered & fairly easy-listening metal release such as this one but that would appear to be the case. The production isn't anything to write home about either with the rhythm guitars being too far back in the mix & being over-powered by the rhythm section. For this reason, "Unholy Wars" sounds a lot like a self-financed affair.

Critical Mass' musical approach sits somewhere between Metallica's more chuggy, mid-paced thrash metal material & a more accessible heavy metal sound built around power chords & vocal hooks. Unfortunately the thrash riffs are so simple & generic that I can't help but feel that the band would have been better served by concentrating on their less intense side as they're certainly a little better at it with power ballad (& clear album highlight in my opinion) "Road That Never Ends" & the catchy heavy metal singalong "Nineties" being two of the more rewarding numbers. The lead guitar work is quite accomplished for such an inconspicuous release though & is definitely one of the better elements of Critical Mass' game although Moore doesn't possess the vocal chops to see the song-writing maximizing its potential. There are no genuine shockers included here but the peaks are rare & I generally find myself feeling a little underwhelmed rather than disappointed.

It's not hard to see why "Unholy Wars" might have drifted past most of the global metal scene without much fanfare because it's sound is simply a little too simple, generic & lightweight to raise too many alarm bells. I can't in good conscience score it any lower than three stars though as it certainly has its moments (such as thrasher "When..." which I quite like). It just feels a little flat & never really sees my heart-rate increasing which means that it was never going to amount to more than a blip on the radar of my metal journey.

For fans of Metallica, Nothing Sacred & Aggressa.

I’ve heard a lot of Neoclassical albums lead by “guy who is really good at guitar/keyboard.” And out of all of them, “Embrace the Galaxy”… falls somewhere in the middle.

This is an album with strong songwriting and performances. It’s not guilty of just having one instrument wizard who steals the show while the other members do the bare minimum. It SOUNDS like a fully capable band playing and constructing good songs. The vocalist is strong too, even if he sounds like his mouth is full of pizza most of the time.

The density is strong, with shimmering keyboard notes and spacey ambient pads adding layers of melody and ambience to the Metal instrumentation. The keyboardist Richard Andersson is smart in that he uses many different synth effects rather than sticking to one that becomes overdone by track 3. There are electronic synths, but also synthed strings, horns, harpsichord, and other sound effects. The core band sounds great, not unique, but not lacking in any way.

Why does this album fall in the middle then? Well, it’s got no real weaknesses, but it also doesn’t have any strengths separating it from contemporaries either. Of course the playing is phenomenal, but that goes for every Neoclassical Metal album (double for Progressive Neoclassical Metal like this). It doesn’t have any particular riffs, choruses or solos that blow my mind or get caught in my head. The composers are great at playing notes in key, but not great at playing notes that evoke feeling or emotion. Which is annoying, because in Richard Andersson’s previous band Majestic, ALL of those points were hit successfully. This has a space theme and sound, if that counts for anything, but aside from that it won’t break the ceiling beyond being more than another strong Neoclassical album.

Who in the metal world hasn't heard of Iron Maiden? They're known as one of the most influential bands in all of metal, having developed the NWOBHM movement and sold millions of copies around the world. Is it surprising that I haven't thought of listening to and reviewing an entire album by this band until recently? Sure seems like it, but I've rarely had the incentive to check out full albums from the more popular classic heavy metal bands. And now I'm ready to take on this offering by these British metal legends.

Like other famous metal bands that have existed for around half a century, the 80s was known as the band's pinnacle of fame and glory, then the 90s was when the quality dropped and gradually withered into forgettable oblivion. And the second half of the decade didn't even involve the widely-revered vocalist Bruce Dickinson whose temporary replacement was Blaze Bayley. Then when Mr. Dickinson came back to the band along with guitarist Adrian Smith, the result for this album is what's been hailed by many as a return to their earlier form of melodic anthems. So let's enter this Brave New World to see if I can agree...

The track that kickstarts the album "The Wicker Man" is basically their way of telling the listeners that they haven't lost their earlier talent. This is especially true in the chorus with its guitar melody and Dickinson's inspiring line of "Your time will come!" Next track "Ghost of the Navigator" is an easy one for new listeners to get into. It works for riding your horse through fields of sorrow. The bass and drums also help make that track a highlight that's hard for other bands to surpass. The title track is another reason why the wait for this album was worth it for earlier Maiden fans, a perfect way to exemplify their sound. The soft guitar soon rises to distorted melody, as Dickinson brings his vocal power up. The chorus is so catchy, especially with Steve Harris' audible bass. The band has given fans a proper welcome back with that one.

The sorrowful "Blood Brothers" practically tells a tale of heroism and tragedy. A great funeral song for any metalhead, to say farewell to a brother of the metal brotherhood. "The Mercenary" is a more rock-on track. Once again, the chorus is slower and sounds more inspiring, as Dickinson encourages you to "show them no fear". The centerpiece of the entire album is "Dream of Mirrors", the first of 3 epics circling 9 minutes. It is quite progressive as it starts off sounding like a dreamy ballad ("The dream is true"), before rising gradually in the instrumentation, complete with power chords, reaching its explosive climax in a second chorus to appear before repeating the first one ("I only dream in black and white"). So powerful and mind-blowing! The song becomes faster in the second half, and while it makes the chorus sound a bit odd, I wouldn't change anything about that magnificent epic. "The Fallen Angel" is a short highlight to help get your mind set before more of those epics to come.

"The Nomad" is the second of the 3 long epics. It starts off fine and mid-paced though it may be off-putting for the speedier fans, then it gradually becomes heavier and more progressive. The Middle-Eastern vibes and the midsection are what make that song sound so great. The rest of that track though, it's OK but doesn't reach the same height as the other epics. "Out of the Silent Planet" is the one track that I think doesn't belong here. The melody is just a little too draggy, and the epics are much better executed when it comes to that. Case in point, "The Thin Line Between Love & Hate" ends the album with some of the best melody here. Truly an underrated track!

So if "The Nomad" was trimmed to around 5 minutes in length instead of 9 and "Out of the Silent Planet" was cut entirely, Brave New World would've been perfect enough for me to listen to this band full-time. Nonetheless, the album is full of high-energy anthems that have made me understand how essential the band is. For many longtime fans, it is a comeback, but for the newer listeners such as myself, it's indeed a brave new world to explore....

Favorites: "Ghost of the Navigator", "Brave New World", "Dream of Mirrors", "The Fallen Angel", "The Thin Line Between Love & Hate"

Lost Horizon are quite universally beloved for emerging onto the Progressive Power Metal scene, dropping two masterpieces in the genre within two years, and then hanging up their gloves. More realistically, they’ve been inconsistently active, with sparse announcements but no actual releases since.

Just like their first album, “A Flame to the Ground Beneath” is more of their technical, dense, maximalist Progressive Power Metal, with influences of Heavy Metal and Symphonic Metal throughout. It’s hard to praise any singular aspect of the music, because the band pretty much excel in every area, from every single instrument played, to the vocals and melodies, to the songwriting, technique, etc…

And they manage to do all that without making the music sound soulless. Quite the opposite, as Ethereal Magnanimus has some of the most powerful and passionate vocals ever, and lays down some incredibly triumphant vocal lines. The music melodies never once stop evoking “epic” and carry with them an encouraging wind of spiritual power. This may be technical progressive music, but it’s also music that makes your very essence brim with power.

And then, of course, I was hit with the meme moment. I had no idea it was coming. Blows my mind to think I had heard Lost Horizon probably almost 2 decades ago, before I was even into Metal on some random Youtube Poop. That technically makes Lost horizon one of the first Metal bands I ever heard.

Unfortunately, this sophomore album suffers from the exact same issue as the debut. There are 9 tracks here… and 3 of them are interludes. “The Song of Earth” is nice, but the others are boring, useless, and way too long. That really detracts from the full album. I cannot fathom why bands do this…

I did also notice that the album wasn’t actually that fast for Power Metal. There aren’t any moments of Speed Metal-style pounding double bass or tremolo picking. For me, that’s a negative, because that’s one of my favorite things to hear.

As amazing and majestic as the album is, I do find it… overrated. I can completely understand the praise, and by and large, it is deserving of said honor. But me personally? Well… there are many, many Power Metal albums I would rather listen to than this one. Though that’s less of a knock against this album as it is a declaration of how much I adore Power Metal.

The Lord Weird Slough Feg – a band celebrated for bringing back good old-fashioned Traditional Heavy/US Power Metal. Even the vocals to this band are reminiscent of Mark “The Shark” of Manilla Road, and thematics are typically rooted in literature or mythology with a healthy dose of sci-fi. Essentially, very “nerdy” Metal. 

Slough Feg do not try to be very dark or evil, nor do they go for overblown theatrics. The music is not layered with synths or symphonics, nor is it pushing any technical limits or progressive boundaries. Nay, Slough Feg is just Metal. It’s just fun. And for many, this has been enough to earn them praise, especially in a time where Metal bands were doing everything they could to be heavier, more experimental, more maximalistic, or even gimmicky. Slough Feg was just Slough Feg (Or The Lord Weird, if you will).

Anyway, about Traveller. Traveller is a narrative-driven sci-fi concept album about a smuggler-esque alien dogman. I mean, it goes way deeper than that, every detail based on the game of the same name. What, you haven’t heard of it? “Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977”! For the 72 people who have heard of this game, the album is (probably) an absolute treasure trove of deep and nerdy references. We follow our (anti) hero as he seeks revenge for the gene-splicing mutilation he’s forced to undergo, leading to galactic wars, and… yeah, it’s a fun time.

The music to Traveller is, as I mentioned before, pretty standard US Power Metal. And this is where I think the band starts to be a bit overrated. Traveller is definitely their best album, no doubt about that – not only does it have the fun concept, but it’s packed with energy, showcasing the band’s best drumming for sure and interesting songwriting choices. That being said, there are a very large number of USPM bands out there who have a “best album” that I’d put above this. It’s a good cut of the genre, but nothing I’d put in the USPM hall of fame or anything. The playing is good here, but in terms of memorable guitar melodies or choruses etc, it falls a bit flat.

Still, a great album, if overrated a bit. More fun than anything. Definitely rewards those who pay attention to lyrics. The best part of the album is probably the fact that is closes on the best song the band ever wrote, “Addendum Galactus.” Man, I love a good closer.

A nearly 13-minute orchestral darkwave overture is not how I’d prefer to start my METAL album, but the more one listens to this album in full, the more it becomes apparent that this is just barely a Metal album at all. Most, though not all, of the songs have electric guitars, but they are mostly just a supporting instrument, playing simple chords and not even featuring very prominently in the mix. The drums are similarly simple and never a focal point.

What IS a focal point are the orchestral compositions and vocal performances. And they are… good, mostly. Good. But not great. The compositions on this album are closer in style to the classical era of music. And I don’t mean this as a drag against the great masters like Mozart and Beethoven, but the classical era is a lot of sticking notes together that are in the same key, harmonize well, and evoke absolutely nothing.

The last thing I want from a Gothic Symphonic Metal record is a lack of emotion. But that’s really what this is – a few overblown songs with lush compositions and a bunch of notes that sound good together, but don’t really evoke anything. I want Gothic music to be sadder, more melancholic. But this leans more into the operatic side of the genre. The songs and soundscapes are epic, but again, the guitars and drums are usually quite boring, which makes it difficult to enjoy as a Metal album.

What about as a Classical album? Maybe it works? I dunno. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but I like my classical music to focus on mood and atmosphere, to highlight melodies that evoke something within me. Just not feeling that with this album.

It’s lush, and there’s a lot going on. Even the quieter moments are layered with soundscapes and melodies. I appreciate the compositions. With better drums and guitars, I may have really liked this. But the album is held back by the simplicity of the METAL aspect of it, despite the deep layering and complexity of the Classical elements.

“If You Don't Like the Style/Genre, Don't Review It. The point of a review is to give critique of the material on the album, as it pertains within it's genre. If you aren't into the genre, don't fucking rate it.” – BadFist from RYM, for their review on The Blessed Hellride.

I can understand this mindset. If a review is for the reader’s value, then it makes sense the reviewer should be someone who is into the genre being reviewed, who is interested in it, who wants to see the best in it, and can pass their opinion down to similarly minded readers with similar taste.

But, I have a few counterparts.

1. I don’t write reviews for readers. I write them for myself, and share them because someone somewhere out there might enjoy them.

2. I am a reader as well, and I write exactly the kind of reviews I like to read.

3. I go into every album with good faith and interest, even among genres I don’t like.

4. Sometimes, the opinion of someone discussing music outside their preferred genres can be even more interesting to read than someone within the fanbase.

