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The story of Wintersun is a legendary one. After this stunning self-titled debut album, the founder of the band, Jari Mäenpää decided to make an album so epic and complex that it can be considered the "Chinese Democracy" of epic metal in terms of development. And while the first part Time I was released in 2012, it wasn't until this year (2024) that Time II is finally finished and will be released later this year (2024), plus a massive boxset that includes demos for a planned multi-album series. And it shall continue this diverse blend of the power metal of Rhapsody of Fire, the viking metal of Bathory, the melodeath of Children of Bodom, and the folk metal of Equilibrium!

As ambitious as this blend sounds, it doesn't have true originality. I still enjoy this, don't get me wrong, but as I grow older and my music taste matures, the spark from these kinds of bands is long gone from me, and it is a bit overwhelming hearing so many elements in one plate that I once enjoyed 10 years before this review. Despite the lack of coherence, there's still brilliant creativity. The epic narratives and melodeath rage work well in their respective places when they don't clash heavily into each other.

I like how the song lengths ascend from the shortest to the longest throughout the album, starting with the short yet heavily diverse "Beyond the Dark Sun". There's so much going on in just two and a half minutes in contrast to their longer songs lasting more than 5 minutes. The power metal riffing, neoclassical keyboards, epic narration, deathly vocals, and folky atmosphere are all in here! It's so catchy and will get you prepared for this solid journey that would end with a 10-minute epic. Next song "Winter Madness" once again pushes the boundaries of blackened melodeath that shouldn't be any problem with the heavier metalheads.

Taking a break from the aggression is "Sleeping Stars" which has slower beauty. Kicking off "Battle Against Time" is a two-minute blasting intro. The song itself is suitable for an epic winter battle. "Death and the Healing" shines with melancholic guitar melody in an epic ballad, once again showing a different side of the band as opposed to the fast fury of most of the previous songs.

Then we have the progressive multi-part "Starchild". Although I enjoyed this a lot when I was younger, it now suffers the same problem as Star One's "Starchild" epic; a bit annoying and pompous, and the song ends better than it began. Probably the weakest track here, but strong enough to maintain the 4-star rating for this album. "Beautiful Death" has the most of the black metal influences here. The journey finally reaches its climax in the exceptional "Sadness and Hate" with epic majesty in the music and lyrics. This solidifies the album following the perfect metal storm of beginning and ending with the best tracks. And there are more epics like this to come in subsequent albums...

All in all, there's so much ambitious creativity in this album, but this epicness I don't enjoy as much as I did when I was a young teen due to how overwhelming I find some passages nowadays. As catchy as some songs can be, they could've been better structured. I just hope the time spent on completing the Time series will all be worth it. I'm sure anyone who enjoys the epic power/melodeath/folk metal of Alestorm, Battlelore, and Eluveitie will dig this as much as I did in the past but much more than I do now....

Favorites: "Beyond the Dark Sun", "Battle Against Time", "Death and the Healing", "Sadness and Hate"

It's no mistake that Hatebreeder (not to be confused with metal/hardcore band Hatebreed) is considered a shining breakthrough for Children of Bodom. Their mighty blend of melodeath and power metal has been put together in place after the incoherent building blocks of their debut Something Wild. That's the kind of sound I enjoyed when I was younger and up to revisiting. The intensity and variation are arranged together for the classic sound of Bodom!

Some might say that the melody doesn't reach its full height until Follow the Reaper, and while that's true, Hatebreeder greatly displays the well-structured interplay of guitars and synths. The devastating drumming and distorted guitars are in almost perfect form for the album's uniqueness.

Sparks fly in rapid fire with "Warheart", a chaotic blast of an opening track that already solidifies where the band stand in the Finnish metal throne alongside Nightwish. "Silent Night, Bodom Night" has a riff that sounds almost like something from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, and the rest of the song is so distinctly unique. The title track is actually a bit restrained in the vocals and keyboards. Nonetheless, the keyboard ambience and soloing are what makes this sound so unique.

The guitars and keyboards perfectly duel with each other in "Bed of Razors". It's the most melodic song here to get you hooked from the keyboard intro to the catchy chorus, and even some cool surprises in the verses. The melodic instruments really take the spotlight, especially when the keyboard has orchestra-like ambience and killer soloing. Perhaps one of the most memorable songs here, and one I still remember for so long! "Towards Dead End" has an Eastern vibe in the guitars and keyboards, and towards the end, a stroll through an oriental garden turns into a magical battle during the soloing duel. I would've considered "Black Widow" perfect if not for the out-of-nowhere F-bomb.

Then we have the thrashy "Wrath Within", hinting at the band's later direction. The band's own theme "Children of Bodom", re-recorded from an earlier single, has some of the most exciting soloing from this album and band. The harpsichord leading the guitar melody might remind some of King Diamond before unleashing some more complex hooks. Anyone new to this kind of sound needs to concentrate well to hear all the different elements, so you can enjoy it all at its fullest. The melodic "Downfall" shall be appreciated as kick-starting the band's atmospheric side that they had displayed ever since. The deluxe edition comes with two covers, the first being "No Commands" by Stone, a band featuring later Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala. The cover of Iron Maiden's "Aces High" is quite fun, despite the vocals sounding unfitting.

Hatebreeder is a fun album to revisit in an attempt to bring back a bit of melodeath/power metal back into my taste. I can probably also do the same with Follow the Reaper sometime in the future. For now, let's appreciate this innovative addition to the melodeath realm from this band led by the late great Alexi Laiho! RIP

Favorites: "Warheart", "Silent Night, Bodom Night", "Bed of Razors", "Children of Bodom", "Downfall", "Aces High" (Iron Maiden cover)

I gotta say, this is one of the most melodic melodeath albums I've heard, and I still think so after not hearing this album for a few years. Fans of the band's earlier heavier melodeath might put it down, but this self-titled 3rd album is the transition between their heavier melodeath and the experimental alt-metal of their subsequent albums...

In other words, this album isn't one you can consider purely melodeath. It's a h*ll of a lot more than that! You can hear those deathly growls and screams, while a lot more clean singing has entered the picture. And with riffing that's much more melodic than dissonant, it marks the beginning of their alt-metal side. Though if you wish to hear just full-on melodeath, it covers a lot of the second half. By letting your mind open up a bit, you can find a f***-ton of greatness hidden in the shadows.

The first track "Queen of Blades" is a great start as it soars through the metal riffing and anthemic choruses. "The Great Pretender" can almost be consider death 'n' roll, but it sounds closer to me like one of the wackier PAIN tracks without any industrial tendencies. Next up, "Shattered Wings" is a smooth alt-metal song with a melodic solo.

"Reload" might remind some of that Metallica album Reload in the rock-on riffing, though the higher screaming and singing might say otherwise. Continuing the alt-metal direction is "Out of Our Minds" with technical guitar fiddling in the intro that then leads to a softer verse. It's a better and listenable song in the alt-metal side. "Deeper Down" once again takes things further into the alt-metal of Dir En Grey and Waltari, and to a lesser extent, Code Orange and Fear Factory de-industrialized. After that, we have "Revolution of Two", a true melodeath anthem that also includes a clean chorus and atmospheric bridge.

"Roadkill" is another killer rocker, though a bit tiring at this point. The two-minute "Pigf***er" has the most aggression here and the shortest length too. The earlier Avatar fans might dig the sh*t out of that one. The perfect melodeath finale is the 8-minute epic "Lullaby (Death All Over)". It is my favorite song in this album and a glorious conclusion to the band's earlier melodeath era.

So the music in Avatar's self-titled 3rd album marks the beginning of the end of their pure melodeath years. The album is quite great, though a few songs could have some kinks worked out here and there. As long as death metal doesn't fully plague your mind, this release is worth good listening and appreciation....

Favorites: "Queen of Blades", "Shattered Wings", "Out of Our Minds", "Revolution of Two", "Lullaby (Death All Over)"

Power metal has always been the ginger-haired stepchild of metal. It’s cheesy, and full of corny lyrics about mythical lands and beings going on wondrous adventures. Lame, right? But occasionally, a band comes along who does away with the speed-metal roots and wailing vocals of the genre, and releases something with a bit more depth and substance.

Enter Kamelot, with their fifth studio album, 2001’s ‘Karma’, the group have really hit their stride, with a refined sound and more polished song writing, this is where the band truly begin a streak of strong releases that establishes them as one of symphonic metals true champions.

Building upon what they’d started with 1999’s ‘The Forth Legacy’, ‘Karma’ has a very rich sound that gives the band an amazingly fantastical feel. Brimming with lavish orchestrations and exotic musical influences, Kamelot have slowly stepped away from the medieval themes of past albums and gone for a more varied, worldly sound, and it works well with their upbeat and energetic performances. Special mention must go to vocalist Roy Khan, who’s incredible voice works very well with the music and gives it a warm and wholesome sound.

With highlights such as ‘Forever’, ‘Across the Highlands’, ‘Wings of Despair’, all three parts of a trilogy entitled ‘Elizabeth’, and the beautifully emotional ‘Don’t You Cry’, it’s clear that here is a band who, after a few albums tweaking their sound, have finally found their identity and established a style befitting a band named after the home of the legendary King Arthur. Kamelot may not be for everyone’s tastes, but if you’re okay with a bit of fantasy and majesty in your music, then this is definitely worth checking out.

Who would have ever imagined when Fozzy released their debut album back in 2000, that they'd still be going strong in 2017? It's crazy, right? They're called "Fozzy", and the main attraction of the band is that they're fronted by professional wrestling legend Chris Jericho. But amazingly, not only have the band stood the test of time and persevered, but with 2017's 'Judas', their seventh studio release, they've continued to ride a wave of upwards momentum that shows no sign of slowing down.

Continuing where they left off with previous release 'Do You Wanna Start a War', 'Judas' is full of massive-sounding, stadium rock anthems. The band really started to find their niche when they strayed from their original, more metal-oriented sound, and focused on a more simplified rock-based style, which isn't lacking in huge, sing-along choruses and plenty of keyboard/electronic elements for an added touch.

Vocalist Chris Jericho (the greatest of all time, you stupid idiot!) has really come into his own, and his abilities as a singer, and especially as a performer, have really helped elevate Fozzy over the years. Even more so when backed by Rich Wards thunderous guitar riffs, which has one of the best tones in rock today! While the members of the band have certainly never been known for their virtuoso musical prowess, it's the more stripped down and simplified approach they've taken over the years that has accentuated their strengths as songwriters.

Standout songs include the title track (which has gone on to become one of Fozzy's biggest and highest-charting singles), 'Drinking With Jesus', 'Elevator', 'Three Days in Jail', and the incredibly catchy and infectious 'Burn Me Out', which perfectly encapsulates the essence of what Rich Ward jokingly referred to as "detuned dance music".

'Judas' is a fantastic album, and demonstrates a band who, like a fine wine, improve with age. The amazing thing is, Fozzy haven't even peaked yet.