I say all that because I am the person BadFist is talking about. Why? Well, because I’ve heard all of Black Label Society’s previous albums and didn’t find any of them that incredible. And despite loving Metal with all my heart, Southern Metal is easily one of my least favorite genres in the tree so far. So, why am I reviewing this?

I truly believe every Metal subgenre has a shining star that I can really enjoy, somewhere out there. I didn’t love any pure Stoner Metal album until I found Terra Firma [Album444503]. I didn’t love any Drone Metal album until I found Coma Waering [Album560273]. And so I scour every album in the tree, from the roots to the leaves, always with an open mind, searching for something to love on every branch.

…But The Blessed Hellride is not that album. The Blessed Hellride sounds identical to the previous three Black Label Society albums. As such, it adds absolutely nothing to the Southern Metal formula despite weaving between Heavy, Groove, Stoner, and even Sludge at times. And so, I review this album to say – this isn’t the one. This is a painfully average Southern Metal album, and unless you froth at the mouth for “oooh yeeaah”s and chuggy, crunchy guitars, you will not find anything worth keeping around here. It’s certainly not a bad album, it’s fun enough if you like fun, and dark enough at times if you like dreariness, but the music is consistently sub-par.

Melbourne four-piece Fair Warning played a short but valuable role in the early Australian metal story, shining brightly in the underground during the middle of the 1980's before unceremoniously disappearing along with so many others in a local scene that suffered from being so isolated from the rest of the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly given their moniker, Fair Warning began life as a Van Halen cover band in 1983, mainly in order to showcase the talents of guitarist Simon Hosford. They'd become a regular on the local live circuit but would only go on to produce a couple of demos/promos & this short four-song E.P. before calling it quits in 1987.

The "Love to Rock 'n Roll" E.P. is a familiar yet generally enjoyable listen. Much like Tasmania's Tyrant who were also floating around at the time, Fair Warning's sound sits right in the middle between the classic Aussie hard rock sound & a more shreddy 80's heavy metal one. It's fairly well produced for the time with all of the band members proving themselves to be quite capable musicians. The opening title track is the clear highlight & sees the boys having a crack at the classic AC/DC stadium hard rock sound with front man Bob Topping (S.A.S.) doing a great Brian Johnson impression & bass player Harold (Tyrus) maintaining a lumbering mid-paced thump throughout. "Too Late for Love" seems to be a more metal attempt at David Lee Roth-era Van Halen while up-tempo burner "All's Quiet" is the most metal of the four songs on offer & reeks of Judas Priest. The fairly dull "Pass This Way" is the only disappointment as it doesn't quite pull off the AC/DC feel they were going for.

I didn't get around to checking out "Love to Rock 'n Roll" until early this decade but, while I'm not gonna claim that I'd been missing out to any major extent, it's definitely worth a listen & compares fairly well with some of the international heavy rock outfits that were applying their trade on a much grander scale at the time.

For fans of AC/DC, Van Halen & Judas Priest.

This is pure steel — the blueprint for European speed metal and a perfect fit for my lane. The tone is dry, the riffs are tight, and the energy is mechanical from start to finish. Udo’s vocal attack is razor‑sharp.  No warmth, no gloss — just precision, aggression, and structure. It’s one of my most important records for the cold‑drive heavy metal aesthetic.

Fast As A Shark *****

Demon's Night *****

Flash Rockin' Man *****

A cold, occult NWOBHM classic that fits my lane almost perfectly. The tone is dry, the riffs are sharp, and the atmosphere stays dark without drifting into warmth or gloss. It’s melodic in places, but the production keeps it raw and metallic. The record feels haunted and mechanical — exactly the kind of early heavy metal that shaped the cold‑drive aesthetic I look for. 

Angel Witch ****

Sorcerers ***** 

Gorgan *****

It’s one of the few live albums that actually feels like you’re standing in the crowd getting blasted in the face by the PA. Loud, messy, fast, and completely unfiltered. The band sounds half‑feral in the best way, Lemmy’s bass is basically a weapon, and the whole thing moves like a runaway truck. Not perfect, not polished, but absolutely alive — and that’s why it still hits.

It’s rough, loud, and totally unpolished, but that’s the whole point. The raw energy is there, the riffs hit hard enough, and a few tracks really pop — especially “(Gonna) Fill the World With Fire,” “Love Slave,” and “Wild White Horses.” It’s not a clean or consistent release, but it’s a cool snapshot of early heavy metal before anyone bothered smoothing the edges.

LOVEBITES are easy to underestimate at first. The polished white outfits and sleek presentation might suggest something lightweight, but the music is fast, aggressive and technically serious. Midori and Miyako deliver a sharp twin-guitar attack, Haruna drives everything with relentless drums, and Asami’s clean, high vocals give the band a dramatic power-metal edge. At their best, especially on songs like “Break the Wall,” they sound like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Helloween pushed through modern Japanese precision.

I would disagree with this opinion (Daniel) regarding AXATAK. This band, the only one standing out in the heavy-glam genre, best reflects the metal scene of 1981-86. This band is the only golden cousin of KISS, who were noticed for their original and classic rock playing (since 1984), as well as for their image; like KISS, they have numerous live concerts at Club Richmond and Ormand Hall. This author, Daniel, who spoke extremely negatively about AXATAK, apparently hasn't seen their live concerts, which (for the record) were recorded back in 1983, when AXATAK was still performing as KISS-CLONES. Most of the live concerts were recorded in 1984; for example, type in (Axatak - Club Richmond, concerts - 09.04.84, 05.03.84, 12.03.84 - three of my favorite concerts, which I've listened to many, many times). That's the first point. Now the second point - what album of (mythical) origin "SHOCK ROCK" from 1984 is Daniel talking about? There are so many myths and inventions circulating about this album that even one of the band members has personally written that such an album doesn't even exist. They have officially released "Sneak Attack" from 1984 and the original EP "Axatak" from 1985. Most of the tracks that unfortunately couldn't be included in the original albums, such tracks as - Demolution, Boys In Rockin Town, Get Me High, Lipstik And Leather, Living On A Stay, Now Are Watching In Your Name?, Slayer, Pandemonium, Half Bitch For Leather, Rockin Tonight, Hellraisers, Rock n Roll and covers of KISS tracks (Strutter, Duce) or the famous Queen song (We're Want Rock You) - all these tracks are PRESENTED in their Live-concert, which I mentioned, exactly in those three concerts (Axatak - Club Richmond, concerts - 09.04.84, 05.03.84, 12.03.84) and there can be no talk of any mythical album "SHOCK ROCK". So where is the evidence of its publication??? All Axatak Live-concerts are available on YouTube, type the name, listen and watch them. That's where you'll find most of the tracks unreleased on their albums. There's also a recently released live concert (Axatak Live In Melbourne 1985), which includes a couple more unreleased tracks (Instrumental, Destroyer, Darkness-Death). The author (Daniel) has little understanding of this band, comparing them not even to KISS fans, but to the worst versions of Mötley Crüe or even otherworldly, unrelated artists who are more aggressive than KISS themselves. AXATAK's sound is classic, veering toward classic heavy metal or heavy glam, with light but harsh (in the classical sense) rock undertones, but with a heavy glam attitude. Not a single little-known band, not even the Bengal Tigers, has as many live concerts as AXATAK. This band has been performing live concerts since 1983-1985. Listening to them is a pleasure. Now, a special mention of their EP "Axatak," which Daniel also more or less mentioned. He's not well-versed in Axatak's work and positions himself as a newcomer (an amateur, to his taste), but not a connoisseur of the band's genre. This is no longer an argument. Comparing them to bands that had no connection to Axatak (WASP, Boss, Bengal Tigers) and classifying connoisseurs and fans as those bands, not the founders of AXATAK, is the worst and most incorrect opinion about this band, as expressed by the author of a comment from July 16, 2026. This EP contains tracks (in my personal opinion) that introduce drive, a classic rock style, and lead to a reference to their fathers, KISS, but more metal than rock. The tracks "Shock Rock," "Let The Beast Run Wild," and "Live Out Your Dreams" are the best three tracks in their driving work (but I recommend exploring their work in more detail in their live concerts), which I referenced. As for the song "You" (from their EP), the author (Daniel) apparently didn't even look at the photos of their vinyl record and doesn't know that John Mallouch sang the vocals on this song PERSONALLY, without Andy Zouman. The lyrics on the vinyl record clearly indicate who sang on which song. As a connoisseur of their work, I can say that this band, across their entire discography, is suitable for both connoisseurs and fans of the metal scene and classic rock, capable of both charming and exciting, and you can have a pleasant time with them listening to their music.

Melbourne's Axatak are often referred to as a key player in the early Australian metal scene that was still just in its development stage during the early-to-mid 1980's. Their four-piece lineup got together some time between 1981 & 1983 before quickly becoming a mainstay of the local live scene. During their time together, Axatak produced one demo, one full-length release (i.e. 1984's "Shock Rock" which would appear to be a bootleg of some sort) & this five-song E.P. which I actually never explored until earlier this decade. Axatak wouldn't be around for too long though, disbanding in 1988 off the back of frontman Andy Zouman having become a born-again Christian & subsequently producing a film about the influence of Satan on rock music. 

Axatak are widely known for being heavily influenced by KISS. In fact, they started as a KISS cover band so it's no real surprise that their image involved makeup & theatricality. They could no doubt play a bit though, as can be seen from the performances on this E.P. which certainly has its moments. Guitarist's Pete Denero & John McCulloch know a thing or two about shreddy 1980's guitar solos & drummer Don Hailes keeps a tight rhythm throughout. The production job offers plenty of clarity but does tend to feel a little too separated with the high-end being a touch too prominent. It's the inconsistency of the song-writing that's the real issue here though as this is somewhat of a roller coaster ride in that regard. I quite like hard-rocking opener "Shock Rock" & the more metallic "Let the Beast Run Wild" (my personal favourite) but the remaining three songs all fail to hit the mark, particularly the God-awful power ballad "You" which reeks of Motley Crue at their worst. The vocals are patchy at times with the weakest points of the release generally matching up with the less successful vocal efforts.

Axatak's sound sits somewhere between the US glam metal that was booming at the time & the classic heavy metal that most of us know & love. You need to be a little patient if you go in searching for the metal side of that equation though as the first couple of tracks don't really present much in that respect with all of the genuine metal appearing during the middle & end of the release where you can expect to hear some aggressive bottom-string palm-muting & even a bit of tremolo-picking, reminding one of WASP more so than the band's idols KISS. I have to warn you that gang vocals are drawn upon quite regularly during the choruses which can be a deterrent for those with a weak stomach for the glammier side of Axatak's delivery, me included.

While this is certainly a better record than Kings Cross' dodgy "Gimme" E.P. from the previous year which traverses similar creative ground, I still wouldn't recommend "Axatak" as an early Australian metal release worth pursuing. It sounds more like a demo than it does a proper release as the songs deserve a glossier coat of paint, one which they likely would have received had the band resided in Los Angeles. I can easily understand how Axatak would have gone down really well in the Melbourne live scene of the time though as their sound & image would have translated very well to the stage. I'm just not terribly surprised that they didn't break out of the local live scene for wider success.

For fans of Bengal Tigers, Boss & WASP.

Masterplan was formed with the "masterplan" to shape up power metal in the new millennium. It was formed by Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch of Helloween after that band's 2000 album The Dark Ride. Originally a side-project, Masterplan became their main band after they were both fired from Helloween. Some of the members strengthening their sound including vocalist Jorn Lande and bassist Jan-Soren Eckert (formerly of Iron Savior). Albums like their 2003 self-titled debut have displayed their magnificent talent, and they still stand tall in the midst of various lineup changes. But now their lineup is stabilized for their new album, Metalmorphosis!

Roland Grapow and keyboardist Axel Mackenrott are the only two longtime members still in the band since the early 2000s. The new lineup is as greatly effective as the earlier ones. We have Jari Kainulainen (ex-Stratovarius) on bass and Kevin Kott on drums, a rhythm section that can really help out with the atmosphere and heaviness. The vocals of Rick Altzi are distinct and set him apart from Lande, having that gravelly range with more of a raw edge. And this is the same lineup who released that Helloween cover album PumpKings last decade, so this is the first time we have two albums from the band with the lineup intact. Grapow's production skills give the album's sound some punch, almost as much as their 2003 debut. This may even be a stylistic sequel to the debut too, and why is that? Read on...

The anthemic opener "Chase the Light begins the album just like how the debut starts, with cinematic keys and marching percussion leading into swift riffing and drumming. Flying through this heavy darkness is the massive vocals by Altzi and brilliant shredding by Grapow. Leveling up the pace a bit, "Electric Nights" sounds like it could've been a duet with a guest vocalist, and while it isn't, it's still enjoyable. The more beastly mid-tempo "Shadow Man" shows their more aggressive side. The keys and guitars are more diverse-sounding, though there could've been a little more impact there.