Six years later, right?  Seems a bit long to wait for another Judas Priest album after they've had a SECOND comeback.  But maybe that length was taken for the band to really hone their skills again and try to improve.  If that's the case, they succeeded, because their new album is some purified metal with a nostalgic feel that also acts as a step forward from the overly-80's Firepower, being its own thing and having been seen as the next essential in the Priest catalog.

I was totally taken by surprise with those totally-synthed up Def Leppard drums and guitar sounds for the intro, which eventually becomes a flat-out power metal song on par with the works of Gamma Ray.  Halford's voice and the backing voices work together with a pure and shining harmony that to me is like a metal version of Simon and Garfunkel.  Halford's gotten a stronger hold on his voice, which can be clearly heard on this album, even while the production assaults you with a wild range of metal noises and effects.  Two songs in and this is already a huge improvement over Firepower.  Of course, by the time the title-track came along, I was afraid the album was going to be quite samey, which is something that Firepower largely avoided until the last third, as it was too long of an album not to fall victim to it.  Thankfully, the title track had levels of metal energy that rival the Arrange Edition of the F-Zero X soundtrack.

The entire first half was a bit samey with difference largely just going to the tempos, so whatever weirdness came from the intro wasn't going to be common.  Thankfully, side B starts with a ballad: Crown of Horns, so there change in pace is powerful without damaging the flow, as this song is quite a good ballad that shows that Halford still has vocal range.  And despite its ballad status, this doesn't stop the instrumentation from being thick and featuring a dense metal atmosphere.  Of course, the album goes right back into thrash territory immediately afterwards, but this is still good because nothing on Side A was as heavy lightning-speed-driven as the song As God as My Witness.  So I interpret this as the album doing two new things on Side B to compensate for a samey side A.  This sounds familiar: Hounds of Love? Trial By Fire even experiments with the rhythm some while teetering on the balance between heavy metal and metal ballad.  So By this point I'm fine with another song sounding like something from the first half.  The tunes take a little of a drop in rhythmic quality once they go back to the normality of the first half, but are still enjoyable.

Invincible Shield shows a noticeable improvement over Firepower and is a greater testament to what Judas Priest is capable of.  Through denser metal atmospheres and instrumentation, as well as a willingness to push even further than Painkiller, Invincible Shield overcome the 80's nostalgic vibe that could be interpreted as "being done before," and stands as a modern classic.

Judas Priest were lighter than what metal should be interpreted as for many of their early albums, and that all chanced with the surprise comeback album Painkiller, which perfected the metal tropes that the same band's earlier albums helped to influence.  They had steered into Metal Church and Metallica territory and reinvented themselves.  Unfortunately, nobody liked what came after that until almost 30 years later, when these 70-year-olds put out Firepower, their second comeback album.  Now Judas Priest are once again the talk of the metal world.  However, does this even come close to Painkiller?

As far as attacking the entire heavy metal genre goes, most of these songs are exercises in one or another typical stle of heavy metal.  The album dives into speed, power, thrash and even arena rock territory without ever fully crossing those borders, allowing Judas Priest to both stay true to their Painkiller sound while addressing the variety of the genre they influenced.  And boy, does this trope fest give you ALL the goods.  Each melody and riff is quite catchy and packed with energy that almost reaches Painkiller heights.  Right from the get-go, you know what your getting as its opening title track punches you in the face with its own energy.  And even though it's obvious that Halford's voice aged, he's still able to hold the metallic sound of it very well, perfectly fitting into Priest's style yet again.  And lyrically, the album's loaded with all the metal themes of the classic age: the warnings against Satanism and the horror stories that come from it, the machine guns blasting over the battlefield, comparing your sex appeal to weather like you're suddenly a Norse god, etc. etc.  And these lyrics are all pretty good and easy to sing along with.

So basically, you kind of have to say that this is the kind of album that's been done before, not only by Priest before but by other bands.  I occasionally even got a WASP feel.  The real clincher here is that none of these tropes are poorly delivered.  So the fact that these guys can stay this good after a series of failures between Painkiller and this shows that they're becoming more aware of what they must be, and it looks like the success stemming from their awareness carries on into Invincible Shield.  Firepower is one of the most spirited metal albums of the 2010's.  If you don't like heavy metal at all, you might find this generic.  If you do, you really should check this out.  If it was released around the time British Steel was, it would be one of their original classics.  On the other hand, you could say it bears a strong nostalgic touch thanks to its spirit, as is the justification for "pizza thrash,"  I mean, let's be honest.  Priest weren't quite this metallic and loud in the 80's, and this sounds just like an 80's album by another band that was heavier at the time, so the weird thing is that while this is a generic but good album, it's also an album that the band HASN'T DONE BEFORE. 

German heavy/power metal establishment Running Wild & I have certainly maintained a rocky relationship over the years. I've been aware of them for many decades now but only really explored them properly for the first time during my work on the Metal Academy podcast during the mid-2010's when I investigated their first couple of mid-80's albums, neither of which did much for me to be honest. Since that time I've given five of Running Wild's next six albums a chance to win me over with only 1991's "Blazon Stone" sixth album offering me anything of interest. 1990's "Wild Animal" E.P. earnt a few spins too but was probably the furthest from the mark so you're probably wondering what led me to going down the path of reviewing the only remaining release from Running Wild supposedly classic period then, aren't you? Well, I guess I'm just a busy-body essentially. I just need to know everything there is to know about metal & after getting some pleasure out of "Blazon Stone" I was left with a single unexplored gap where its follow-up sat so I thought to myself "What can it hurt?". Well, perhaps it can't "hurt" as such but, as I've found out, it can still be a fairly uninteresting experience in much the same way as the vast majority of Running Wild's other major releases have been for me.

Much like the albums either side of it, 1992's "Pile of Skulls" seventh full-length sees Running Wild tip-toing along the boundary line between heavy metal & power metal with an occasional foray into genuine speed metal territory. They don't sound all that much like your classic German power metal model though & are a little more in line with the US version of the genre as they lack the vocal histrionics & aren't as focused on cheesy pop melodies (even though there are some examples to be found here). Front man Rock 'n' Rolf's production job is very good & highlights some chunky (if quite simple) metal riffage from both himself & Axel Morgan (current Savage Circus & former X-Wild guitarist). As I've said many times in the past though, a lot of Running Wild's instrumentation is quite engaging but the limiting factor here is definitely Rolf's vocals which come across as weak & clearly don't serve this style of music anywhere near as well as your classic higher-register Teutonic power metal front man would have been capable of. Rolf simply fumbles his way through the tracklisting & fails to ever see me fully engaged, even during the stronger material.

The tracklisting on "Pile of Skulls" certainly has its moments. It begins with a pretty awful folk metal intro piece but then launches into a trio of the best tracks on the record & after just experiencing those I was feeling pretty good about the potential for "Pile of Skulls" to emulate the successes of "Blazon Stone". Things take a downward turn at that point though which correlates with the band putting their power metal queue back in the rack for a couple of songs & focusing more on traditional heavy metal ("Fistful of Dynamite") & even hard rock ("Roaring Thunder") for a bit. My interest is revived during the middle of the B side through a duo of decent heavy metal inclusions in "Lead or Gold" & "White Buffalo" but the fifteen minutes of power metal that closes out the tracklisting sees me once again struggling & the record tends to peter out a bit, particularly given that the final song "Treasure Island" is in excess of ten minutes & flaunts the band's cringe-worthy pirate themes more strongly than anything else on the album.

So, once again we have a hit-&-miss Running Wild album here. The stronger songs never reach a particularly solid standard, each one struggling to overcome the vocal deficiencies of the band's loyal protagonist, but the weaker tracks are never all that horrible either. It just comes down to engagement really & I simply can't say that I remain engaged for a little over half of the album's run time. Even the inclusion of a more than decent speed metal opener (i.e. "Whirlpool") wasn't enough to see me getting terribly excited so I guess that Running Wild still reside primarily in the unfortunate bracket of being none of my fucking business for the most part. Diehard fans of similar German bands like Grave Digger, Blazon Stone & Rage will no doubt disagree with me but that's what makes this wonderful metal scene so interesting now, isn't it? For me personally though, I think my ongoing experiments with Running Wild are finally over & I plan to move on with my life.

Washington-based guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman first came to my attention during the late 1980's when I stumbled across his Cacophony project with teenage prodigy & fellow shred master Jason Becker. Their 1987 debut album "Speed Metal Symphony" gave me a reasonable amount of pleasure, if mainly due to the ridiculously accomplished technique on display from both of the protagonists. I'd soon explore the duo's debut solo records with Becker's 1988 "Perpetual Burn" being significantly more interesting than Friedman's "Dragon's Kiss" from the same year. "Dragon's Kiss" is generally regarded as an essential release by guitar enthusiasts but I simply found its weaker tracks to overshadow the stronger material with his penchant for cheesy melodies having the final say on whether the album made the cut with me or not. Thankfully though, Friedman would join Megadeth soon afterwards & would go on to contribute to all five of their 1990's albums, the most notable being 1990's "Rust In Peace" which is still held up on a pedestal as one of the great thrash metal releases of all time in the present day. I also quite liked 1992's "Countdown to Extinction" & 1994's "Youthanasia" but in between those two commercially successful heavy metal records Marty would enter the Californian home studio of renowned Japanese new age music producer Kitaro to record his second solo album "Scenes" which would be released in November 1992. I'd forgiven Marty for the inadequacies of "Dragon's Kiss" by this stage, mainly because he absolutely blew my fucking face off with his performance on "Rust in Peace", so I picked up a copy of "Scenes" upon release, eager for more of Marty's exotic neoclassically-inspired stylings. What I got though was not what I was expecting at all because little did I know that Marty had been taken under Kitaro's wing & that "Scenes" would appear to be somewhat of a tribute to his master.

The metal credentials of "Scenes" aren't actually that straight forward because I'd suggest that the larger portion of the album is made up of genuine new age music of the Japanese variety. That's not necessarily a problem but the way it's been produced here sounds terribly dated & cheesy at times with cheap sounding synthesizers seemingly being the order of the day. Perhaps this shouldn't have been a surprise in retrospect given that the keyboards are performed by Kitaro's band mate Brian BecVar who has gone on to become known for his work with commercial pop artists like Celine Dion, Michael Bolton & Richard Marx. Friedman's clean guitar work appears to have been intentionally composed to reflect the whole Japanese theme & the way he uses string bends to accomplish this is really quite ingenius. His melodies are rarely dark or mysterious though. They're more often pleasant & uplifting which isn't usually my bag but I've made an honest attempt to overcome my preconceived notions here. The other significant component of the album is made up of heavy metal instrumentation with Megadeth drummer Nick Menza contributing the beats & most of the metal material is at least pretty decent. Hell, the short & brooding "Trance" is absolutely outstanding & I can't for the life of me understand why Marty wouldn't have elaborated on that idea any further as it's the clear highlight of the album for mine. Other strong inclusions include new age opener "Tibet" & "Realm of the Senses" which is very much a hybrid that explores both new age & Yngwie Malmsteen-ish neoclassical metal.

Look, there are actually more hits than misses on "Scenes" so it's not an absolute disaster. It's just that the weaker inclusions are bad enough to see them nullifying all of that good work which is a little disappointing to be honest. As I said, I'm not the biggest fan of "Dragon's Kiss" but I'd still probably take it over "Scenes" which doesn't say a lot for Marty's ability to produce a consistently compelling solo album. I mean, there's not even all that many moments where Marty shows off his dazzling technique here which would at least be something to grab onto for an old shred-head like me. Maybe I'm destined to never hear the great record that I'm sure Friendman has inside of him but you know what? I'm at peace with that.

Once again, I'm in yet another attempt in reviving the heavy/power metal interest I had 10 years ago with some new bands I've discovered, thanks to a new outside-world friend of mine. I finally get the appeal of bands like Grailknights, Beast in Black, and Powerwolf, along with this interesting melodic band from Sweden...

Tungsten was formed by ex-Hammerfall drummer Anders Johansson, together with his two sons, Nick and Karl, on bass and guitar, respectively. The only unrelated member is lead vocalist Mike Andersson. The band has a heavy/power metal sound similar to HammerFall, but with more symphonic/trance influences. One song they go the folk/pirate metal route of Alestorm, and another they test out the NDH/industrial metal of Rammstein. Still, their melody is essential, as heard in their new album Bliss!

Hitting the album hard to kickstart it is the industrial-infused stomper "In the Center". You don't often get to hear heavy/power metal blended with industrial metal, but it's an incredible addition to the band's sound. The melodic "Dreamers" takes on the more folk-ish side of the sound of sounds. Anyone with creative imagination knows the journey through a forest a warrior must take to find his true love. The Rammstein-fueled "March Along" then thunders in. Unlike the more melodic songs, that one's just a straight-on industrial metal march. Nonetheless, it's great hearing this diverse experimentation. Throwing back to Anders' earlier days in HammerFall, "Heart of Rust" has the mid-tempo heavy/power metal sound that band is known for. A bombastic blast from the past!

The swift mover "Come This Way" once again has the experimental heaviness of Rammstein gone Judas Priest. The heavy/melodic blend really stomps along. The folk/pirate metal in this album, I'm not kidding about, because of the next song "On the Sea", an Alestorm-esque anthem with a chorus worth singing along to. A definite highlight and the one song from this band my outside-world friend shared that made interested in checking out this album. The title track shows the band at its darkest and heaviest. It storms through loudly, only lightening up for another singalong chorus to get the live crowd engaged. The incredible power is maintained in "Wonderland", but this time with a different twist compared to the previous track. It's a nice catchy song to almost dance along to and exemplifies what to expect from melodic heavy/power metal. And if you think there would be any more industrial metal after this, these next few songs will prove you wrong...

"Afraid of Light" lets the variation of sound expand more as practically a Celtic jig. You would never be afraid of dancing to the addictive rhythm. "Eye of the Storm" has the majesty of heavy/power metal without any additional details. Lots of upbeat energy without ever resorting into anything different. The 6-minute final epic "Northern Lights" directs everything in the album's sound front and center. It starts with a mellow intro, then makes a slow heavy buildup, leading up to none other than a thunderous hymn. This anthem closes the final curtain with all they've achieved in the album.

All in all, Bliss is a diverse journey through Tungsten's spiced-up heavy/power metal style. If you ever wanna hear all the different styles of HammerFall, Alestorm, and Rammstein combined together, look no further. After you finish listening to this album, I guarantee you'll be up to hearing it all again!

Favorites: "In the Center", "Heart of Rust", "On the Sea", "Wonderland", "Eye of the Storm", "Northern Lights"

By 1992, Ben & I had been fans of Californian thrash metallers Testament for a good few years & were very familiar with their entire back catalogue. I found their trio of 1980's albums to be very solid thrash records indeed but, despite it still being reasonably enjoyable, I hadn't found 1990's "Souls of Black" to be quite as engaging. For that reason, I was a little cautious about racing out & buying Testament's "The Ritual" album upon release. There was an easy fix that would represent somewhat of an each-way bet for me though & I chose to act on it by purchasing the CD for Ben for his birthday & ripping it to cassette a good week before Ben had even received his present. What a great brother I am! By the time Ben received his present I was already well across "The Ritual" & didn't even try to hide it, the smug fucker that I was at the time (& arguably still are). Anyway... I'd suggest that my initial impressions of "The Ritual" kinda validated my cautiousness so let's spend a bit of time examining why.

The early 90's was a tough time to be a thrash metal band in the wake of the grunge & groove metal explosions. Where Testament's first four albums were predominantly thrash metal releases, "The Ritual" saw Testament taking a popular approach for thrashers in a post-"The Black Album" market by diluting their sound for greater accessibility, the result seeing the first half of the album sounding much more like Ozzy Osbourne or Metallica's infamous self-titled album than it does genuine thrash. Things get a little heavier across the B side but there's no question that this was Testament's least heavy record to the time. The other major talking point (at least for me personally) is Tony Platt's production job which leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. The most important component of any Testament release must surely be the guitars but here was see the riffs being smothered in the mix which sees them lacking the potency they deserve & this has clearly had a detrimental impact on the overall effectiveness of the album.

Thankfully, the song-writing isn't too bad with only the flat opener "Electric Crown" (seriously, why is this the most popular track on the album people?) & clunky thrasher "The Sermon" failing to see me entertained. As was the case with the last couple of Testament albums which both included a ballad, "The Ritual" actually presents us with two decent ones in the very solid title track (one of my album highlights) & the reasonably pleasant "Return to Serenity". The other album high points come from energetic heavy metal number "So Many Lies" (with its mind-blowingly superlative guitar solo) & the most thrashy number on the record in "Agony". There really isn't a classic metal tune to be found here though & I'd suggest that Chuck Billy's inability to stay in tune while attempting to sing over a more accessible sound doesn't help in that regard. He's always been overrated in my opinion & "The Ritual" is a pretty good example of why.

As with most Testament albums, there's an argument for listening to "The Ritual" purely for lead guitarist Alex Skolnick's stunning solos but there's probably enough interesting material to justify a few listens anyway. I can't say that I regard it as being an essential Testament release though. I'd suggest that I find it marginally more enjoyable than "Souls of Black" but there's not a lot in it to be honest. They're both merely acceptable more than they are impressive as far as I'm concerned but I can see "The Ritual" offering the most appeal to fans of post-2000 Megadeth, "Kin"-period Xentrix & the more accessible Death Angel albums like "Act III" & "The Art Of Dying".

What's up, dragon warriors?!? The power metal heroes of the new millennium are back after almost 5 years since their previous album! Well, I wouldn't say everybody would call this band heroes. Some might not like them as much as I and others do. They're basically my heroes because they're the first ever band to get me into metal, and they showed me what power metal should really be; fast tempos and technical soloing added to the genre's usual dose of epic and uplifting melody. The band have just reached album #9, Warp Speed Warriors, and they still have their creativity and speed within.

When lead vocalist Marc Hudson joined the band, some changes were made compared to the ZP Theart era. The songs are shorter and more restrained in length (except for an 11-minute epic), but they've added more adventurous diversity. Warp Speed Warriors sees the band exploring different territories as they did in Extreme Power Metal while not drastically diverting from their usual sound. So expect the usual speed, anthemic power, slight humor, and a cover song more powerful than its original.

The anthemic opener "Astro Warrior Anthem" has the band's signature speedy sound as intended. I'm talking about exhilarating speedy power metal with occasional glitchy video-game noises. Yet another grand album opener that does justice to the band's vision! Then we have the catchy "Power of the Triforce", paying tribute to The Legend of Zelda, mostly A Link to the Past. Having been released as a pre-release album single, longtime fans were considered thinking they were moving further away from their early glory. Nonetheless, it should definitely please the live crowd. "Kingdom of Steel", despite its power metal title, interestingly lightens things up as an 80s rock-inspired ballad.

Then we hit earth-shattering speed in "Burning Heart" with its blazing hammering fury, apart from a retro synthwave bridge. One of the most killer highlights here! Then "Space Marine Corp" takes you on a goofy fun Warhammer-inspired space adventure with gang vocals and a drill sergeant bridge. Also the first ever DragonForce song to have a swear word in the chorus?! Likely so! "Doomsday Party" is the first hint at this album, and a perfect catchy singalong single of disco-metal. LET'S F***ING GO!!!

"Prelude to Darkness" is an under one-minute interlude, which sounds cool but I'm not sure it was necessary to separate from the song it segues into. "The Killer Queen" is a killer (pun somewhat intended) standout of upbeat speed and melody like many other songs by the band. The final part of the non-CD edition, "Pixel Prison" is a true grand experience of every old and new thing the band has done, with some of the most adventurous ideas the band has had to date, all while guided through lyrics inspired by video games in general. EPIC!! The CD edition has a neat metalized cover of the Taylor Swift hit "Wildest Dreams". It still can't beat the previous album's Celine Dion cover though.

The deluxe edition comes with alternate editions of several tracks, the first 3 of which have guests; "Astro Warrior Anthem" featuring Matt Heafy (Trivium) singing the verses and Nita Strauss performing her own solos, "Burning Heart" featuring Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), and Doomsday Party" featuring Elize Ryd (Amaranthe). Talk about a powerhouse of metal guests! And they all perform their roles well. "Power of the Triforce" also appears in the bonus disc, albeit an instrumental version. That's too bad, I was hoping for some guest vocals for that song by Thomas Winkler (Angus McSix, ex-Gloryhammer) and/or Tommy Karevik (Kamelot, ex-Seventh Wonder). I also used to hope for the Beat Saber-exclusive "Power of the Saber Blade" as a bonus track too, but it sounds so similar to "Burning Heart" that it seems redundant and it's fine being left out.

DragonForce still have their strength in the diverse Warp Speed Warriors, but what will happen next? Will their setlist have great updates in their upcoming tour? Will session keyboardist Coen Janssen join DragonForce full-time at the cost of his time with Epica? And will their parody album plan happen? Only time will tell.... Hail the warriors!

Favorites: "Astro Warrior Anthem"*, "Burning Heart"*, "Doomsday Party"*, "The Killer Queen", "Pixel Prison"

*Including guest vocalist editions

Similarly with Moonspell, I was listening to a lot of Grand Magus until a couple years ago when I decided to have my hiatus from The Fallen (due to this band's first two albums that are stoner/doom metal). I'm glad to be able to revisit an album from those bands and bring back some good memories...

In saying that, it's probably just as well that I faded out from listening to Grand Magus. As interesting as the lyrics are, in some albums, they seem to lean into a more atheist pagan theme. I'm not saying they're as antichristian as black metal bands, but they might cause some religious discomfort. At least the sound is pretty cool, moving away from their old doom metal roots while having a moderately mid-tempo pace in the majority songs. And that wicked cover art reminds me a lot of Assassin's Creed.