"Bound to Fall" makes up for that a bit with its heavy might, bound to level up the album's strength. There's even a bit of Middle-Eastern vibes in the groovy "Pain of Yesterday" which is pretty cool. The title track is absolutely crushing in the bass and drums, and the speedy guitar shows that Grapow still has some Helloween within him. The thrashy "Through the Storm" almost surpasses the previous track in terms of aggression and highlight status.

Catchy melody appears in "Ghostlight", which nicely throws back to the band's first two albums. We reach a home run in the 8-minute "The Call" which is more progressive than the band has gone before, all in perfect structure. However, the album doesn't end until one more marching banger "Rise Again", released as a single two years prior.

Metalmorphosis can indeed be considered a metamorphosis of everything Masterplan has done in not just the beginning but also the years that followed and the new stuff from present day. They still have the energy they've had since the initial Jorn Lande era, and Roland Grapow has maintained the ambitious diversity of his guitarwork. It's been well worth the wait fans have had since PumpKings. It's a near-perfect return to form for the band. I'm glad to have finally gotten into listening to Masterplan a year before this review, because now I can witness what longtime fans enjoy from the band in both their earlier and new material. Darkness and heaviness are what I like in power metal. If you haven't heard this album yet, you should. If you have but not yet their earlier material, you should. The masterplan is practically achieved!

Favorites: "Chase the Light", "Bound to Fall", "Metalmorphosis", "Through the Storm", "The Call"

First thing to note is that I didn't completely hate this. Yeah I know, no one was more surprised than me, but I was swept along by the obvious enthusiasm and energy of the band and kind of went along for the ride. The speedy riffs and shredding solos are pretty entertaining, the riffs to both "Scream for Me" and "Burden of Time" for example stood out as being much heavier than I would have expected. Vocalist Asami is a big plus, sounding both melodic and reasonably powerful, although I am not so keen when she reaches for those really high notes and becomes a bit screechingly ragged, although this seems to be a feature of power metal generally that I just can't get to grips with. It is power metal after all so, of course, it is larger than life and over-the-top with keyboard overlays and some layered backing vocals, but not in a terribly cringey manner, ultimately being more operatic than pantomime. I do think that the album runs out of steam after "Burden of Time" and tracks like "The Apocalypse", "Inspire" and the godawfully balladic "Edge of the World" (the album's nadir for me) sound more like the kind of power metal that I struggle with.

Look, in truth this isn't going to break into my top 500 (or even 1000) metal albums and I am unlikely ever to pass this way again, but while it lasted I found it entertaining enough and I got through the whole thing pretty easily without a single skip and remarkably few cringes. In fact, if it had ended with "Burden of Time" I would have thought even more highly of it. Damning with faint praise then? Yeah, probably, but for me and power metal this was an untypically positive experience with the guitars and vocals being sufficiently impressive to keep me on board and to allow me to forgive the album its other obvious excesses, not least of which is the ear-batteringly, over-compressed mastering that makes it feel like it is being rammed into your ears with a steamhammer - and not in a good way!

I originally became a part of the Australian metal scene as a fresh-faced teenager in the very early 1990’s. I’d been a fan of hard rock & metal for a good couple of years by that point & would religiously attend all of the international tours that were taking place at the time but it took me discovering legendary Sydney thrash metal establishment Mortal Sin in 1989 to realise that there was a local scene that could compete with the overseas acts I’d fallen in love with over the previous few years. But once I started to associate with older metalheads, I soon started to develop a list of mythical band names who had reportedly played strong roles in developing our beloved metal landscape here in the land down under. Amongst those names was a group that went by the very common metal moniker of Tyrant & who surprisingly hailed from the unlikely location of Tasmania i.e. the island state that’s positioned off the bottom south/east corner of Australia. I don’t think I ever got the opportunity to hear a Tyrant record at the time but I was always acutely aware that they were in some way important. It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve finally ventured back to check out Tyrant’s earliest work in the four-song “Never Too Loud” E.P. which was very successful on a local level & led to a string of important gigs across the country during the mid-1980’s.

Tyrant began life in the Tasmanian capital city of Hobart in March 1983, the project of the two Zarins brothers (guitarist Andy & drummer Robert) with their neighbour Neil “Steel” Wilson handling the vocals. They originally went by the much less cool name of Slyder & were more of an AOR act but the excitement of the NWOBHM & a very strong local pub rock scene soon saw them giving in to the lure of heavier sounds which triggered the requirement for a name change. Second guitarist Grant Wallace & bassist Paul Hassman would be added to the lineup & Tyrant quickly became a mainstay of the Hobart rock scene, leading to the recording of this debut four-song release in 1984, a record that would gain the band a fair bit of exposure across the southern part of Australia in particular & would ultimately lead to Tyrant relocating to Sydney to chase rock stardom in 1985.

“Never Too Loud” is a fairly basic release really. The four songs are all pretty traditional in both style & structure with the production job being a little rough & presenting the songs in more of a demo context than a glossy, commercially-accessible radio rock package. There’s not much information around on “Never Too Loud” but I’m gonna assume that it was a self-financed affair as that’s what it sounds like to my ears but the sound quality is still clear enough to give the song-writing the chance to dig its hooks in.

The early Tyrant sound has one foot in each of the two camps that inspired it i.e. the NWOBHM & the Oz rock scene. The song-writing is structured in your classic hard rock verse/chorus style with the rhythm section maintaining a controlled, thumping mid-paced rock rhythm while the dual guitar attack draws its influence from the flashier heavy metal scene that was arguably at its absolute peak following its successful infiltration into the American market over the previous year or two. This combination works really well for Tyrant too & it’s probably not terribly surprising that a sound like that was going to appeal to the Aussie market either given that it gave the boys a really crunchy heavy metal sound that would work brilliantly in a live setting but was still easily relatable for your average Australian.

The four songs included are all of a pretty reasonable quality, although they admittedly don’t break any new ground & are all structured in a very familiar way. You can easily hear the influence of Aussie pub legends AC/DC, Rose Tattoo & The Angels in the anthemic hard rock hooks with the major emphasis being on the catchy, uncomplicated chorus lines. The guitar work is much more metal than those acts usually attempted though, drawing inspiration from hard rock-inspired heavy metal acts like Saxon & Accept as well the the early-1980’s Judas Priest albums. Frontman Wilson generally seems to be regarded as the protagonist of the Tyrant sound, possessing a clean & easily intelligible tone that I find to be more serviceable & acceptable than I do charismatic & exhilarating. In fact, I think that Wilson’s vocal limitations place a cap on the heights that “Never Too Loud” had the potential to reach to be honest as the crunchy instrumentation is well executed & was very much in line with what was popular in the global scene at the time. I can see how Wilson might have been a different prospect in a live environment though as he can certainly hold a tune & the whole package seems to have been tailored specifically for live performance.

I enjoy all four of the songs included on the E.P. to varying degrees. It’s really only the highly memorable “Thunder & Steel” that possesses the class required to see me feeling like I may return to it in the future though. Opener “War of the Roses”, the title track & closer “Lambs to the Slaughter” all have their moments but Tyrant’s music is generally always going to live & die by the quality of the chorus hooks with the rest of the song-writing all being presented as the entrées to the chorus’ main courses. For a country that was as isolated from the rest of the world as Australia was at the time though, “Never Too Loud” served its purpose nicely & I can see why people may have gotten a little hot under the collar for this rough-&-ready, working-class heavy metal. I’m glad that I’ve given the E.P. a couple of revisits now too as it feels like a reasonably important release in the Aussie metal story to me, even if I don’t think it’s strong enough to warrant me returning to it again in the future.

For fans of Saxon, Accept & early-1980's Judas Priest.

Throughout the 90s, metal was declared a somewhat "dead" genre when it's plagued with what elitists consider talentless and lame. However, the genre never died. It's far from dead. There are many bands who have reached their breakthrough in the 90s yet don't get a lot of credit. Virgin Steele is one of those bands, with their late 90s material having picked up where the glory of classic metal died off when the 80s ended. The irony is how their 80s albums turned out somewhat shabby with not much commercial success, but if your favorite album of theirs is Age of Consent, you do you. I'll just have fun with their 3rd grand masterpiece in a row, The House of Atreus Act I!

The first act of a two-part saga, it consists of 22 tracks that are either interludes or moderate-length songs, with a couple 7-minute epics. Basically a similar format to Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle-Earth from the previous year. The sound is kinda like a blend of Blind Guardian and Manowar, though that song-interlude ratio may be hard for some people to sit through. The entire offering is like the soundtrack to a musical play/film, based on the trilogy of Greek tragedies, the Oresteia.

The prologue of the saga is the War of Troy, told entirely in the opening track "Kingdom of the Fearless (The Destruction of Troy)". Fast intensity and lyrics of war make this your friendly neighborhood power metal anthem. The 7 and a half minute length fits well with the long convoluted war. Fantastic start! The next track "Blaze of Victory (The Watchman's Song)" is a dark ballad that starts where the story really carries on, after the war. Agamemnon comes back home to his wife, and a watcher was hired to look out for Agamemnon's blaze of victory. Next up, "Through the Ring of Fire" is a more upbeat track in which Agamemnon is glad to be back home. It is followed by not one, not two, but 3 interludes; "Prelude in A Minor (The Voyage Home)", "Death Darkly Closed Their Eyes (The Messenger's Song)", and "In Triumph or Tragedy", all telling different moods surrounding Agamemnon's return. They all probably would've worked better as one track, but the album is too perfect for me to change anything. The following track "Return of the King" refers to, of course, Agamemnon. However, we get a glimpse of the sideplot where the queen is planning her revenge, and the elders, who have overheard her, warn the king. In the 6 and a half minute "Flames of the Black Star (The Arrows of Herakles)", Agamemnon reclaims his throne but is cursed by Klytemnestra.

Again we end up with 3 more interludes that could've been indexed as one track but weren't and that's still OK; "Narcissus", "And Hecate Smiled", and "A Song of Prophecy". The first and last of the interludes add to the dark mystery, although the second one is a short metal track that's more dependent on the story. Cassandra's prophecies are dismissed by Agamemnon who doesn't know his actual fate. In "Child of Desolation", Cassandra dies an innocent death, lamented in the form of a power ballad that this beautiful song is. The interlude "G Minor Invention (Descent into Death's Twilight Kingdom)" seals Cassandra's fate. Another interlude, "Day of Wrath" begins the planned assassination of Agamemnon. And so it commences in "Great Sword of Flame". The heavy speed of the song suits Agamemnon's final fight that he would ultimately lose.

"The Gift of Tantalos" and "Iphigenia in Hades" are two more interludes, telling the emotions of two different characters. The former is in the perspective of Agisthos with his happiness and rage, and the second is in the perspective of Agamemnon's wife Klytemnestra with her happiness and sadness. Very well described! "The Fire God" introduces another character, Agamemnon's daughter Electra, enraged with Agisthos and Klytemnestra. The vocals are some of the angriest David DeFeis sounds here. Anyway, Electra asks the Fire God to strike vengance against the two, which he suggests her young brother Orestes to do years after he is taken to Phocis for safety. "Garden of Lamentation" is a short ballad-like interlude with Electra's farewell to Orestes after taking him away from the kingdom, with help from the Elders who challenge Agisthos who is the new ruler. More of that part of the story is told in "Agony and Shame", a more complex progressive song. All that belonged to Agamemnon now belonged to Agisthos. "Gate of Kings" is the final full song here. Electra and Orestes have one final motivational conversation with one another. The task at hand that each person has will someday be completed, and there's still hope even with each other's distance. Such a hopeful power ballad! With that, they each part ways to fulfill their role in the quest to restore order to the kingdom, and the outro "Via Sacra" is the end credits theme, and an effective way of saying "To be continued..."

Whether or not you want to understand the story more while listening to this album, you can't deny the absolute high-quality music it contains. The music and lyrics tell the story really nail it. Any listener of any kind of music should check this masterpiece out along with their previous two albums. One of the greatest stories ever told in metal!

Favorites: "Kingdom of the Fearless (The Destruction of Troy)", "Through the Ring of Fire", "Flames of the Black Star (The Arrows of Herakles)", "Child of Desolation", "Great Sword of Flame", "The Fire God", "Agony and Shame", "Gate of Kings"

I can't tell which one's the best Virgin Steele album, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II or this one, Invictus. They both have flawless glory in their own right, but which should forever hold the throne? I'll guess we'll find as I review this stunning work of art...

With Invictus, Virgin Steele descend further into chaos, speed, and might. The vocals, guitars, bass, and drums are as glorious as in the previous album. The keys here are more mystical though, sounding so cinematic even when mixed with the guitars. They've taken the classic heavy metal of Manowar and cranked up the power metal aspects to 11 or higher. Invictus, despite its long length, has true consistency!