The weakest track "Starlight Slaughter" just had to be the one to start an otherwise well-done album. There's nothing incredible around to stand out. "Sword of the Ocean" drives through with greater courage, especially in the soloing. The poor "Valhalla Rising" doesn't have much impact in the simple riffing. But at least it's not religiously edgy.

Then things really move forward in "Storm King", making up for the downward quality in two of the earlier tracks. It works so well as full force is applied to the clever verses and riffing. They strike hard in a strong pace. "Silver Moon" has great vocal passion. The title track has incredible riffing, reaching its best at the bridge. They're all filled with primal destruction perfect for a vikings vs. knights battle.

Then we come to the exceptional two-part epic "Son of the Last Breath". The first part "Nattfödd" (Night Born) is an ethereal acoustic section like a bard playing in the night, which I like more than Blind Guardian's "Bard Song". The second part "Vedergällning" (Retribution) rises into a climatic anthem that deems the epic a total highlight. After that is the fast and furious "Iron Hand", and that's where the band sounds the best, playing fast and heavy. What also makes it stand out is the soloing that I totally dig. "Draksådd" (Dragon Seed) closes the album with the same poor quality as how the album began, though since they're relaxing after all that heavy speed, I'll let it slide.

The Hunt is a pretty great album with many excellent tracks and only a couple week ones. Their music is nicely strong, heavy while not doomy. The lyrics aren't totally pagan that would've led them to be either viking-related or heathen. Everything's intense while at the same time pleasant. The band has achieved it all with killer songs, though the quality in a few others could've been much more improved....

Favorites: "Sword of the Ocean", "Storm King", "The Hunt", "Son of the Last Breath", "Iron Hand"

Judas Priest: what even left is there to say? The name alone strikes a sense of fear among the metal community. The albums titles are iconic: Sad Wings of Destiny, British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance, Painkiller. Some may be considered the greatest metal albums of all time. They are revered for their contributions to early heavy metal and continue even to this day, although to less of an influential status.

Last year I had the “privilege” of reviewing Metallica’s newest album, 72 Seasons, and I blasted it for being safe and uninspired, and spoke about the moment that Metallica “sold out” between the releases of St. Anger and Death Magnetic. Judas Priest should likely fall under the same scrutiny, considering the symphonic concept album, Nostradamus from 2008, felt conceptually similar to St. Anger. Since then, the band has released three studio albums (including this one) that are essentially return-to-form projects and were good. The issue is whether Judas Priest need to reinvent the wheel.

Well, when the formula is this precise and accurate, one can’t argue with the results. All things considered, Invincible Shield is an awesome piece of old school heavy metal that knows its history and is well indebted to the past, but also is not ashamed to make subtle changes to keep it from sounding derivative or uninspired. Granted, many of those subtle changes are surface level, as has been the case with many old-time heavy metal bands (i.e. Saxon), but the cleaner production does give a sound much closer to modern day progressive metal. I cannot say that I’m a huge fan of the production though. It doesn’t really fit the Judas Priest aesthetic and the lack of overabundant reverb that is present on previous albums, including Firepower, seems unnatural.

Invincible Shield understands the band performing it are from a time once past, and that does come through in the lyrical content. It isn’t much to dissect; lots of themes of religion and death, but the main theme of “Panic Attack” is bizarre. The phrase “disconnecting from the World Wide Web” during the bridge is quite the reminder that Rob Halford is in his seventies and likely views the world much differently than us thirty-somethings reviewing the music. Fortunately, it’s the only track like this and they get it out of the way right from the start, instead of awkwardly adding it to the middle of the record.

Like with a lot of legacy acts, to expect anything more than this will leave you dissatisfied. If you take Invincible Shield at face value, you’ll find a well crafted, well performed late-stage Judas Priest album. It’s a far cry from their best (hell I would say it isn’t even as good as Firepower), but I’m still amazed that they can release this type of quality after this much time.

Best Songs: Invincible Shield, Gates of Hell, As God is my Witness, Giants in the Sky

My gushing praise for JP’s last offering, Firepower was more than justified. With the obvious comparisons to Painkiller there wasn’t much to not like on that 2018 release. Fast-forward some six years and the band continue to defy all expectations with Invincible Shield, which seems a fitting album title when describing the longevity of one of Britain’s finest heavy metal exports. Album number twenty is a remarkable number to get to and the ability to still sound relevant in the metal world after such a long shift is nothing short of astonishing.

That is not say that Invincible Shield is flawless (far from it) and the less than savoury elements will be addressed in the coming paragraphs. However, just sat looking at the promo pictures of the band on Spotify, they may look like a group of pensioners (and one of their sons) on holiday but the energy and passion on this record belies those images entirely. That passion may not always translate into palpable heavy metal tunes, but it is easier to deduct points for form or structure when the heart and determination scores are so high.

Invincible Shield is too long (the same criticism levelled at Firepower). I find most albums that tip the one hour plus mark to be a drain and whilst I get that we may not know how many more albums there are from JP, it still should not mean everything makes the cut. Whilst overall it is a strong album, there is obvious filler here. This filler affliction particularly (predictably) affects the latter half of the album with the drop in quality from after the first five tracks is too obvious for even JP to carry it off. None of the tracks are out right terrible though, just not entirely necessary.

Going back to the positives, the musicianship is top notch across the album. The guitar work standing out as the obvious highlight for me. I cannot comment how much Glenn Tipton contributes to the album given his Parkinson’s condition, but he and Faulkner are still a superb combination. Halford’s voice continues to hold up well even though it is not necessarily at the same quality level of old. Only the drums and bass come off poorly in the mix (not that Hill has ever really had a huge presence on any JP album of old) with the drums sounding muted in the mix overall, notwithstanding that they do have to compete with two strong guitarists and a legendary vocalist of course.

With a trim on track numbers and a little more focus on quality over quantity, Invincible Shield would have been a better album. If I am honest though, it still stands up as is and I cannot say that I am not entertained by the end-to-end experience. Whilst not perfect, the album does no harm to the legacy of JP. I would not like to think how many more years we have from Halford and co and my only hope is that they do not become a parody of themselves at any point. Based on this album that appears to be a minimal risk, however.

I just wrote a full review of this album & then accidently deleted it so I'm not gonna go through the lengthy process again. Let's just say that "Fire & Ice" is an underrated release that saw Yngwie returning to some level of form after 1990's disappointing "Eclipse" album. The clear highlights are the two wonderful neoclassical metal instrumentals "Perpetual" & "Leviathan" which manage to balance out the three or four duds amongst the fourteen song tracklisting very well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Yngwie well & truly puts competitors like Cacophony, Jason Becker & Michael Angelo Batio back in their boxes with those because no one can touch him when he decides to get his dark & exotic leather pants on & these two tracks are the absolute peak of the niche genre for mine.

The album jumps around quite a bit stylistically which keeps you on your toes with hard rock, heavy metal, power metal & even glam metal, classical music & symphonic metal getting the odd airing. The semi-regular use of bridges that go full-throttle down a cheesy classical music hole is something I could do without but the more sporadic use of keyboard solos & the wonderfully capable vocals of Göran Edman (Madison/Time Requiem/Vinnie Vincent Invasion) certainly do no harm whatsoever. Was Yngwie simply repeating himself by this stage? Yeah, there's no doubt that he was but I'd actually take "Fire & Ice" over 1986's much more popular "Trilogy" album if I'm being honest so it's far from the misfire people seem to claim it to be these days. 

Not many bands can reach enjoyable perfection at just the second album, but Mercenary has done just that! Everblack knocked their debut First Breath off the throne, having switched from a thrashy melodeath band to melodeath with power metal influences. Giving the band that melodic boost is brothers Mikkel and Morten Sandager. Mikkel has some of the most skillful clean singing I've heard, and Morten is talented with his dark keyboard work.

As for the rest of the lineup, Kral can handle the bass well and perform death growls clear enough for you to hear the lyrics. Guitarist Jakob Mølbjerg has riff-tastic skills. One-time guitarist guitarist Signar Petersen shreds all the way with his soloing. And drummer Rasmus Jacobsen... Well, although he has the potential to crash and blast like any other aggressive drummer, he rarely does that. His more rock-ish technique is quite great but unfitting, subtracting a percentage point away from total perfection. Maybe it has something to do with his lack of commitment with the band that got him fired after this album and replaced by the more passion-powered Mike Park Nielsen.

The album starts with a short spooky intro to get anyone pumped, though it seems to consider the September 11 attacks the start of "World War III". Then it launches into the thrashy title track where you can hear the Sandager brothers' power metal-ish contributions for the first time. "Seize the Night" has a bit of hardcore groove which, combined with the usual melodeath, sounds like Shadows Fall at that time. The epic "Screaming from the Heavens" has the best of the album's sound.

"Dead.com" rocks out with some of the best melodeath that you can also find from bands like Kalmah, Dethklok, and Sylosis. Some of the greatest soloing can be found in "Darkspeed". Though it's not as dark as "Bloodrush". And even darker still is "A Darker Shade of Black".

Kral's growls and Mikkel's cleans shine the most together in "Bulletblues", especially in fantastic vocal duels. I also love its ending guitar solo. "Rescue Me" has melodic riffing that might've planted a seed for modern metalcore bands like August Burns Red and Demon Hunter. "Alliance" is one more thrash song before ending with a spooky outro. "Nothing's What It Seems" is a bonus epic that's quite awesome except when it abruptly cuts off at the end. That's fixed in the remastered version by fading out.

All in all, Everblack is an epic recommendation for open-minded metalheads like myself. It's actually not until their next album 11 Dreams, when the band is signed to Century Media, that they become more popular. Still, Everblack is the true start to the Mercenary we know, and any metal fan should get it for pure metal glory!

Favorites: "Everblack", "Screaming from the Heavens", "Dead.com", "Darkspeed", "Bulletblues", "Nothing's What It Seems" (remastered)

I am murder for not picking up a band’s discography in order.  Long after I had heard The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, The Headless Children and The Crimson Idol (not done in any chronological order), I finally got around to the bands debut offering.  In terms of the albums listed above, The Last Command got the most air-play in my bedroom as a teenager - indeed I owned it on vinyl if I recall correctly.  I was mad for two tracks off this record “The Widowmaker” with its menacing build and “Jack Action” with its thundering riffage but there was more to offer from The Last Command besides these two firm favourites of mine.

The album opens strongly with the anthem “Wild Child” which is one of those tracks that takes only a few minutes of listening to before it infects your brain with its catchy chorus.  It was obvious to my older ears upon revisiting this record recently that the song writing had picked up from the debut and there was less filler on the sophomore effort.  Even though tracks such as “Ballcrusher” and “Fistful of Diamonds” made no effort to separate themselves from the shock rock elements of the band, stronger efforts such as “Blind in Texas” and “Cries in the Night” as well as the title track showed maturity even if filler such as “Sex Drive” still populated parts of the record also.

With nostalgia playing a big part in my enjoyment of The Last Command it is a record that I have heard many times over and can easily play through in my head without needing to reach for the stream or even the CD option that I recall owning (somewhere) to actually play it through.  It is not perfect by any means but it is still an important record for me in my metal journey and one that gets a reluctant 3.5 stars since in reality it is closer to a 3.75 rating if such an option existed.

After the ridiculously ambitious albums 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' and 'A Night at the Opera', I think it's fair to say that Blind Guardian deserved a bit of a break, and so here we have 'A Twist in the Myth', a release that saw the band break away from the ten-minute songs brimming with multiple vocal harmonies and orchestrations, to instead, focus on more easily accessible compositions, that still maintain the bands signature sound.

Blind Guardian's trademark take on power and progressive metal is in full effect here, not being diminished by the more stripped-down and laid back approach. There's still plenty of guitar harmonies and epic vocal performances, and the evident folk influences gives this record a more upbeat and energetic feel than previous releases. It's a good starting point for those who are deterred by serious, Tolkien-inspired concept albums.

There's a couple of filler songs that prevent this from getting five stars, but otherwise it's an all-round solid effort. Songs like 'Another Stranger Me', 'Fly', 'Turn the Page', 'This Will Never End' and 'Straight Through the Mirror' are all great tracks that can easily go next to any of the bands bigger pieces without seeming out of place. However, ambitious, over-the-top epics is where Blind Guardian really flourish, and as it is, while 'A Twist in the Myth' is a great album, it'll never be their best.

Last year (as of this review), sometime after I made another attempt of cutting contact with power metal, I met a new outside-world friend of mine who is in a band and enjoys heavy/power metal. Thanks to him, I discovered some new power metal bands I haven't heard before like Beast in Black (though it was my brother recommending one of their songs to me that peaked my interest), Tungsten, and of course, Grailknights!

This band I would've loved to bits if I was in my stronger power metal phase 10 years ago, and this album would've been no exception. It's a pretty great album for those who wish to explore superhero-ish medieval fantasy in metal.

"Into the Abyss of the Grail" is a battle-ready intro with synthesized brass/orchestra not too far off from the RuneScape soundtrack. Then the first actual song "Pumping Iron Power" is filled with anthemic power metal. No matter how the cheesy the blend of 80s synths and metal instrumentation sounds, you'll be all pumped up and headbanging in no time. Guest vocalist Joakim Brodén of Sabaton provides his signature baritone vocals for perfect contrast with Sir Optimus Prime's tenor voice. "Cthulhu" sounds closer to classic heavy metal while continuing the one-two punch leveled up by heavy riffing and a catchy chorus worth singing along to. "Black Spider’s Web" emphasizes the guitars more than the keys. The heavy instrumentation all leads up to the breakdown where the knight battles that giant spider.

"Grailskull Asylum" continues that spooky horror vibe with its synth intro. The more extreme instrumentation and harsh black metal-ish vocals will certainly get fans of the band's earlier melodeath sound excited, while having the Helloween vibe in the lyrics and the more melodic parts. "March of the Skeletons" fits well for a fantasy-themed Halloween dance party. Clean and harsh vocals continue to blend well together, while the marching breakdown has great potential in a live show. "Shadow of the Mountain" is another heavy/power metal highlight, even sneaking in a powerful melodic scream! "Laser Raptor 3D" has catchy 80s laser synth fitting greatly with the metal heaviness.

"Ghost Town" travels further down the past to the 60s with Western-style guitar and drums galloping like a horse. Nice guitar soloing there! Next up, "Book of a Hero" is the closest thing we have to a ballad. Though it's more of an OK attempt at clean cinematic folk as the hero rides off into a perilous journey. The title finale rises from soft whispers into an epic headbanging assault of guitars and synths, with lyrics to sing along to all the way up to the final march.

I can't say I would ever love Grailknights as much as I would have 10 years ago, but this is a prime example of the fun side of power metal done right. I will have to thank my outside-world friend for his help in reviving part of my power metal interest, and he and I can have a good power metal time....

Favorites: "Pumping Iron Power", "Cthulhu", "Grailskull Asylum", "Shadow of the Mountain", "Knightfall"

I've been meaning to get around to Germany's Heavens Gate for some time now as they seem to have built up a pretty reasonable following over the years, particularly off the back of their 1991 sophomore album "Livin' In Hysteria" which is widely known as their finest work. I think the links to power metal & the God-awful cover artwork have put me off a bit but given my recent re-exploration of so many of my musical passions from the period I thought it might be as good a time as any to see what Heavens Gate are all about.

I didn't have any expectations going into my first listen as I hadn't done much prior research but my first impressions would tell me everything I needed to know with Heavens Gate sitting on the cheesier & more cliche-ridden end of metal. Heavens Gate's sound sits right at the mid-point between heavy metal & power metal with "Livin' In Hysteria" including a number of tracks from each genre without opting to blend the two all that often. "The Neverending Fire" is probably the only track that represents a hybrid of the two & is also one of the better tracks on the album. The inclusion of the progressive/neoclassical instrumental piece "Fredless" was most welcome while the other highlights strangely coming in the form of a couple of the cheesier & more chiche-filled heavy metal numbers in "Can't Stop Rockin'" & "Best Days Of My Life". I don't think it'll shock too many people to discover that none of the pure German power metal numbers appeal to me much but neither does the one-off speed metal track "Flashes". Front man Thomas Rettke's vocal histrionics can be grating at times but I feel that he's probably one the main drawcards for fans of the band so it really comes down to your musical preferences. I struggle with him a bit to be honest but he's not a deal breaker as such. The power metal material has clearly been influenced by Helloween which was never gonna be a positive thing for someone like me. I greatly prefer the Judas Priest-inspired heavy metal numbers, even when they take the "arena anthem" format that saw so many fans fall off the Priest train during the 1980's.

Overall, I'd suggest that "Livin' In Hysteria" will offer the most appeal to those with a penchant for bands like Scanner, Rage or Artch that play somewhat of an each-way bet between the heavy metal & power metal sounds but I can't say that it does much for me personally. Records like this one often baffle me as to why people would want to rate them so highly when they're so clearly a representation of the band's influences only not executed with the class of their idols. I guess I'll just have to accept that a record like "Livin' In Hysteria" is simply none of my business as I'm clearly not the target audience.

I finally got around the investigating highly regarded Russian heavy metallers Ария over the last twelve months with both their 1987 third album "На службе силы зла" & their 1989 fourth album "Игра с огнем" offering me a fair bit of enjoyment. With that in mind, I felt that I'd better complete the trio of the band's most celebrated albums with 1991's "Кровь за кровь" & it's once again proven to be worthy of my time. The production is quite raw but is effective nonetheless with the excellent vocals of Кипелов front man Valery Kipelov soaring over the top. The obvious Iron Maiden worship of the band's previous work is still as clear as day although there are very few who can claim to do it as well as Ария do so I'd be lying if I said that I didn't experience some warm feelings of nostalgia while listening to the Russian's take on what were some pivotal records for me as a teenager. The musicianship is excellent throughout, particularly the guitar work of Vladimir Kholstinin & Sergey Mavrin who both prove themselves to be quite accomplished musicians but it's Kipelov that is the clear focal point here with his tone reminding me a lot of Klaus Meine from Scorpions as usual.

"Кровь за кровь" is predominantly a heavy metal record & a particularly metal one it is too I have to say. There's just the one track that veers away towards hard rock in the excellent Dio-esque "Всё, что было". My other favourite moments can be found in the one-two punch of "Антихрист" & "Не хочешь, не верь мне", both of which are high on Maiden worship but are emphatic in their creative statements nonetheless. As usual, there are a couple of failures included too though with "Бесы" & particularly "Зомби" falling short of the mark but this doesn't ruin the party for "Кровь за кровь" as there's still more than enough quality on offer to keep my attention. In saying that, I do feel that "Кровь за кровь" is perhaps the weaker of the three classic Ария albums with its 1989 predecessor "Игра с огнем" being my pick of the bunch. There's not all that much between them in terms of quality or style though so if you enjoy one then you'll likely find enjoyment in the other two as well, particularly if you're a fan of the classic Iron Maiden/Judas Priest heavy metal sound or Kipelov's other band Кипелов.

This is the best version of Ihsahn I've heard in a long time. The old symphonic elements of Emperor have returned with a feverous intent and craft this new collection of songs into some remarkable ways. It feels like more than ever that Ihsahn is comfortable with his own voice and the occasional clean vocal passage is really well done. I've never had a problem with the number of guest vocalists that have appeared on these albums in the past, but something about this one just feels more complete. The record does an even better job than 2010's After of being a well crafted story and passing it on to the listener without too much down time or wasted space. The record can get a little derivative during the second half and its extended runtimes, but the quasi-black metal hits with grit and emotion. Not since After have I been so high on an Ihsahn album and quite comfortably fills a symphonic void that has been missing in Ihsahn's music since the final Emperor album.

Best Songs: THE PROMETHEAN SPARK, PILGRIMAGE TO OBLIVION, A TAST OF THE AMBROSIA, BLOOD TRAILS TO LOVE, AT THE HEART OF ALL THINGS BROKEN

I had a great deal of time for the 1990 self-titled debut album from Florida outfit Iced Earth after discovering them through a video compilation shortly after its release. The five-piece band more than made up for the vocal deficiencies of front man Gene Adam with a splendid blend of US power metal & thrash metal that ticked a great many of my metal boxes. Rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer's impeccable right-hand technique was of particular interest for the budding young axeslinger that I was at the time & I quickly committed to checking out Iced Earth's subsequent releases as well as their earlier "Enter the Realm" demo. 1991's "Night Of The Stormrider" sophomore album was a little bit different though with John Greely replacing Adam behind the microphone stand & Richey Secchiari filling Mike McGill's empty drum stool. The resulting recordings would see Iced Earth presenting just as strong a "Master of Puppets"-era thrash metal influence as "Iced Earth" did but the greater emphasis on creating an epic atmosphere through soaring melodic content saw the album sitting a little less comfortably next to your average thrash record & feeling much better suited to the power metal scene (both the US & the European ones). I have to admit that my struggles with power metal were very real at the time &, if anything, I'm actually a little more open the genre now so it's fair to say that I found "Night Of The Stormrider" to be pretty tough going which would see me distancing myself from Iced Earth until 1997's "Days of Purgatory" re-recording album would entice me into checking out what their early works might sound like with a more suitable production job & front man. Sadly, I wouldn't explore Iced Earth's more accomplished 1990's studio albums until 2014 when I was preparing to see them play live at Sydney's Manning Bar at which time I discovered that they had a lot more to offer than "Storm of the Nightrider" had delivered to me back in the day. Fast-forwarding to the modern day & it's been decades since my perceptions around the merits of Iced Earth's sophomore record were first developed. The unanimous praise that seems to be heaped on it have not gone unnoticed by me either so it's about time I gave the album a reassessment.