"The Blood of Vengeance" is a two-minute spoken intro narrating what happened before the story and what will happen during then. The title track slices through with its heavy riffing and David DeFeis' gravelly singing occasionally hitting falsetto. The soloing from the keys and guitars impresses me, and that chorus is so wicked ("Fall on your sword, fall on your knees, die like your son nailed to his tree"). One of the best songs by the band and 90s heavy/power metal! DeFeis' work shall be praised. Reminding you that this part of the journey through Heaven and Hell has only started, "Mind, Body, Spirit" continues it as another well-done track. Even though the chorus is great, everything else almost outshines it. The entire bridge including the solo is some of the best guitarwork to be found in this offering. "In the Arms of the Death God" follows as another short interlude. "Through Blood and Fire" jumps in with more of the mind-blowing keys and guitars, with a great chorus to go with it. "Sword of the Gods" is another epic 7 and a half minute track. The structure is simple yet complex, with some galloping riffing for the first minute and a half, reprised in the last minute and a half.

"God of Our Sorrows" is a sorrowful one-minute interlude, though I think it would've made more sense if it was embedded with the next one... "Vow of Honour" shows DeFeis attempting some operatic falsetto. Holy sh*t, how high can this dude sing!? Almost competing with other heavy/power metal vocalists! "Defiance" marks another epic highlight. The final chorus and outro covering the last minute and a half has the flawless glory I've expected in this album. They still stand defiant! "Dust from the Burning" just pulls off some straight-on rock, which is still good. It segues to a 22-second interlude, "Amaranth".

"A Whisper of Death" in a 9-minute epic that helps exemplify the epic heavy/power metal sound. And that's just the start of the final half-hour stretch of glorious songs. "Dominion Day" continues that streak. Sometimes it sounds ballad-esque, other times it's full-on crushing. Another one of the best songs here! "A Shadow of Fear" is darker than anything Virgin Steele made before this album. The vocals still shine as they often do. Then comes a brief 22-second reprise of the "Theme from 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'". And now, the grand finale, the 10-minute epic to end all epics, "Veni, Vidi, Vici". The title already hints at what the band has done. They came, saw, and conquered all their foes to become kings of epic storytelling metal. This shows Virgin Steele at their most legendary and concludes the saga exactly as it should.

Now back to the question I've asked in the beginning of this review: Is Invictus the best Virgin Steele album? Well I'm gonna place it at number 2, just a slight percent below Marriage Part II. You have to appreciate this masterpiece to appreciate true metal or even true music. This is epic power that barely any other band has conquered!

Favorites: "Invictus", "Mind, Body, Spirit", "Sword of the Gods", "Defiance", "A Whisper of Death", "Dominion Day", "A Shadow of Fear", "Veni, Vidi, Vici"

Virgin Steele's pinnacle era was the second half of the 90s, particularly 3 masterpieces to round it off big-time. Which one of the trio is the best? Perhaps their best album and one that I can once again consider one of the best 20th century heavy/power metal albums after this revisit, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II!

The golden era is only the second of 3 different eras of Virgin Steele, and it can beat the other two eras by far. Those other two being the classic heavy metal era of the 80s that ended with a strange turn into hard rock in Life Among the Ruins, and the more progressive yet divisive current era starting with Visions of Eden. The 1994-2000 era consists of 5 albums connected into two sagas, all deserving of 4.5 or 5 stars. Marriage II is the second part of a trilogy and might just be the highest point of their career.

Right from the start, they fire away with "Symphony of Steele", which after a one-minute keyboard symphonic intro, blasts off into their blend of the power metal of Helloween and the heavy metal of Manowar. A brilliant highlight "Crown of Glory" follows with mind-blowing energy and sorrow. That intro is filled with beauty and melancholy ("Bury me beside the endless sea, raise my ashes to wind"). "From Chaos to Creation" is more than just an interlude. It's a short blast of the epicness and heaviness to be expected as the album progresses. It leads to "Twilight of the Gods", continuing to blur the lines between Germanic and Greek mythology. Superb power metal there! "Rising Unchained" keeps up the earlier tracks' motive, with some of the best music and vocals in the album ("Don’t cry for mercy, for you know there will be none").

"Transfiguration" is a more ballad-ish track, which I guess can break up the fast heaviness for a bit. "Prometheus the Fallen One" is the first of two long epics, structured with intense wrath. The second epic and the most special track is the 10-minute "Emalaith". It starts off sounding like a power ballad then becomes more progressive and diverse. I'm not kidding when I say that Virgin Steele's own "Stairway to Heaven". After that, "Strawgirl" follows as another shorter ballad. Excellent guitar leads, but it sounds more like a cheesy ballad than anything. The lowest point of the album while not affecting its perfect score in any way.

"Devil/Angel" pretty much destroys all the soft cheesiness as a total speed demon. Clearly this band has listen to Judas Priest's Painkiller album! The riffing and chorus are so memorable. "Unholy Water" is the closest we have to their earlier 80s hard rock/metal sound, and it works well with the more serious lyrics. "Victory is Mine" is the greatest way out for this massive album, filled with victory and revolution. Well we still have the "Revisited" outro that is like the end credits theme for this album until the next one.

So yeah, I still love this Virgin Steele offering, even after that few-year break from it before revisiting. So gather around, people, and witness Heaven and Hell getting married, 'til death do them part!

Favorites: "Crown of Glory", "Twilight of the Gods", "Rising Unchained", "Prometheus the Fallen One", "Emalaith", "Devil/Angel", "Victory is Mine"

5 years before this second attempt at reviewing this album, when I was trying to restore my earlier melodic heavy/power metal taste, there are some bands I hadn't checked out yet until that point, such as Running Wild and Virgin Steele. Sometimes an attempt at bringing back something from the past ends up falling flat, and when that happened then, I've forgotten about those bands for a few years. But with my Guardians interest back and stronger than ever, it's time to revisit Running Wild's grand pinnacle!

Death or Glory still stands as one of my favorite 80s speedy heavy/power metal albums, with total synergy in the music and lyrics. This epic classic of an album is what helped the whole "pirate metal" idea catch on and be expanded further decades later by Alestorm and later Visions of Atlantis.

The album opens with what I still think is the best track here and one of my favorite songs of the 80s heavy/power metal sound, "Riding the Storm". It is an absolute diamond gem of a song. The mid-paced intro sounds like it could've influenced the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, then speeds up into a total early power metal storm. The vocals by Rolf Kasparek help shape things up especially in perhaps the best chorus of the album. The soloing and the bridge also rule. An epic start to a glorious masterpiece album! The brilliant strength doesn't end there as "Renegade" is worth following up from that track with more of its energy. There's even a spoken passage before some speedy melodic soloing. The next song "Evilution" is a little weak compared to the rest but still great enough that the album's 5-star rating isn't affected.

Fortunately we have another one of the best songs here in "Running Blood". It's more mid-paced as the dark "witch trials" are called out with the message being clear in the heavy chorus. "Highland Glory" is a great instrumental. In terms of metal instrumentals, it isn't one of the best tracks of the album but it is one of the best of heavy/power metal. "Marooned" has fast riffing melody that sounds so unique. The riffing sounds so melodic, and the drumming is fast but not thrashy fast, all helping separate power metal from speed metal. Also, cool gang vocals at the end. "Bad to the Bone" isn't as highlight-worthy as I once thought it was, yet it's still catchy, especially in the chorus.

"Tortuga Bay" keeps up the great riffing power and choruses. The title track is one of the best title tracks I've heard in 80s heavy/power metal. I absolutely love the soloing there! Then it leads to "The Battle of Waterloo", a nearly 8-minute closing epic, and it's obviously what it's written about. A bagpipe intro leads into battle-ready metal that gets more progressive beyond the first chorus. The CD edition contains a bonus track, "March On" which I don't think is as good as the rest here.

Death or Glory is one of the true best albums of early heavy/power metal. I recommend listening to it all the way through, specifically the 50-minute vinyl edition without that bonus track, the edition I've based my 5-star rating on. All those strong songs have sealed the band's identity as the OG heavy metal pirates. Listen on and sail on!

RIP Majk Moti

Favorites: "Riding the Storm", "Running Blood", "Marooned", "Death or Glory", "The Battle of Waterloo"

Kings Cross were another act that competed with the recently mentioned Surrender for the honour of having released the very first genuine metal release to come out of my birth city of Sydney. There's very little known about the timing of the two records though so I've had to take a guess as to which may have come earlier & have generally leant towards Surrender as their self-titled album was far more significant than Kings Cross' three-song effort. It was also miles more enjoyable too as the "Gimme" E.P. is a lacklustre affair that places all of its hopes & dreams on the back of brothers Darren "Jed" McCormack & Matt "Big Bird" McCormack whose virtuosic lead guitar skills are pretty incredible when compared with the overall package. They'd clearly been spending years kneeling at the altar of the late, great Randy Rhoads as there are some striking similarities in style. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save "Gimme" from the second-hand store racks though as two of the three songs are completely disposable (read: garbage) with closer "Love Machine" being one of the worst metal tunes I can remember hearing, thanks largely to the completely out of key vocal effort of front man Mark White.

Kings Cross began life as New England in 1983 before changing their name shortly afterwards. The "Gimme" E.P. would be their only metal release with their 1988 debut album "Psychedelic World" coming after they'd relocated to Los Angeles in search of international acclaim & seeing them dropping the metal component in favour of a more psychedelic glam/hard rock approach. Kings Cross were built around the three McCormack brothers who would later go on to form seminal Sydney thrash metal band Massive Appendage with Jed & Shawn also ending up in Fester Fanatics later on. The early Kings Cross sound sits right in the middle between the LA glam metal one that was so big at the time & a more muscular heavy metal one. They tended to sound closest to Skid Row due to White's similarities in tone with Skid Row's legendary Sebastian Bach in my opinion. Unfortunately, his skill set is not even close to being able to match Bach's though & his failings are the main detractor from me being able to enjoy this release. I do quite like the glammiest of the three tracks in the catchy "Back Street Theatre" but it's sadly not enough to balance out the dire nature of the song-writing on the other two inclusions so I can't in good conscience encourage any of you to actively seek out "Gimme" which should reside solely in the annuls of Australian metal history for all eternity.

For fans of Twisted Sister, Skid Row & Motley Crue.

Unexpected and completely unannounced, Myrath have landed in my world and made an almighty impact by way of this month’s Infinite feature release. On paper, there was a lot to alarm me with the tags of symphonic metal and progressive metal throwing up two of some of my least favoured sub-genres. However, the reality of the actual listening experience has proven far more empowering than I ever could have expected. Wilderness of Mirrors is catchy, hooky and as result incredibly memorable. The spontaneity that presented upon my first listen was just the catalyst to a consistently rewarding album that repeated listens through seem to only improve on that initial positive reception.

The symphonic elements are thankfully not huge orchestral movements, and nor are they washy keys that flood everything either. The Middle Eastern influences on show here are incorporated skilfully into varying tempos and rhythms. Accented vocals are not always done well (Orphaned Land come to mind here) but in the main the vocals here only add to the authenticity of the music. There is some clunkiness to them sometimes, like on the track ‘Until the End’ featuring Amaranthe’s Elize Ryd where there is the annoying extension of words to make them fit the music, or on the opening to ‘Les Enfants Du Soliel’ when the choral vocals get sung over by the band’s vocalist. Whilst they are isolated moments, they do linger on the mind for a while after.

Production wise, Wilderness of Mirrors is immaculately produced. It is to be expected though. Within a few minutes of album opener ‘The Funeral’ it becomes clear that anything less production values wise would be a travesty. This is an album that is wanting to soar from the off, taking little time to awaken that massive wingspan. I would have more stars for it if perhaps the record did not dip in quality towards the end. After my personal favourite track, ‘The Clown’ things do get a little samey for me. Even though the musicianship remains strong and exuberantly showy, there is a sense of the ideas tank starting to run on empty over the final four tracks. This has still been a revelation for my usually more extreme ear however and I must have played this album for around two weeks on a daily basis.

I must confess that at the time, back in the 1980s I gave Metal Church a wide berth, for no other reason than their name made me think they were a glam metal band and so were taboo as far as I was concerned. OK, yeah I know, but I have always been a bit of a dickhead, so more fool me. Even to this day this debut is the only album of theirs I have given much attention to. I have heard its follow up "The Dark" but it didn't make much imprssion on me so the self-titled remains my only real touchstone with the San Franciscan metallers. In addition to this I was never a very big fan of power metal, but since joining Metal Academy I have become converted to the joys of the US version which is less bombastic than its european counterpart and is much more to my liking.