The first thing I noticed about "Night of the Stormrider" upon this revisit is the production job which isn't amazing to be fair. Jon Schaffer's rhythm guitar sound is a bit dry which I don't feel provides his skill sets with the best platform. The lack of bass guitar in the mix doesn't help either while the use of synthesizers is often a little over the top. Still... I found that I was able to get used to the sound over a few listens to the point where it definitely made less of an impact by my third spin. New front man Greely's vocals are like chalk & cheese with Gene Adams' delivery with Greely opting for a theatrical, operatic approach that reeks of power metal indulgence. I do really enjoy the moments where he pushes up into Rob Halford style falsetto territory though as he reminds me very much of Judas Priest's classic "Painkiller" album at times. Sanctuary/Nevermore front man Warrel Dane sometimes comes to mind too actually.

The stylistic approach of "Storm of the Nightrider" is very much what I remembered with the band keeping one foot in Iron Maiden/Judas Priest territory while galloping forwards with some of the most precise right-hand thrash riffage this side of James Hetfield with the other. Unlike the self-titled debut though, this record simply doesn't "feel" like thrash metal even though it's so clearly dominated by the consistent use of fast thrash guitar work. The added melodicism, consciously epic atmosphere & over the top vocal style are all at odds with the mentality of your average thrash band & I feel that the US power metal tag covers a wide enough area to encapsulate the sounds heard on this record.  The fluency of the song-writing is still a work in progress though as there are many examples of disparate parts simply being pasted together & the art of the segway would be an area that Iced Earth would get much better at by the end of the decade.

I have to admit that I've been a bit hard on Iced Earth in regard to the quality of the material though as there aren't really any genuinely weak tracks included so I do find myself enjoying the album as a whole these days. It certainly helps that the tracklisting kicks off with one of the best inclusions in the excellent "Angels Holocaust" with its symphonic flourishes & face-tearing vocals. The excellent "Pure Evil" is the other clear highlight in my opinion & is probably my favourite track on the record to be honest. The rest of the songs are all pretty good without ever pushing me to consider awarding my higher scores. All of the material sits at a very consistent level of quality but I'm not sure that I ever feel that I'm listening to a tier one metal band because "Night of the Stormrider" is just a little too consciously extravagant for my taste &, as a result, I hold a preference for the darker records either side of it. I can definitely see why it appeals to some people so much these days though, particularly those with a penchant for thrashy US power metal like Metal Church & early Nevermore or Jon Schaffer's side project Demons & Wizards.

The 1989 self-titled debut album from New Jersey's Skid Row came at a time when I was still very much at a crossroads between my hard rock roots & my complete defection to extreme metal. I'd literally only just discovered Metallica's "...And Justice For All" which had blown my world apart but, despite that major musical awakening, it's fair to say that I still had one foot tentatively planted in the hard rock of my father's music collection at the start of 1989. From memory, I think I even purchased "Skid Row" on CD & recall us both getting a lot of enjoyment out of it too but by the time Skid Row's sophomore record was released in 1991 my feet had been firmly planted in the death/black metal camp so it says a lot that I still felt the need to investigate "Slave To The Grind". The catalyst was the energy & general heaviness I found in the tracks I heard on the radio as they hinted at Skid Row having risen above their earlier hair metal approach to achieve a far chunkier & much less commercially focused sound & that was proven to be accurate from my initial experiences with the full album after receiving a dubbed cassette copy from a school mate.

"Slave To The Grind" seems to have been a clear attempt from Skid Row to be taken more seriously to me. There's little doubt that they'd matured as musicians & song-writers but the veering away from the cheesier end of hair metal would appear to be a conscious one. The production job & guitar tone alone fall much closer to genuine heavy metal territory than they do to anything designed primarily for commercial radio play. In saying that though, the overall direction isn't so different to their previous work that it would scare off any of their existing fanbase. I mean, there's still three hard rock ballads included here for example. It's just that they each offer enough in the way of creative substance to comfortably validate their inclusion on a more than respectable metal/rock record that contributes to "Slave to the Grind" being such a significant release. Hell, there's even a proggy feel on offer during a couple of those ballads at times with Bach sounding quite similar to Dream Theater front man James LaBrie which isn't something you can say about too many glam metal records. The sheer consistency of the tracklisting is another feather in the band's cap as there are no genuinely weak tracks to be found amongst the twelve on offer.

"Slave to the Grind" begins in splendid fashion with the first four tracks being very solid indeed & setting the tone for the rest of the release nicely. The title track & "The Threat" are straight up heavy metal songs & sit amongst Skid Row's heaviest material overall with "Mudkicker" arriving later on in the piece & also pushing the threshold of heaviness. The middle of the record sees them returning to a glammier sound for a while & is a little less effective as a result but, while there can be no doubt that tunes like "Monkey Business", "Psycho Love", "Get The Fuck Out", "Livin' On A Chain Gang" & "Creepshow" have drawn their roots from the Sunset Strip, there's no hint at disposability at any point, potentially because this record is so chock-full of chunky riffs & Bach's vocals are so spectacularly capable & engaging. Even the simpler punk rocker "Riot Act" is a more than acceptable inclusion in my opinion.

Skid Row's debut album may forever be the one that defines them as an artist but I wouldn't hesitate in claiming "Slave to the Grind" as the superior record. It speaks volumes that I'd completely let go of the other major glam metal bands by the time this release popped up but still chose to become a slave to Skid Row's grind. Ignore those that may tell you it's a pure heavy metal or hard rock record though. Its roots are still clearly rooted in glam metal in my opinion & it fits most comfortably alongside the work of the heavier bands from that scene in WASP, Twisted Sister & Dokken. In saying that though, it may well be the best example of the glam metal genre that I've ever heard, a statement that probably owes a little bit to the fact that "Slave to the Grind" isn't the purest representation of the genre. Any hair teaser worth their eyeliner should own a copy of this album though as it possesses more staying power than its competitors.

I'd suggest that some of our regulars would already be aware of my long-time struggles to understand the appeal in German heavy/power metal legends Running Wild by now. Their 1980's & 1990's releases seem to be unanimously claimed as pillars of metal but I've always found similar obstacles standing in my way when checking them out for myself. Sometimes I find them to sound a bit lethargic with the song-writing leaving much to be desired but I feel that this is possibly a bi-product of Running Wild's vocalist Rock 'n' Rolf simply not being a tier one singer &, more often than not, I find myself wondering if the band might be missing a trick there given that they can certainly produce some stellar riffs at times. As a result, all of Running Wild's first five albums have stalled at a three-star rating while I couldn't get their 1990 "Wild Animal" E.P. up above 2.5 stars. 1994's "Black Hand Inn" came closest to breaking out of mediocrity but was still confined to that dreaded three-star curse. All may not be lost though as I recently noticed one of our most educated & trusted members Sonny praising 1991's "Blazon Stone" sixth full-length. Sonny & I generally share pretty similar thoughts on the more accessible brands of metal so I felt encouraged enough to investigate "Blazon Stone" myself in the hope of finally discovering a Running Wild album that I can say that I genuinely enjoy.

I have to admit that I've questioned the power metal credentials of Running Wild's previous couple of albums in 1987's "Under Jolly Roger" & 1988's "Death or Glory" over the years but "Blazon Stone" is a slightly different story as I can now see enough elements of the power metal model to warrant a dual tagging with your classic heavy metal sound, even though the dial clearly sits further over to the heavy metal side of the equation. Fellow Germans Grave Digger & Rage are a good comparison although the more power metal-oriented material unsurprisingly sounds a lot like Swedish worshippers Blazon Stone. The links to power metal sit largely behind the regular incorporation of speed metal techniques in the rhythm guitar work but Rolf's vocal style is noticeably missing the theatrics & histrionics of your average European power metal front man so this feels much more like the US brand of power metal than it does the German one.

The tracklisting begins quite nicely with the A side being surprisingly strong so I was feeling pretty good about the potential for a respectable score by the halfway point of my first listen. Unfortunately, the B side was a lot patchier with the back end of the album petering out pretty noticeably. I have to say that I love the crunchy rhythm guitar tone though & feel that it somewhat carries the album, particularly given the inclusion of some pretty classic heavy metal riffs at times. The highlight tracks are really enjoyable too with the very solid heavy metal anthems "Little Big Horn" & "Rolling Wheels" being my clear favourites. I can certainly do without the folky guitar melodies that pop up from times to time though, seemingly intended to remind me that "Blazon Stone" is supposedly a European power metal release & I shouldn't really like it. "Billy The Kid" is a particularly silly track that I find I struggle with more than the rest of the weaker material.

Sure, there are some flat moments to be found on "Blazon Stone" which didn't come as a surprise to me but for once I've found the wins to outweigh the losses which is a first for a Running Wild record & has finally led me to cracking that elusive 3.5-star threshold I'd so hoped it would. I can't see Running Wild building on that for even higher ratings any time soon but at least we can always fall back on this record when we reminisce about old times over a German lager in decades to come. 

Less than a year after Between the Buried and Me's Colors II, another sequel comes in; Neurotech's Symphonies II! Neurotech is perhaps one of the most prolific yet relatively unknown cyber metal projects besides Mechina. After returning from hiatus with his previous album Solace, Neurotech founder Wulf was determined to make something ambitious, another Symphonies collection. The way he makes these Symphonies albums is, he releases 4 long grand instrumental epics that are dubbed, you guessed it, "symphonies" as singles, and then releases a collection of them. And unlike his first collection, in which each symphony was released once per year, for his second collection, he released one symphony per month, and that has really caused his listeners to be excited and pumped up for this offering...

Also different is the length of each track. Symphonies I had really lengthy epics that are each an average 17 minutes long. In Symphonies II, each symphony is EXACTLY 10 minutes long! That's quite impressive, though not as much as David Dobrik making each of his YouTube videos an exact length of 4:20. If you're aware of the typical style of Neurotech, you know there's gonna be the usual ambient electro-industrial metal sound going on. However, to accompany the whole "symphony" vibe, the vocals are entirely absent and replaced with symphonic strings and synths. Still you can hear the metal blasts expected from the guitars, bass, and drums.

Rolling into epicness right away is "The Prophetic Symphony". I can truly connect with the strength spawned with the keyboard synths in the first third, the heavier metallic instrumentation blasting through in the second third, and emotional violin and percussion to start the final third. All the elements fit their respective tones and produce something beautiful. "The Seraphic Symphony" is heavier, blasting in with fury after a minute of climatic synths.

"The Draconic Symphony" has some more strength to feel, but the speedy blasts blended together with laser-powered electronics ends up a bit repetitive. Finally, the riffing tones and melodies in "The Messianic Symphony" is much nicer. Guitars are more prominent and play out better together with the electronic keyboards. Fantastic!

All in all, Symphonies II is what the second decade of Neurotech needed after having already done Symphonies I in the first decade. Although a couple symphonies in the middle sound a bit odd in places, the collection continues this unique approach Wulf has taken for his project. I would be happy to hear an edition of this with vocals and lyrics. But of course, the beauty lies in the sounds of the music. The music of a symphony....

Favorites: "The Prophetic Symphony", "The Messianic Symphony"

So, where do I begin when describing such an ambitious band? Mechina is known for their series of concept albums and singles with a massive saga covering them all. Think about it like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe combined and played out like Rhapsody of Fire's conceptual sagas. Their 2005 debut The Assembly of Tyrants started off as a one-off story, but their second album Conqueror, released over 5 years later, started turning the story into a saga. The mastermind behind this project, Joe Tiberi can perform digital guitar and construct epic orchestration to flow well with the storyline in a bombastic style of extreme djenty symphonic/cyber metal!

Acheron continues their style in logical creativity. Their ambitious motive was a risk that paid off almost entirely well. Here we have the djent pioneered by Meshuggah, blended with the progressive groove of Xerath, the industrial tendencies of Fear Factory, and the cinematic symphonics of Two Steps From Hell. The rhythms and percussion band together with the riffs and keyboards for a unique combination that sometimes breaks into different territories. And f***ing h*ll, Tiberi's sonic guitar is really what the instrumentation needs as the engine for the machine. It is all in digital construction, and in many strings of the guitar, maybe beyond 8, like 9? 10?! The notes shall devastate and never drone, all in the equality of sound...

"Proprioception" is one of the best ways to open an album. There isn't any technical music, but rather a scene that sounds fresh out of an epic sci-fi movie that builds up and gets you geared up for the action, as a true concept album would. The engines ignite and the spaceship blasts off in "Earth-Born Axiom", an extensive epic in which electronic synths and cinematic orchestra prevails over the heavy djent instrumentation. Tiberi knows how to combine all that with a landscape of sci-fi dystopia that Neurotech can also achieve. "Vanquisher" is another powerful highlight, this one working well separately from the concept as a pre-release single. I don't know if they perform live concerts, but "On the Wings of Nefeli" would certainly be an interesting setlist staple. The female chanting and simple yet epic keyboards and in full prominence while the riffs have their moments, all that could easily fuel up the live crowd.

"The Halcyon Purge" sounds ominous from the name. It has some of the best writing I've heard in the album with emotional diversity. The haunting chorus is sung by Mel Rose, who first appeared in the non-album single "To Coexist is to Surrender" and would become a full-time member in subsequent albums. Absolutely spine-chilling! It's interesting how the shortest non-interlude song has the best lyrical writing. The instrumental "Lethean Waves" has nearly the same length as the previous track, but as cinematic as it is, it's rather pointless and doesn't have much value. That kinda reduces the high quality the album has. Regaining balance is "Ode to the Forgotten Few", though despite Mel Rose's vocals sounding serene, they can be tiring. Nonetheless, kudos to Tiberi for expanding his boundaries with more than just hammering heaviness.

"The Hyperion Threnody" is a massive beast of an almost 10-minute epic that works as the soundtrack to a massive space battle. There's a lot of epic power in both the title and the song that's nothing but true galactic carnage. This extensive track is so interesting and prevails as a glorious highlight. The more obvious interlude "Adrasteia" is another atmospheric track, and it's a bit boring and purposeless as well. All it's good for is being the soundtrack to a video game's main menu. "Invictus Daedalus" goes all-out fast and furious, but a bit of the interest factor has worn off. Closing this interstellar adventure is "The Future Must Be Met", a good outro but nothing worth mentioning.

And just like that, we have a bold ambitious offering with profuse variety. Acheron is a journey through the greatness of combining electronics, symphonics, and metal into one. Tiberi has had great potential that he has fulfilled and has kept his ideas going through more of his works. Although I probably would've enjoyed this more when I still into highly epic melodic styles of metal, and the second half could've been improved, Acheron has memorable moments that shall last through time, space, and reality....

Favorites: "Earth-Born Axiom", "Vanquisher", "On the Wings of Nefeli", "The Halcyon Purge", "The Hyperion Threnody"

While listening to this month's The Guardians feature release "No More Tears" I was reminded that I spontaneously picked up this largely overlooked live E.P. from the local record store some time shortly after it was released. I think it might have been the first of Ozzy's solo work that I laid down my hard-earned cash for actually & it was driven by my enthusiasm for Black Label Society & Pride & Glory guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde's work on Ozzy's previous studio album "No Rest For The Wicked" which I believe might have been my introduction to Ozzy's solo material in general. And if I was looking for a showcase for Zakk's chops then I probably couldn't have asked for more than I got with this half hour of high-quality heavy metal to tell you the truth.

The E.P. features four of Ozzy's solo tracks (three taken from "No Rest For The Wicked" & one from his previous album "The Ultimate Sin") as well as two classic Black Sabbath tunes ("Sweet Leaf" & "War Pigs") & all of them are worth hearing. Ozzy's vocals aren't at their best & he sounds a little bit like he's running on auto-pilot at times (particularly during "Bloodbath In Paradise" where he's noticeably pitchy) but his voice certainly suits the Sabbath material far better than it does his solo material which is a long-term bug-bear of mine. Wylde's guitar playing is the real drawcard here though & it doesn't disappoint for a single second of this record. In fact, I'd suggest that he's a tighter musician than Randy Rhoads was in all honesty. He just sounds like he's in complete control of his instrument at all times as he nails every single nuance of the material which makes his performance worth whatever it was that I paid for this otherwise fairly inessential release. Opener "Miracle Man" is comfortably the best of the solo work but it's unsurprisingly the Sabbath material that stands out as the best inclusions here with "War Pigs" being the clear highlight. If you can't get enough Ozzy-era Black Sabbath or 80's Dio in your life then I'd recommend that you check this E.P. out & Black Label Society fans will probably wanna get in on the action too just for the Wylde-card.

As with all of the Ozzy Osbourne studio material I've heard over the years, "No More Tears" is a pretty enjoyable listen. Also in line with those releases though, I can't see myself ever finding it to be an essential heavy metal release. You see, despite Ozzy's records sporting some of the most beloved guitar work in my life, I simply can't look past the fact that there's also a fair dose of cheese & commercialism about them & Ozzy's vocals have never quite seemed to fit perfectly with that musical direction to be honest, even on his super-popular early releases. "Diary of a Madman" has always been my favourite Ozzy album, perhaps because it's a touch darker & less poppy than the others but I still wouldn't call it a genuinely great record. "No More Tears" sits very much in the same camp as the tracklisting is a real mixed bag. On the one hand we receive a couple of the best tracks of Ozzy's solo career in the dark & brooding title track & the energetic, metal-as-fuck "I Don't Want to Change the World" with chunky heavy metal number "Desire" being another particularly solid inclusion. On the other hand, the cheesy ballads "Mama, I'm Coming Home" & "Road to Nowhere" & glam metal inspired "Mr. Tinkertrain" & "S.I.N." leave a lot to be desired. Black Label Society/Pride & Glory axemaster Zakk Wylde is quite clearly the primary reason to listen to "No More Tears" with his ultra-shredding guitar tone & signature artificial harmonic squeals showing him to be at the very peak of his powers. The riffs & slide guitar work on the title track command the price of this album alone actually. Ozzy's vocals are pretty pedestrian throughout though it has to be said which takes a bit of the gloss of Zakk's handy work.

Despite these mixed comments, I'd suggest that the highlights (& perhaps a little bit of nostalgia) have seen me moving "No More Tears" ahead of "Blizzard of Ozz" & into second place behind "Diary of a Madman" these days. There's probably a touch more hard rock included here than there is heavy metal if you look at it closely but Wylde's exciting guitar work never allows the record to drift too far out of your average metalhead's reach. Sadly, I don't think "No More Tears" will ever be the release to see me moving Ozzy out of Best-Of playlist territory & into the realms reserved for consistently high-quality heavy metal recordings alongside his much stronger live releases such as "Speak of the Devil" & "Tribute" though & it's perhaps telling that I've never ventured any further into Osbourne's solo career than this either.

This is a classic album. The single's are great, "No More Tears" and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" are solid ballads. Zack Wylde does some of his best guitar work on this album in my opinion where he never over shadows Ozzy but still has some sick riffs and melodies throughout. The bad songs like Zombie Stomp have just enough cheese to be decent enough for a play through of this album. I would skip it on repeats but it doesn't feel out of place in general. I wouldn't say anything else really sticks out as bad and most are ok to good besides the aforementioned singles which are great. I would need another go around with Ozzy but this is up there for his best solo works.

Well, this is a real trip down memory lane, I must admit. I feel a bit unfair, reducing Saxon's latest offering to a mere nostalgia trip, but for me, that is definitely what it is - and in more ways than one. I can scarce believe that it is almost 45 years since I first encountered Saxon, supporting Motörhead on their 1979 Bomber tour, when both they and me were far more fresh-faced and less battle-scarred than now with entire futures ahead of us. Well, on the evidence of Hell, Fire and Damnation, the years have been kinder to the Yorkshiremen than to me and they are still seemingly able to call upon that youthful energy with some cracking classic heavy metal riffs, shred-like guitar solos and Biff shrugging off the years, his ability to belt-out the lyrics with siren-like power seemingly undiminished by time.

I was heavily into the NWOBHM scene at the time and Saxon were a huge part of that, but as the scene waned and those young bloods from the Bay Area revolutionised the metal sound, bands like Saxon suddenly seemed old hat and unable to compete with the heightened aggression and excitement that thrash metal brought to the table. So they, like many of their contemporaries, faded from my life, the gulf between us only being made wider by my discovery of even more extreme forms of metal in later years and Saxon faded into nothing but a distant memory. At least, that is until my attention was drawn to the band's 2018 album Thunderbolt which was a shot in the arm of modern-sounding, old-school heavy metal and opened my eyes to the fact that Biff and co still had what it takes to deliver a high-powered, vibrant and, above all, relevant heavy metal album. Admittedly I haven't kept up with Saxon's releases in the meantime, so six years and one pandemic on from Thunderbolt what have we got? Well, this is a step or two down from that top-level beauty and it does have a couple of clunkers on it, Madame Guillotine being the most egregious example, it just feels flat and a bit contrived, ending up somewhat less than thrilling to my ears, but a track like There's Something in Roswell is guilty of excessive clunkiness too. The opening Brian Blessed-voiced intro didn't help either. I like Brian well enough, but he is very difficult to listen to with a straight face and it is exacerbated by the fact that he is the voice of floor cleaner ads on TV here in the UK!

That said, the title track, which is the first proper track, is a glorious slice of triumphant, fist-pumping metal that takes all the pomp and circumstance of power metal and pares it down to what is important and leaves a shimmering core that rivals the band's heyday. Elsewhere Fire and Steel and closer Supercharger fair rattle along, reminiscent of the proto speed metal of Judas Priest's Exciter or multiple tracks on Painkiller. Kubla Khan and the Merchant of Venice, 1066 and Witches of Salem mine the historical themes so beloved of Steve Harris and have a similat grandiose feel to some of the tracks Harris penned for Maiden's last album, Senjutsu.