"Metal Church" whilst often being touted as speed metal, or even thrash, is neither of those but rather a good example of USPM. Undoubtedly, when they put their feet on the gas, it is certainly pretty close to speed metal, the instrumental "Merciless Onslaught" for example, but overall the tempos are more varied and there is a bit more to it than the average Exciter album. The title track, (my personal favourite) whilst having a relentless riff, isn't an all-out blur of speed, but is a much more deliberate and considered medium-paced affair, meanwhile "Gods of Wrath" even has a balladic verse structure alongside a classic-sounding NWOBHM riff for the chorus.

Having formed in 1980, the band had been churning out demos prior to Metal Church and that experience served them well because I think they sound like a pretty tightly-knit unit here. Whilst the twin guitars of Kurdt Vanderhoof and Craig Wells are undoubtedly the star attraction, I think drummer Kirk Harrington deserves special mention for his performance which is pretty damn impressive and does a lot more than just keep time with his relentless and intricate drum patterns. Vocalist David Wayne has a tendency to become a bit screechy, but never to the point of annoyance, and he does inject some character with his voice. As I said earlier, though, it is those twin guitars that really dominate "Metal Church". Whether it is the charging of the rampaging riffs or the frantic shredding of the electrifying solos Vanderhoof and Wells impress with their energy and skill.

These were pretty exciting times to be a metalhead as the new wave of acts sweeping the metal world were stripping away the final vestiges of hard rock from their sound, pushing each other to be faster and more evil-sounding and with this debut Metal Church can hold their heads high with their contribution to the movement. In all honesty, though, I would have been perfectly happy without the "Highway Star" cover which feels like an unnecessary nod to the increasingly irrelevant old guard. By the way, is it just me, or is the title track a candidate for the "Influence or Coincidence, Inspiration or Plagiarism" thread because it sounds to me like Dave Mustaine ripped it off for the chorus of "Architecture of Aggression". It isn't like he was unaware of this album surely, they are contemporaries from the Bay Area and must have crossed paths in the 80s.

These occasional dips back into the heavy metal/traditional metal world seem to be a little easier on the ear than I have come to expect them to be, certainly over the past couple of months or so anyways. Another female-fronted outfit in the form of Tower follow hot on the heels of last months Serpent Rider feature release and they manage to land a bit more successfully it must be said. The spontaneity of Let There Be Dark is hard to not fall for. I recall the debut from this band back in 2021 and how it caused a minor ruckus amongst my online metal peers who celebrated it alongside many a favourable review also. I don’t recall anything particularly standout from the debut record and as such I have viewed Let There Be Dark on its own merits as a standalone record.

Tower give a good acquittal of themselves here, building a consistent and strong track listing that burns with the energy of Chastain without quite crossing into the speedier side of Sölicitör, but also espousing a health nod in the direction of Warlock along the way. The inclusion of two instrumentals feels a dubious choice in an otherwise well-constructed album, but when they focus their efforts into actual songs, Tower are at their very best I would say. Whilst the album may lack any genuinely stunning performances beyond the vocals of Sarabeth Linden, everything is played with competence with the caveat that some aspects (the drums) are a little staid overall.

It is hard for me to get too excited over such a regurgitated sound though. No matter how solidly it is played, this is nothing new to my ears and nostalgia alone is not enough to keep my scores higher than the mid-point for Let There Be Dark. Despite the unnecessary instrumentals, the album is succinct enough however, coming in at just under forty-minutes seems a sensible length to avoid boredom settling in for me and at no point do I scrabble for the skip button. For some, this record will be flying the heavy metal flag high, and I don’t dismiss that purpose. However, it is not one that I am as invested in as I was a few years ago and so it does sound to me like just another heavy metal record.

Ah, Motörhead. I can't tell you how heavily obsessed with this band I was in my secondary school days in the latter part of the 1970s. Lemmy, Eddie and Philthy were the absolute fucking peak of musical rebellion for me back then. Punks thought they were rebelling, but they were just glorified clothes horses. Nah, bikes, booze and speed as preached by this unholy threesome were where rejection of the system and true freedom really lay. Motörhead shows were special, they had a hardcore of fans who always showed up, particularly from the biker community and were a celebration for those who rejected and lived outside of the system. The band had been steadily growing their popularity with each release, but then, all of a sudden in '79 / '80, rock and metal became popular here in the UK and all manner of "normies" started taking notice. Pivotal in that metal explosion here was "Ace of Spades". It became popular here on a level that was unprecedented for UK metal bands (even Sabbath didn't really hit this level of popularity in the general populace). Shit, the 'Head were even there on Thursday night on Top of the Pops for fuck's sake. I was a naive kid and some part of my kid's mind felt betrayed by this sudden "sell out". Of course this was a great album, but my admiration of it was a bit grudging because, much as I loved it, I resented having to share something that had been so personal to me with all these newbies who had no history with the band. Stupid and naive, but my immature mind knew no better. Rather than revelling in the fact that my love of the band had been vindicated by so many others now discovering them, my connection now felt diluted.

So now, as an only marginally more mature-minded old man, what's my take on "Ace of Spades"? Well, I don't think its influence on the future of metal can be understated. Its influence on bands such as Venom is evident and therefore, by extension, on the whole extreme metal scene. It was certainly Motörhead's most truly metal album up to this point and is a long way from the material you would find on their earliest recordings such as the heavy rock 'n'roll of "On Parole". It is also one of the band's most consistent records with few real dips in quality, unlike a lot of their albums which always frustratingly seemed to have at least one "bum" track, think "Vibrator", Step Down" or "I'll Be Your Sister".

The tempo established by the iconic opening title track is maintained pretty consistently throughout the album with tracks like "Fire Fire", "We Are the Road Crew" and "The Hammer" while they shake it up with some variety of pacing as supplied by tracks like "Shoot To Win" and the brooding "Chase Is Better Than the Catch". And over all this booms Lemmy's unmistakeable, thundering basslines whilst Philthy lays into all around him like the "Animal" for which he is named, the duo combining into one of the most devastating and charismatic heavy metal rhythm sections of all times. From what I understand Eddie Clarke was already at this point becoming a little disillusioned with playing second fiddle to Lemmy, yet he was such a consummate professional that you would never guess it as this is probably his all-time best work and his riffs and solos are vibrant and energetic, playing the lightning to Lemmy and Phil's booming thunder. Sure, I will concede, sometimes Lemmy's less-than-serious lyrics can cause the odd grimace, but I think he wrote them with tongue firmly in cheek most of the time.

I don't know if they ever suspected that the title track would become the iconic track it did. I mean it is up there with songs like "Paranoid" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in terms of tracks that are so well known people actually become tired of hearing them over time. Whether they did or not, it is one of the best known British metal tracks ever. Hell, even my Elvis-loving mum could be caught singing it occasionally. To be fair she did once sweet-talk a bouncer into letting her in for the last half hour of one of the band's shows at our local fleapit when she came to pick me up. It blew her mind and she always loved Lemmy after that! I digress, but the material on "Ace of Spades" is so strong that even with such a titanic track opening the record, the remainder doesn't feel even remotely disappointing and a couple such as "We Are the Road Crew" and "The Hammer" are even better for my money. Ultimately the top and bottom of it is that this is one of the iconic albums of the UK metal scene alongside "Paranoid" and "Number of the Beast" and no matter what I or anyone else says that ain't changing any time soon.

On a more sombre note, I always use metal-archives as the resource for factual information about the albums I am reviewing and, rather poignantly, I thought, the full lineup page for "Ace of Spades" which includes producer Vic Maile, engineer Trevor Hallesey and even photographer Alan Ballard has R.I.P. next to each name. Fuckin' sad man.

I'm not going to get into the divisive nature of King Diamond's vocals here, I am sure I have addressed that issue elsewhere. Let's just accept for now that I actually do enjoy his idiosyncrasies and move on. The simple fact was, and remains, that Mercyful Fate wrote some absolute killer metal tracks. They gave Iron Maiden and Judas Priest-like melodic riffs a more evil bent with overtly occult lyrics, although still firmly in the literary or cinematic realm rather than the Anton LaVey serious satanism of later black metal bands. This, coupled with KD's histrionic vocals and early version of corpsepaint gave the impression that the Danes were pushing the envelope of sheer metalness ever further. MF were undoubtedly a major influence on the early exponents of extreme metal and the metal landscape may have ended up sounding quite a bit different without them.

I absolutely love the band's debut album, "Melissa" and it has several of not only my favourite Mercyful Fate tracks, but favourites of traditional heavy metal as a whole. Songs like "Evil", "Into the Coven" and "Satan's Fall" have riffs with the ability to get my head nodding and feet tapping whilst King Diamond's vocal hystrionics simultaneously set the hairs on the back of my neck on end. I think it is more than fair to say that there hadn't been anything quite like Mercyful Fate before. The band had a big task on their hands, then, to follow such an impactful record with one of similar quality that would cement their legacy as metal frontrunners. Ten months later they dropped "Don't Break the Oath" onto an expectant public and the rest, as they say, is history.

I think the first thing that hit me about "Don't Break the Oath" is that KD seems to have dialled back the vocal excesses and delivers a more controlled performance behind the mic. That doesn't mean that he took a conventional approach to his singing duties by any means and if you didn't like his vocals on the debut, then this is unlikely to change your mind as he still hits those theatrical falsettos fairly regularly, just not in as over-the-top a manner as on "Melissa". What about the riffs then? Well, DBtO is as jam-packed with riffs as a Snickers bar is with peanuts and every one registers pretty fucking high on Sonny's patented head-bangability scale. These riffs will be bouncing around your brain long after the record has ended, probably getting you very strange looks should you be using public transport at the time. On top of this Shermann and Denner's guitar work is exemplary with an energy and vitality that sounds genuinely thrilling whenever they let rip with those dynamic solos. The songwriting here also sounds more mature than on the debut, the tracks resolving themselves with a little more complexity than before. This ain't prog though and the memorable hooks are still there in vast numbers, they are just not the be all and end all on this album.

This is certainly a worthy follow-up to "Melissa" and is arguably a better record, even though the hooks on the debut are incredible, but there feels to be a bit more meat on the bones here which, when coupled with King's more restrained performance add up to one of the best traditional heavy metal records of the 1980s.

Riot kind of passed me by at the time, never penetrating my 1980s musical bubble and, frankly, this doesn't possess the energy or aggression that is likely to to draw much of my attention all these many decades later. To me this sounds like a product of its time with way too much hard rock catchiness for my comfort. I mean, come on, "Feel the Same" and "Don't Bring Me Down" are Aerosmith tracks surely. This feels like AOR metal to me, written with US FM radio play in mind and not to provide any aggression or adrenaline as that may negatively affect record sales. Basically this is SAFE and safe is not a word I want attached to my metal listening thank you very much. I guess you want a bit more from me but, frankly, I don't want to waste too much time on this because listening to it is like staring at a blank wall for thirty-seven minutes. It gives me nothing and I shall return that with nothing of my own. If this is what was passing for metal in the US back in the early 80s prior to the thrash boom then I can understand why Def Leppard became so big over there (and you were welcome to them).  I guess "Swords and Tequila" is kinda fun and "Run for Your Life" is passable, but the rest is anodyne and meaningless to me. 

I have only listened to a handful of albums from Running Wild, from various points in their career and with mixed results. Of those I have heard, for me, this stands head and shoulders over the rest. Their later "pirate metal" schtick doesn't really track and feels a bit too goofy to take seriously, whereas "Gates to Purgatory's" speed metal influenced, occult-themed trad metal is much more to my taste. They appear to have been initially influenced by the early-80s metal coming out of the UK, particularly Venom who, considering their influence here and on the likes of Sodom and Kreator, must have been huge in Germany around this time. They sound more technically adept and tighter than the Geordie trio for sure, but the influence is definitely there. Another obvious touchpoint for me is Tank with Rock 'n' Rolf's vocals sitting very firmly in the same ballpark as Algy Ward. However, with their more melodic sensibilities, twin guitar attack and proficient soloing, the additional influence of english heavyweights Iron Maiden and Judas Priest can't be understated either. In fact I suspect they are named for the Priest song of the same name from "Killing Machine" which seems to be exactly the kind of track that this album's foundations are built upon. For me this dichotomy makes for a nice balance that lends the hooky riffs and proficient guitar work a suitably raw edge that pushes it into the more aggressive regions of the speed metal world and away from the pomposity of power metal.

It isn't all headlong speed metal charging, though, with the pounding and hulking "Preacher" having more of a doomy riff and slower tempo, putting the brakes on and allowing a pause for breath after the opening dual salvo of "Victim of States Power" and "Black Demon" before diving right back into the even more adrenaline-fuelled headrush provided by "Soldiers of Hell" and "Diabolic Force". Meanwhile "Genghis Khan" does sound awfully Maiden-esque and I may be imagining it, but it feels a lot like the spiritual successor to the identically-titled instrumental from the Irons' "Killers" album. It is, however, one of the album's weaker tracks, sounding a little bit messy at times. I'm not convinced by the closer, "Prisoner of Our Time" either. I like the anthemic chorus and the soloing, but the verses just feel a bit flat in comparison.

So how does it stack up then? You know what, I am actually a bit pissed off that I never got wind of this album at the time of its release because tracks like "Diabolic Force" and "Adrian S.O.S." were exactly the kind of burnt rubber, fuel-injected riots that a bike-crazy, speed junkie like I was back then would have absolutely drooled over. A couple of misfires aside I really like this and I would certainly take it over the band's later stuff. Maybe I would be a bit more disparaging of it if I had a history with the band, but I don't so I unashamedly give this a thumbs up.

Saxon were on a roll in 1980. After a lacklustre debut album hadn't really gone anywhere the Yorkshiremen shed the more rock-oriented aspect of their sound and sharpened things up for its follow-up "Wheels of Steel". This, aided by the unlikely chart success of the lead single "747 (Strangers in the Night)", thrust them to the forefront of the burgeoning NWOBHM scene. Obviously surfing on a creative high and not wanting to lose any momentum "Strong Arm of the Law" hit the streets a mere five months after its predecessor and only a couple of weeks after their appearance at the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donnington, an event that was pivotal for the rock and metal fraternity here in England and which added extra impetus to the metal explosion taking place across the country.

"Wheels of Steel" was an album with some incredible peaks, "747..." and the title track in particular being NWOBHM classics, but taken as a whole I think "Strong Arm.." is the more consistent record with fewer dips in quality than its predecessor. Side One is a collection of four cracking staples of NWOBHM glory with riff after riff of headbanging magic, kicking off with the uptempo, fist-pumping anthem to metal fandom, "Heavy Metal Thunder" the band stick their sword in the ground and say, "on this we make our stand, who's with us?" Biff's nasal vocals soar over everything with his tales of life on the road that paint a picture of a band that genuinely love their fans and really get a kick out of bringing metal joy to a country that in those days was stuck in some very grey times. Saxon have always come over as a really genuine bunch of fellas who would probably still play even if no one came to see them and who don't need drugs because they get high on playing for their fans, as they say on the title track, and that integrity is yet one more reason to get on board with these plucky Yorkshiremen.

Side Two is bookended by two fantastic tracks in "20,000 Ft" and the Kennedy assassination-themed "Dallas 1 PM", and although "Hungry Years" is a decent, if somewhat basic track and "Sixth Form Girls", despite being a bit cringey lyric-wise, has a great main riff and an unpretentious solo, these two feel like a bit of a dip when sandwiched between two such monsters in the band's repertoire. "Dallas 1 PM" in particular sees the band stretching their wings with a little more ambition in the songwriting. The throbbing bass intro and opening bars of the riff remind me very much of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band's excellent "Faith Healer" and the solo that begins after the sample of the assassination commentary is one of my favourites from the band. This, when coupled with the striking subject matter, makes "Dallas" a bona fide NWOBHM classic and is a fantastic way to end the album on a high.

Saxon may not have had the publicity of some of the more notorious metal crews over the years and may even be seen by some as being a bit naff, but these guys were writers of great riffs, consummate entertainers and all-round good guys, which may have seen them overlooked by the more image-conscious metal fans, but the loss is their's, not Saxon's. I saw them play live many times in the early 80s and they were genuinely one of the brightest lights of the NWOBHM and deserve the respect of metalheads everywhere.

I did get into Scorpions a little bit around 1979, mainly because of their association with Michael Schenker who had completely transformed english hard rockers UFO, a band I was quite a fan of at the time, especially on their "Strangers in the Night" live album. I bought Scorpions' "Lovedrive" album and caught them on the subsequent tour but, in truth, I always considered them no more than second tier rockers. I don't remember listening to "Taken By Force" at that time, so my view on it is completely in hindsight.

What have we got here then? Well, I really think it is a stretch to label this as a metal record, it is hard rock pretty much through and through with "I've Got to Be Free" and "Your Light" even sounding like funky, psychedelic Jimi Hendrix tracks. The band can write some catchy melodies for sure and they are a reasonably tight unit, but that is pretty much all there is to them. The lyrics tend towards the corny, "Steamrock Fever" being particularly egregious, especially with the kids' backing chant of "Steamrock band, Steamrock band" - what the fuck, are you serious?! Also whilst I would concede that Klaus Meine does have a distinctive and instantly recognisable voice, his singing doesn't appeal to me all that much and I don't think he projects as much energy or emotion as, for example, a Ronnie James Dio with whom I have seen him compared in the past.

I would agree with the common consensus that side two opener "The Sails of Charon" is by far the best track, but even that feels like it has been truncated so as not to become too demanding on the listener. "He's A Woman - She's A Man" is a decent attempt to pump some adrenaline into proceeding, but to label it proto-thrash as some have is wishful thinking at best and delusional at worst. Then there are the awful ballads, with "Born to Touch Your Feelings" having me itching to press the skip button but, being the dedicated individual I am, I stuck it out and suffered for completions sake. But the truth is I hated this fucking song intensely and closing the album with it only leaves a lasting feeling of resentment towards the album as a whole.

There is no denying that Uli Roth is a talented guitarist and without his contributions I think this would hardly register a blip on most rock or metal fans' radars. His guitar work tranforms a track like "We'll Burn the Sky" into something far more interesting and energetic than it at first appears and he was responsible for writing "The Sails of Charon", so kudos to the guy for that at least. As I said earlier he also does a decent Hendrix impression, especially on "I've Got to Be Free" which, in the right context, I could quite enjoy, but I haven't come here to hear Jimi Hendrix, if I wanted to do that I would go to the man himself. I have never listened to Roth's solo material, so maybe I should as he is obviously the main talent in the Scorpions' camp.

Overall I would have to say this reinforces my view of Scorpions as second tier hard rock / proto-metal, several streets behind the likes of Priest, Motorhead and Thin Lizzy and they always feel to me like they had their eye on gaining radio play and the popularity that would entail. There next two or three albums were better but, for me, they will always be nothing more than a footnote in my musical world.

The amount of female-fronted bands in metal has grown over the years. And there are some bands who, after years of being all-male, add in one or two female members. I've been enjoying those kinds of bands lately. They're mostly symphonic metal though, and while I've had my on-off fondness for that genre, I felt up to exploring female-fronted bands of classic heavy metal. Seeing how well things turned out with listening to Benedictum, I shall have no problem with this band Tower...

Tower has released 3 albums and an EP. Vocalist Sarabeth Linden, guitarists James Danzo and Zak Penley, bassist Philippe Arman, and new drummer Keith Mikus have gathered together to perform their towering sound. Their 3rd album Let There Be Dark was recorded and produced by Arthur Rizk, with cover art made by Jared Fleming.

The album opens with "Under the Chapel", sounding punky in the guitars and drums, similar to NWOBHM. Sarabeth Linden's vocals can sound operatic while rocking out. The track also has a music video. Next up is the title track, with faster and more intense guitars and drums to mosh to. Sarabeth once again blows my mind with her singing. "Holy Water" has a creepy brief intro of a church sermon that then leads into another full-speed banger, having that US power metal vibe.

The incredible "And I Cry" begins sounding like a ballad, then they become more energetic in the second half and keep you hooked in no time. "The Well of Souls" is a short interlude. What follows is another hidden gem, "Book of the Hidden". And then one more half-minute interlude, "Legio X Fretensis".

You'll certainly be headbanging to "Iron Clad". Then "Don't You Say" is a slow yet brilliant track. The guitar duo sound so enthusiastic in the faster second half, and when they work together, they can prove their skills without problems. Sarabeth's vocal power shines the most in the impressive 6 and a half minute closing epic "The Hammer". The different melodies are so mesmerizing, and once it ends, you'll be begging for more.

So yeah, I enjoy Tower's contribution to the classic heavy metal revival. The different tempos work when placed right. The intense guitars and drums suit the unstoppable vocal force of Sarabeth and her talented greatness. The two interludes are a little disruptive, but every other track has given Tower a promising path in their career....

Favorites: "Let There Be Dark", "And I Cry", "Book of the Hidden", "Don't You Say", "The Hammer"

Ah, Manowar eh? If we are talking about the early years of metal then I suppose we have to talk about Manowar. Loud, crass, bouyed on by a giant, unshakeable ego and somewhat comical, Manowar were the Donald Trump of heavy metal and, as such, were equally divisive inspiring adoration and loathing in equal measure. Also, if you were a metalhead in the 80's, very much like the orange one today, you certainly couldn't avoid them. They were everywhere in the metal press because, let's face it, they were a music magazine's dream with their bold statements and distinctive (some may say cartoonish) visual aesthetic. I was initially interested in Manowar not because of any of this press hype, but because of the involvement of Ross the Boss, who had been a member of US punk / hard rock band The Dictators of whom I was a big fan and whose "Bloodbrothers" album I still spin occasionally. I actually didn't take the plunge with the band until "Hail To England" was released when I finally succumbed to the marketing and got myself a copy from my local rock and metal shop. To be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed and I certainly didn't feel it lived up to the hype and that LP has lived in the nether regions of my collection ever since, hardly ever seeing the light of day.

So, forty years on, it is time for a revisit and to see how it sits with me now, so much water having flown under that particular bridge. The thing that jumps out at me most about "Hail to England" is that it is more mid-tempo than the hi-octane riffing of the comtemporary USPM that it is usually associated with. There are few headlong charges, but rather a more hulking throb, emphasised by Joey DeMaio's basslines which, when coupled with Scott Columbus's uncomplicated, pounding drumming, provide most of the album's forward momentum. "Kill with Power" is the only track that comes close to hitting the turbo chargers, but even that wasn't going to leave the upcoming Slayers and Metallicas of the world in the dust. However, that is fine because that isn't the point here. In a metal world that was becoming obsessed with playing faster and faster with speed and thrash metal gaining in popularity daily, the title hints at Manowar's intention to pay homage to the early progenitors of metal such as Black Sabbath rather than the up and coming young bucks from their own side of the Atlantic. The opening brace of tracks, especially "Each Dawn I Die" even have a tribal-sounding rhythm track that feels almost like a native american raindance or some such ritualistic backdrop. Eric Adams is a pretty solid vocalist and he is quite adept at delivering some really cool vocal melodies, although some of his higher reaches do grind on my ears a bit.

I have to say that in revisiting this I may have been unduly harsh on Manowar in the past. Sure, I still think their whole "real men play on 10" and "death to false metal" schtick was cringeworthy, but listening to this now and with the distance of time putting all that PR bullshit to rest, this is actually a solid album of epic and melodic metal tunes that are as anthemic as they are simple, this uncomplicated infectiousness being the album's real heart and strength. I used to think that Manowar were just embarrassing metal cliches, a pantomime metal band, but truth is they were actually skilled at writing memorable metal tunes that crowds could belt out at full volume with the band at their live shows. In other words, Manowar were a band who were out to have a good time and to let their live crowds have a good time with them, presenting themselves with tongue firmly in cheek and playing with a determination to entertain. Sometimes that is enough and I stand here now, head bowed and admit I was probably wrong about them all along. "Black Arrows" is still a load of bollocks though and is the only real fly in the ointment here.

If I am going to listen to power metal, which I have started doing a bit more than I used to, then it is invariably the USPM version I turn to. I have come round to USPM rather late in life as I have spent an awful long time concentrating on extreme metal genres like doom and black metal, so I haven’t really got any contemporary history with the early USPM classics. The latter part of the eighties having saw me diving down the thrash metal rabbit hole and quickly abandoning traditional heavy metal styles almost completely. This is a great shame because there is a lot that appeals to me in any number of the earlier classics of the genre.

Standing tall amongst the formative USPM releases is Jag Panzer's debut full-length, “Ample Destruction”. It took the more uptempo riffs of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and, taking its cues from the energetic, fast-emerging thrash metal scene, cranked it all up to 11 and delivered an exuberant celebration of heavy metal thunder as a result. Any vestige of hard rock that had survived into the NWOBHM era had been well and truly exorcised by the Americans in this fresh new take on the traditional style, giving it a more epic, harder and just downright more metal edge as a result. The riffs come thick and fast and are generally memorable, fist-pumping bangers. When these riffs are then complemented by some electrifying and exhilarating solos and an effusive vocal performance by Harry Conklin, it is surely impossible for anyone with a true metal heart not to be stirred into headbanging ecstasy.

 Coming to this after decades of being immersed in the extreme metal scene feels kind of liberating in a life-affirming way with the rediscovery that metal doesn’t always have to be po-faced and depressing or just so damned intense, but can actually be joyful and celebratory too, with absolutely no loss of integrity. It may sound a bit hyperbolic, but I am finding albums like “Ample Destruction” to be revelatory, their sheer infectious effusiveness providing some degree of relief from the daily assaults on mental wellbeing that modern living entails.

You know what, I have never really been the biggest fan of these german heavy metallers. There, I said it. I know for an awful lot of worshippers at the altar of traditional heavy metal these guys are the dog's bollocks, but I have never managed to board that train. I never listened to them much in their 80s heyday, so I have no nostalgic attachment and over the last three decades or so I have been interested in the more extreme ends of the metal world, so any exposure to Accept has been only in passing.

So, has listening to "Restless and Wild" forty plus years after its release had any impact on my tinnitus-wracked ears? Well, kinda, but its impact is more of a ripple on a pond than a tsunami. I can't fail to register the infectious nature of the riffs and the anthemic choruses but, in all honesty, these sound just like a german Saxon to me and that style of metal only has a very limited appeal now and at least I have the benefit of a nostalgic attachment to the Yorkshiremen's early stuff. Added to that is the fact that I find Udo Dirkschneider's voice pretty annoying. Now I am not so picky when it comes to metal singers, enjoying King Diamond and even Cirith Ungol's Tim Baker, but there is something in Udo's screechy singing that is a bit like fingernails down a blackboard to me. In fact, I actually enjoy some of the later Accept albums without Udo more than these earlier ones.

Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann undoubtedly knows what he is about, his solos are concise and effective and he is obviously a master writer of memorable riffs, but it all sounds so safe and I never find anything here that ignites my passion or soul. It is just kind of there and even though I may occasionally find my toe-tapping or my head nodding it never feels even close to setting the hairs on the back of my neck on end, being more of a Pavlov's Dog kind of a reaction to a catchy riff than any kind of deep engagement with the art. Now, it isn't that I dislike this album, or the band as a whole, in fact I have respect for their contribution to 80s metal and the adulation they inspire in their fans, it is just that I am unable to share in it. If I had been more exposed to their early albums at the time of their release then I may well feel better disposed towards them but, as things have panned out, they are just a footnote in my metal listening history, a band I respect more than enjoy.

I apologise in advance dear Reader, if you feel that this review is excessively autobiographical, but it is kinda relevant to my long-term relationship with glam metal generally and W.A.S.P. specifically, so here we go anyway:

I really didn't get much out of glam metal at all in the 1980s, it's celebration of "life on the Strip" just held no meaning for my life in a dirty, industrial town in northern England. The likes of Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Saxon had far more resonance with my life trying to get by, having left home in 1981 whilst still a teenager and desperately trying to pay my rent or mortgage on a young factory worker's wage. But whilst the likes of Poison and Motley Crue meant absolutely fuck all to me and just pissed me off with their poser attitudes and aesthetics, there were a couple I had a bit more time for. The first was Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. I felt TS were actually a pisstake of the whole glam scene because, not wishing to be too cruel, they were uglier-looking m-fs and the makeup and shit just seemed like a parody to me. The second was Blackie Lawless who I had heard of when he briefly joined The New York Dolls. My first wife's little sister was a big glam metal fan and talked me into taking her to see W.A.S.P., probably around '85, and you know what, they were fuckin' good and, against my expectations, I really enjoyed the show and came away with a lot of respect for how expertly Blackie worked the crowd and how effortlessly charismatic a character he was.

I later picked up The Last Command after hearing a track on the obscure late-night metal video show I used to watch on TV on Friday Nights after coming in from the boozer, the name of which I can't recall. The main draw for me was Blackie's voice which, whilst having quite a high register, also has a ragged edge that gives it a savage roughness and makes it sound way more evil than the Vince Neils or Bret Michaels of the world. And that was my sum total of involvement with W.A.S.P. pretty much up until my time here with the Metal Academy, since when they keep popping into my view from time to time in the forums or on playlists. To be honest I can take 'em or leave 'em, but it is probably a sign of a bit of a shift in my taste lately that listening to this debut album for the first time in quite a while, it is obvious to me that I am enjoying it far more than my original 2.5 star rating would suggest I did back whenever.

One thing is certain from the outset and that is that W.A.S.P.'s debut has far more metal credentials than most of the other glam metal acts of the Eighties who, in the most part, were glorified rock acts for my money. This is certainly bona fide heavy metal we are listening to here, not some lipstick-smeared version of hard rock. Even the band's glam aesthetic seemed more Alice Cooper inspired shock horror than the poor, sleazy drag acts than many of the other glam metallers aspired to. The riffs drive the tracks and whilst there is little you haven't heard before here riff-wise, they are memorable and catchy and filled with an energy and drive that becomes infectious as they thunder from hook to hook. Over all this Blackie snarls and bellows his heart out with tales of schlock and whores (sorry I couldn't resist the pun) that would act as rage bait for Tipper Gore and the tight-assed PMRC, which will always get a thumbs-up from me. The guitar soloing is decent although, again, the solos aren't really unlike many you have heard before, but are well executed and transform a track like the balladic "Sleeping (In the Fire)" from being a bit of a downer into a far more positive experience, whilst adding the icing on the cake to a top-knotch track like "Tormentor". The pacing of the album is just about spot-on too, varying from the breakneck charge of tracks like "Hellion" or "The Torture Never Stops" (my favourite here) to the more considered mid-pacing of "Tormentor" and the aforementioned ballad-like reflection of "Sleeping (In the Fire)". It isn't all good news, however, as indicated by my mid-level rating, with side one petering out badly from a strong start with the brace of "B.A.D." and " School Daze" sounding like the more usual iteration of glam metal that I dislike so much. The cringe-inducing lyrics to "On Your Knees" also ruin a perfectly good riff-led track and are a turd in the swimming pool of the otherwise much stonger second side.

On reflection I have got to say that I am rather pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to this again and I feel I have a bit more of an understanding and respect for what Blackie and co. were doing here (probably alongside the letting go of some of my long-held musical prejudices). I am gonna call this one a win.

Thin Lizzy could sometimes be a great hard rock band and Phil Lynott was as much a lyrical poet for the common man as Bruce Springsteen across the pond. Good though most of their albums were, with some really anthemic songs in their repertoire, I don't think that their studio albums ever really captured their live energy suffciently. This is a viewpoint that I think is borne out by how much esteem people attach to the Live and Dangerous double live set. I managed to catch them on the Black Rose tour in 1979 and got to see that energy and vitality up close and was lucky enough to witness exactly how Lynott worked an audience and got them eating out of his hand. As the NWOBHM swept across the UK during the early '80s Phil and co started to develop a harder edge, both lyrically and musically with tracks like "Killer on the Loose" and "Angel of Death", which has even been covered by polish death metallers Vader, coming to the fore. Inevitably then, that they would react to the musical zeitgeist and issue an album that occasionally pushed their long-established hard rock sound over into heavy metal territory. Now let us not overstate things, Thunder and Lightning certainly isn't a "Piece of Mind", "Court in the Act" or even a "Holy Diver, it is still recognisably Thin Lizzy with more than one of its feet still in rock territory, but as the title track explodes from the speakers following a short, typically 80s synth intro, then it is obvious that the band have upped the ante on the aggressiveness of their attack. I think a significant event that contributed to this change was the replacement of the laid-back Snowy White with Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist John Sykes, a six-string slinger who had obviously grown up and paid his dues in the heart of the NWOBHM and whose harder-edged guitar style was much more suited to the younger metal audience than the bluesy, Clapton-esque White. Of course Sykes was only one half of the twin guitar attack with long-time member Scott Gorham still most definitely present. When Sykes lets rip though, even on a track like "The Holy War" then he makes it sound more metal than it actually is, so when applied to a more fundamentally metal track like "Cold Sweat" then the effect is multiplied tenfold.

I wonder exactly how much "Thunder and Lightning" can really be considered metal because, apart from those already mentioned, contemporary albums were "Kill 'Em All", "Show No Mercy" and "Melissa". Now is T&L even close to being as metal as any of those albums? No of course it isn't and the majority of the tracklist is still under the rock umbrella for my money, but Sykes' contribution and the songwriting of tracks like "Cold Sweat" and the title track hint at a more metal aspiration, probably just naturally absorbed from the audiences and support acts the band interacted with in the Brave New Metal World of the early 80s in the UK and Ireland.

So, considering this only as a Thin Lizzy album, irrespective of its metal credentials, how does it compare to past glories? Well, for me, Lizzy albums were always a little bit patchy, even classics like "Jailbreak" with Phil Lynott's excessive sentimentality sometimes getting the better of him and being reflected in the odd soppy track that really didn't do too much for me. I would say that this was a big improvement over the unremarkable "Renegade", but doesn't touch the likes of Jailbreak and Black Rose, at least as far as the songwriting goes, but it is certainly enlivened by Sykes guitar work which raises it a knotch or two in quality. Inevitably, because that is just how it was back then with legacy acts, the album also has that eighties' stadium production sound with accentuated percussion and synths that I find a little bit kitsch nowadays and which I generally struggle with (see Judas Priest's entire eighties' output for further examples) and which also drops it in position in Lizzy's overall discography for me. So once more a patchy release, but when it is good and the stars align, it is very good.

1997’s ‘Magic’ is the sixth studio album by German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell. Closely following the same formula as its predecessor, 1996’s ‘Black Moon Pyramid’, it’s a fine slab of European hard rock, similar in sound and style to artists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow and Journey.

Admittedly, this has been on my playlist for well over a year, and I’ve struggled to really think of what to say about it. I’m pretty sure this happened with the aforementioned predecessor too, because Rudi Pell albums can tend to be quite repetitive and follow the same formula. That’s not to say they’re bad though, as they are of a consistently high standard, just that some are more memorable than others.

It’s worth noting that this is the last release to feature American powerhouse vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, due to conflicting schedules and overall burnout. Perhaps this was a move that would ignite a new spark of inspiration for the band with their next release, because follow-up album, 1998’s ‘Oceans of Time’ is probably one of my favourite releases from the German guitarist.

Still, there’s some great tracks here, including ‘Playing With Fire’, ‘The Clown is Dead’, ‘Turned to Stone’, ‘Magic’, ‘Nightmare’ and closing track ‘The Eyes of the Lost’. Overall though, if you’re new to the music of Axel Rudi Pell, I think there are certainly better albums to check out, and if you’re already a fan, you’ll know exactly what to expect, and I don’t think ‘Magic’ disappoints.

Black Sabbath’s aptly titled ‘Vol. 4’ is the British metal pioneers’ fourth studio album, and once again, it’s another release that I struggle to really get into.

I don’t dislike Black Sabbath, I enjoy most genres of music and most bands, from any era. But for whatever reason, the stars just do not align because I just don’t “get” the first few Black Sabbath albums. I’m sure there’s a point, perhaps later in their career, where the band just clicks with me, but their first few records, often revered as metal masterpieces by fans, just do nothing for me.

It’s not all gloom and doom though (well, it kind of is!), as there are a couple of highlights. ‘Snowblind’ is a fantastic song, probably ranking up there as one of my Sabbath favourites, cheesy ballad ‘Changes’ has some great vocal and lyrics, and ‘St. Vitus Dance’ has some interesting guitar work. But overall, I find the rest of the tracks just seem to plod along, similarly to how I felt about their previous releases.

I’ve tried and tried, and have had this one on my playlist for a while, but it’s just not working for me. Perhaps I’ll have more luck with their next album…

Let’s just be honest here, does anyone actually go out of their way to listen to this album? The thing is, it’s not bad, it’s just, well… weird. ‘Time Requiem’, a progressive metal band specializing in lightning-fast flurries of notes in a neoclassical vein, is the product of keyboard mastermind Richard Andersson. They’d only released one studio album prior to this, so like… why produce a live album so early in their career?

It just seems unusual. I don’t know a lot about the band, but I would take a guess that, like other, similar groups, they probably don’t gig very often, if ever. And with a limited choice of songs, it just doesn’t really offer much for the listener to sink their teeth into.

For what it’s worth though, the performances are fantastic. Each member of the band plays with machine-like precision. The sound is very good, and the crowd seem quite receptive to the band, though my guess is that this isn’t typically a Time Requiem audience.

It could also just be that I’ve always preferred studio albums to their live counterparts. But overall, this isn’t a bad release, but I doubt I’ll ever listen to it again. I’ll just stick to the bands studio output instead.

Since forming in 1997, Elvenking has made their nearly 3-decade journey of blending the power metal of Blind Guardian and Helloween with the folk metal of Skyclad. They were one of my favorite bands of that sound when I was listening to a lot of those two genres at the time when this live album first came out. And revisiting them all those years later, the best live renditions of songs from their first 8 albums are all in here!

The Night of Nights consists of a special concert filled with different guests. Two hours of material from all their albums at the time in incredible live quality to please fans new and old. Released in December 2015, it was a spectacular early Christmas gift that has something for every Elvenking listener.

The folky intro "The Manifesto" starts it all. I was kinda hoping it would leading to that 13-minute epic "King of the Elves", but that doesn't happen. At least we really blast off with a classic in "Trows Kind", which I once thought was their own take on DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames". But that's nothing compared to the highlight that is another track from The Winter Wake, "The Wanderer". You can really rock out to the happiness and sorrow from the guitars and violins. It is one of those tracks that test out your enjoyment for this band. If you love that song, you'll love this band and the rest of this offering. Otherwise you're out of here. Everything has the right amount of cheese in this Gamma Ray-gone-Skyclad sound. "Runereader" from Red Silent Tides has the band's typical including and epic blend of metal sections and acoustic bridges. "Pagan Revolution" is fun banger of folky power metal worth many listens. The guitars, drums, and vocals are all energetic without ever relying on overproduction. This is probably my second-favorite track of Pagan Manifesto behind that 13-minute epic.

"She Lives at Dawn" is a short melancholic interlude from their acoustic/hard rock album Two Tragedy Poets. Nothing much is added here other than a nice break from all that metal fun. "Jigsaw Puzzle" is a wonderful surprise, originally in their only album without lead vocalist Damnagoras, Wyrd. Lots of Maiden-esque guitar and bass melody there. "Elvenlegions" is another short track that can still provide a lot from the band. Amazing as f***! "The Cabal" is quite catchy, and I can hear why that was released as a single. Another short atmospheric interlude "A Prayer to Cernunnos" is exclusive to this offering, basically just some eerie narration.

"Moonbeam Stone Circle" shows an increase of maturity in the band's sound, though it's still their usual folk/power metal. The melody/rhythm interplay stays strong as ever. Then comes a drum solo by Symohn with background electronic noise, aptly titled "Symohn's Bash". Quite a unique addition to the setlist! The amazing "From Blood to Stone" follows. Despite being pretty much all acoustic, I enjoy the non-electric riffing and the chorus I can almost sing along to, "Fall-ing, fall-ing!" One of the only tracks I love from Two Tragedy Poets, and one of the only acoustic folk tracks I love in general. We finally get a song from the band's classic debut Heathenreel, "Skywards". It also starts off sounding acoustic then rises into metal, even heading close to black metal. "Disillusion's Reel" allows you to take a breather as an ethereal acoustic ballad.

Then disc 1 ends, and disc 2 begins with "Elven Aftermath", an intermission track with samples of songs that weren't performed. The band comes back on with perhaps the centerpiece of this entire offering, the debut's epic "Seasonspeech". The original track included guest vocals from different vocalists, with each one representing one of the 4 seasons. Here the band stands by that aspect with two guests, female vocalists Chiara Tricarico and Whisperwind. In between the metal sections is a flute-infused acoustic bridge. And we can't forgot about the glorious ending climax. You want something from the Era album, you got it with "Through Wolf's Eyes", which is more folky while still metal. And how about the sole track chosen from the "controversial" The Scythe, "The Divided Heart". The riffing and soloing has certainly made that track a memorable one. "Neverending Nights" is another great epic! It dives deep into winter darkness, a little unlike their happier side of folky power metal. Very well done, those not as festive as "Seasonspeech". Some more headbanging power metal comes on in "The Winter Wake", which has more experimentation, particularly in the original version's guest vocals by Destruction vocalist Marcel Schmier. A solid way to end the concert, before the well-deserved encore...

As the encore approaches its start, an orchestral overture "Era Theme" plays. Then comes one more song from Era, "The Loser". This is the song that marked Symohn's entrance into the band, since Era was his first album with Elvenking. His drumming is out of this world, in perfect synergy with the folk and metal sides of the coin. No sh*t, just THE SH*T. He can do all this complex stuff at ease, and it just adds to the fantastic magic of this song. And the fact that they saved that song for the encore shows how much confidence he and the rest of the band have. There's one more track for the encore, but that doesn't come until after the flute/string intro "To Oak Woods Bestowed". You all know where this is going... The show ends with the one track that started their journey, and also the one that got me into listening to Elvenking, "Pagan Purity". The vocals and guitars shine for their last round, the latter assisted by two more guests, former members Jarpen and Gorlan.

The concert can be viewed on DVD or listened to in two CDs, and if you get the DVD, you also get some music videos they've made over the years and a teaser for Pagan Manifesto. The Night of Nights is a night for new and longtime Elvenking fans to remember, and you don't wanna miss out on getting your hands on this live gem!

Favorites (one or two tracks per album plus one new track): "The Wanderer", "Runereader", "Pagan Revolution", "Jigsaw Puzzle", "Elvenlegions", "Symohn's Bash", "From Blood to Stone", "Seasonspeech", "Through Wolf's Eyes", "The Divided Heart", "Neverending Nights", "The Loser", "Pagan Purity"

I think we can all agree in the Dark Moor fanbase that the Elisa C. Martin era is the best. The albums from that era certainly beat the ones with Alfred Romero on vocals, though I still like the new era too. Shadowland is a solid start, and The Gates of Oblivion is the fan favorite. For me personally, the highest peak in their production and classical-infused symphonic power metal sound has to be their second album, The Hall of the Olden Dreams!

The production quality is crystal clear compared to Shadowland, and the neoclassical guitar shredding has the right amount of flavor. Nothing sounds distant. And those vocals by Elisa C. Martin pack a punch in every song.

The intro "The Ceremony" starts the album sounding like it came fresh out of the Old School RuneScape soundtrack. There was a time when I was focusing on more modern and heavier genres and put those instrumentals down as cheesy and sh*tty. But now I can appreciate the classical majesty, just like in the good ol' days of over a decade before this review. Then we really blast off into "Somewhere in Dreams". When I first encountered that song all those years ago, it was love at first hearing. I knew I had to listen to the rest of the album and the band's material right away. It's one of my favorite Dark Moor songs to this day and I'll never get tired of it. "Maid of Orleans" is another popular song from Dark Moor's earlier era, following the 1990s/2000s E-flat-tuned power metal trend. Some of the best vocals by Elisa appear in "Bells of Notre Dame", especially in the verses. She can belt out her vocal melodies that perfectly align with the emotional conflict depicted in the lyrics. And those vocals fit well with the guitar rhythm too. If Disney decides to make a live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, they better include that song in the soundtrack.

Also showing their production improvement is "Silver Lake". The fast riffing and soloing makes the song another highlight in the album and possibly the band. As perfect as this album is, I admit that there's a bit of steam lost in "Mortal Sin". It's still great though. "The Sound of the Blade" has some nice variation as a softer ballad. Adding more variety on the heavier side is "Beyond the Fire" which I enjoy for its lean into Stratovarius-esque territory.

The one track that really threatens the album's perfection is "Quest for the Eternal Flame". The riffing by Enrik Garcia doesn't sound as majestic as the earlier tracks. At least Martin is holding the track up with her vocals, though the verses are losing their flow. The keyboard melodies sound a bit repetitive. And the chorus doesn't sound quite inspired or inspiring. Believe me, I was THIS close to giving this album 4.5 stars. Luckily, "Hand in Hand" saves the day as a fantastic closing track with its divine choruses, riffing, and soloing. I also love the Bach-sampled guitar/keyboard fiddling in the bridge (the same as in Children of Bodom's "The Nail").

I would also recommend the edition released in Korea that includes "The Fall of Melnibone", a 10-minute epic based on the Elric of Melnibone, though I don't enjoy the ballad "Wood's Song" as much. Either way, I highly recommend The Hall of the Olden Dreams for any fan of Dark Moor and power metal. This is where they truly leave their mark!

Favorites: "Somewhere in Dreams", "Bells of Notre Dame", "Silver Lake", "Beyond the Fire", "Hand in Hand", "The Fall of Melnibone" (bonus track)

A week after Green Carnation's new addition to their Dark Poem trilogy, Lord of the Lost have just released another part of their own trilogy, Opvs Noir Vol. 3. That's right, it's the final part of this trilogy of albums that showcase their blend of gothic/industrial/symphonic metal. This ambitious guest-filled saga is coming to an end, and while I still think it should've ended as strongly as Vol. 1, I'm quite satisfied...

Frontman Chris "The Lord" Harms, guitarists Pi "π" Stoffers and Benjamin "Benji" Mundigler, bassist Klaas "Class Grenayde" Helmecke, keyboardist Gerrit "Gared Dirge" Heinemann, and drummer Niklas Kahl are still going. Opvs Noir Vol. 3 is the band's 12th album, and closes this long great trilogy.

Starting things off in an eerie note is "Kill the Lights". Here the verses are kept to a minimalistic style that then leads to a cool chorus. "I'm a Diamond" features Alea der Bescheidene of Saltatio Mortis. Honestly, her vocals adds more melody to this track that's already one of the most melodic ones here. "My Funeral" blends symphonic majesty with heavy dissonance. I love it! Then they really go aggro in the lyrics in "I Hate People", feature the rough vocals of Wednesday 13, plus some catchy riffing.

"The Shadows Within" has an ethereal start before reaching the more intense chorus while staying accessible. "La Vie Est Hell" is based on Les Fleurs du Mal, complete with some French singing by Kissin' Dynamite vocalist Hannes Braun. It's filled with perfect melancholy, which is kinda what I'm looking for in a ballad. "Square One" is kind of an one. The sound is generally synthwave, though I guess it allows Chris Harms to guide his vocals through those dancey verses without having to go edgy. Xandria vocalist Ambre Vourvahis appears in "When Did the Love Break?", and once again, all the vocals match with the soft verses and mighty choruses. So beautiful!

"Your Love is Colder than Death" strikes with their heavy side hard, breaking the earlier lightness with its aggression. Cats in Space's Damien Edwards comes in for the mesmerizing "Take Me Far Away". They really hit it with their respective vocal power. "The Days of Our Lives" is the grand finale of the entire saga. Chris and Gerrit perform their respective roles, shining as the vocals and keys close the gates on a solemn note.

So it seems Lord of the Lost has dropped the experimentation of the first two parts to give things more grandeur in Part 3. It's not perfect, but it's a very solid way to end this trilogy, all in the instrumentation and vocals. Serene, heavy, they can do it all....

Favorites: "I'm a Diamond", "My Funeral", "La Vie Est Hell", "When Did the Love Break?", "Your Love is Colder than Death", "The Days of Our Lives"

Apparently the guilty as charged culprit of being the very first progressive metal album is the (as of now) sole album by Seattle band Culprit, Guilty as Charged. Unfortunately, that theory has been debunked. I'm not sure how this album got tagged as progressive metal, when the sound is really just heavy metal and an early example of US power metal. And while there are prog-metal elements in the ways of Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime 5 years later, it's not enough to consider it prog-metal gate-opener...

Mislabelings aside, this is some great-a** sh*t! This is true classic heavy metal from Seattle, years before Nirvana's grunge sound took the city by storm. Such a shame they only lasted one album, though they've recently reformed with a live album and compilation. And the energy they have is like what Riot were doing at that time.

The 6-minute title opener has some heaviness in the guitar while staying melodic, which adds to the ambition. The fast pace has great variation to keep listeners awake. It's pretty much a grand example of the sound from both the album and the band. Also showing their heavy metal sound is "Ice in the Back". F***ing killer vocals and lyrics there! "Hell is but a flame..." When Jeff L'Heureux sings his highs, I get chills down my back like the title would imply. "Steel to Blood" continues pushing the guitarwork forward.

"I Am" is another great track, though sounding a little too mainstream. "Ambush" levels up the memorability as the catchy chorus is in sync with the focused instrumentation. "Tears of Repentance" is an amazing highlight.

Slowing things down is "Same to You" which has the melodic emotion of UK bands. The slow intro transitions through a mighty scream into that US power metal gallop that would be then adopted by German bands. With those f***ing powerful vocals and guitar, it's practically a bridge between Riot's first 5 albums and Thundersteel. "Fight Back" instrumentally made me remember a YouTube musician I forgot about for a while, Edward Sitnikov. I prefer his material though. "Players" plays off as a decent ending track.

All in all, Guilty as Charged is a solid underrated album, and more people need to hear about this band. A 2000 re-release includes a few live bonus tracks from one of their one-off reunion shows during their 25-year split including a cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy". The leads and riffing throughout the songs make this a great offering. This was basically what people expected in heavy metal; lots of that 70s melody with a dash of the aggression hinted in later years or even later genres. What are you waiting for!? Wake up and smell the Culprit! The band Culprit's material, that is....

Favorites: "Guilty as Charged", "Ice in the Back", "Ambush", "Tears of Repentance", "Same to You"