I mentioned earlier that this is nostalgic for more than one reason and the lyrics to Fire and Steel are an example of it, being a paeon to the hulking , smoke- and fire-spewing steelworks of England's disappeared industrial landscape. I myself live only a handful of miles from the site where one such industrial behemoth was once sited (now the headquarters of an online gambling company) where it was such a dominating presence over the city I inhabit. Elsewhere, on Pirates of the Airwaves the rose-tinted spectacles of nostalgia are used to examine the days of pirate radio when we used to try nightly to tune our radios to the unpredictable broadcasts of Radio Luxembourg in the hope of catching some decent rock music, which was unheard of on the legal radio stations and Supercharger brings back memories of a string of high-powered motorcycles and cars I spent all my cash on in my late teens and early twenties.

So, for me, this is a solid enough slab of trad metal with some tasty riffs, cool lead work, a frontman with a distinctive and undiminished vocal delivery but it is most notable for it's ability to propel me back forty-plus years and leave me with a wide, if somewhat wistful, smile on my face.

Struggling to capture the same magic in a different way than he did with Iron Maiden, Bruce’s first 3 solo albums were decent, but nowhere near approaching the prior band’s material. Accident of Birth was a much stronger effort in the right direction, and here on The Chemical Wedding, I feel Bruce finally proved himself a strong solo artist, not needing the coattails of his prior band to succeed.

Bruce’s voice is really the only thing that sounds similar to Maiden. This album is still Heavy Metal, but it’s played in a much different, more modern style than Maiden. The songs are a bit more rhythmic, heavier, and obviously there is more focus on the vocals. The sound is fitting with the late 90’s, but it doesn’t sound trend-hoppy or compromising, it’s just an intelligent adaption to the times; indeed, this was the only way for Bruce to successfully move forward, because looking to the past wasn’t going to work for him.

The choruses on these songs tend to be fantastic, but I do find the verses and instrumentation in general to fall flat at times. Too many of these songs suffer from a “just get to the chorus already” feeling. However, it’s still the strongest songwriting of his solo career yet. Some of the bass work here especially stands out, and those with good headphones to pick it up will be in for a treat. I suppose this is to be expected with a more modern, rhythmically focused Heavy Metal album. I do think more guitar leads would have done a great service to the record though.

Blind Guardian’s first full on epic concept album exclusively focused on Middle-Earth lore, and this one seemed to be a breakthrough for them. Overall, the style is a bit softer, focusing more on varied instrumentation (folk and classical acoustics, as well as some keys) and hyper anthemic gang vocal choruses. Power Metal is still the core here, but it’s more progressive and less aggressive, and plenty of songs stray from the genre entirely.

The meat of the album is very strong, compelling, passionate and catchy. The concept story is an added bonus, but the music is plenty entertaining without it, and the tracks totally stand on their own. Despite this, I will say it’s decidedly less to my taste than their more aggressive fare.

In order to make the album flow more like a story, Blind Guardian added short spoken word interludes between almost every track, and I gotta say… I do not think that was the play. The 11 regular tracks are great, but the TWENTY TWO total tracks just makes this ridiculously hard to listen to front to back. It also makes the album very difficult to rate. The main tracks are top quality as usual, but the segues are boring and ruin the flow. Unfortunately I cannot simply ignore them, and they make this probably my least favorite release they had done at the time.

This one leans a lot further into choral and Gothic elements. No traces of any of the band’s Extreme Metal past remain, as most vocal duties are handled by operatic vocals and choirs. The music is still evil sounding, but much more gentle, smooth, and melodic (as far as Metal goes, that is). Songs are built around powerful orchestral pieces, guitars offering simple but effective leads in support of the chorus and strings.

All of the above aspects hold this album together, but there’s a fantastic amount of variety to found. There’s slow Gothic dirges, faster Power Metal pieces, aggressive parts, softer parts, dark atmospheres and uplifting moods. What’s more, the band succeeds in pulling off just about every different style they go for here, which makes the album entertaining and ever changing. Even individual songs shift between these traits, having a fair amount of Progressive elements in many of these compositions.

Each song is densely layered and well-constructed. For me personally, it definitely would have benefitted from some of their past Extreme Metal traits, and I do feel a slight lack of overall heaviness to be found here. But I can’t complain, it’s a very solid and consistent album especially for one with so many different styles present.

Much like the previous album, here we’ve got another Progressive Neoclassical release with a ton of Power and Symphonic Metal influence. Compositions are lush with layers of guitarwork, keys, synths and atmospherics.

All the music is played to clinical precision. Songwriting is strong and varied, with tons of shifts in speed and tonal style. The compositions are interesting in many ways, both in the multi layering of instruments and the unforeseen twists and turns each song attempts to take you on. And you bet these guys can play their instruments; impressive displays from each member pop up more than a few times across the album.

By rights, it seems like an album I’d adore. But like the previous two, it lacks something very important. Hooks! I don’t mean poppy vocal hooks. I just mean ANY hooks. None of the guitar leads are memorable, the riffs fall to rhythmic chugging most of the time, the synth melodies are nice but always take a back seat, and yeah, the vocals don’t provide any hooks either.

That’s a massive weakness, BUT all the strengths I mentioned prior are still going very strong. So, the album is still pretty great, but it can’t be more than that.

Solstice were one of the earliest bands in the Epic Doom realm, starting in 1990, but they released albums sparingly – 1998’s New Dark Age is only their sophomore release.

Their signature Epic Doom sound remains here, but overall it has more energy and Heavy Metal influence. The guitar leads are quite energetic, playing well over simple sustained chords. The drumming is certainly a high point, being varied, interesting, and full of fills, something uncommon in Doom. Good amount of double bass work too.

Vocals and lyrics are a high point if you like poetic prose; Ingram delivers middle age lamentations and epic tales with powerful conviction. Occasionally, vocal harmonies are used both to create uplifting melody, as well as disharmonious, ominous parts -both used to great effect.

Personally, I really could have done without the Folk music though. I get that it is supposed to compliment the medieval, mythical aesthetic going on here, and I respect that. It just doesn’t work for me; I think it would have needed to be more melancholic, or perhaps add some chamber instruments to really make it work. As it is, just breaks the flow of the album and makes it much less listenable as a whole.

The album ends on two high notes; penultimate track “Cromlech” and closer “New Dark Age II” show the band leaning all the way into opposite ends of their style. Cromlech is the most energetic track, fully Heavy Metal and continuously driver with pounding rhythm and melodic guitar. Vocals are triumphant and powerful. The closer, on the other hand, is the band’s slowest, doomiest dirge to date, forgoing all Heavy Metal influence for true Doom despair, and featuring some super memorable lead guitar lines as well.

Under 3-minute tracks have been completely absent from Iron Maiden’s discography since the sophomore Killers, and never appeared again henceforth, but this album opens with one in “Futureal” and makes me think the band should have done a lot more like this. The song is full of energy, great guitarwork, and every second is filled with that classic Maiden sound, albeit on a bit of a speed rush. The following song, at almost 10 minutes, is the polar opposite; there aren’t enough good ideas there to fill 3 minutes, nevermind 10. The lack of speed and repetitive vocal lines only make this more noticeable. “Don’t you think I could save you” repeated about 96 times in a row really grates on you.

Virtual XI is a very interesting Iron Maiden album, in that it does some things perfectly and in other areas it falls completely flat. The album brought back keyboards and Iron Maiden’s signature epic sound, and by all means, sounds closer to their peak 80’s material than just about anything they’d done since. The problem is, there is something wrong with most of these compositions. Take a one-minute snapshot of any song here, and it sounds like classic Maiden, like it could be dropped into any of their 80’s material and fit right at home. But the songs as a whole, often suffer from being bloated, repetitive, or simply not going anywhere over their long runtime. Everything sounds a bit stale.

Now of course, some songs avoid this. Aforementioned opener is a fantastic track, and “Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger” is an example of the band killing the more progressive, lengthy song format. The return of keys really adds a nice layer whenever they show up. The drumming is also pretty good across this album, but especially in the more energetic tracks.

Lastly, we’ve got to talk about the vocals. Blaze Bayley replaced Bruce on the prior album, and since that album was in quite a different style, the new vocals didn’t really stand out since everything else sounded a bit different too. Here, the songs all go back to the band’s older style… but missing Bruce. Blaze is a fine singer, but his range is far, far more limited than Bruce’s. These songs needed Bruce’s higher, more powerful range to achieve true hooks for the choruses and verses. Blaze unfortunately is passable and nothing more, with very few vocal parts here delivering anything too memorable or catchy.

With all of that being said, I find this album profoundly underrated. It has issues, sure, but it still sounds a lot like the band’s peak material, so if you love that, I really can’t grasp at how you couldn’t at least like this. I feel part of it is just the unfair comparisons. It’s basically just sub-par classic Iron Maiden, but even that should be enough to warrant pretty high marks from most people considering the quality of the band. Go into it with an open mind and I think you will be rewarded.

My New Year's resolution, as it has been for the past few years, is to discover more metal music. And it's not easy when having to juggle between that, family, and writing books. Looking for new or undiscovered metal bands/releases is a never-ending journey that is worth precious time for me. Once I learn how to drive, I'll pop in some metal tunes and listen all the way on the road. Napalm Records has never ceased to amaze metalheads with their diverse roster. Many of my favorite metal bands are signed to that record, including this newfound favorite... RYUJIN!

Ryujin's self-titled album can be considered a debut album from a whole new band, but there's more history to uncover if you're curious about their previous incarnation Gyze and the band's founding brothers Ryoji and Shuji Shinamoto. Formed in 2009 as Suicide Heaven, the band changed their name after it was deemed inappropriate following the 2011 earthquake. Gyze had since made 4 albums throughout the 2010s, then in 2023, renamed themselves after the Japanese dragon god Ryujin and started making their first offering under their new moniker. I was not familiar with this "samurai metal" band or any of its incarnations until this album was recommended to me, and it just blew my mind! I might just head back to the death metal realm with this fantastic epic extreme blend.

The short intro "Hajimari" (The Beginning) begins the album with sounds of a battle in the Eastern Lands. Then the extreme thunder is unleashed in "Gekokujo" (Lower Door Extermination). The Eastern atmosphere blazes through the music, alongside the metal force of Shuji's drumming and Ryoji's guitar riffing/leads and screamed/growled vocals. More of the Eastern elements come in nice and early in "Dragon Fly Free". The catchy oriental flute shines over the riff rhythms of In Flames. A cool highlight worth repeated listening! The intro chorus of "Raijin & Fujin" already brings in a standout element for the album, the occasional guest vocals of none other than Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, who is also Ryujin's manager and producer. His clean singing give the band more of a power metal vibe to their thrashy melodeath than ever before, alongside the melodies and rhythms. Killer riffing, leads, and symphonics, help truly shape this masterpiece!

"The Rainbow Song" has more of Heafy's clean singing in a catchy mid-paced power metal tune. The singing takes the place of much of the usual growling, and the guitar melodies help make the song another winning highlight. Some more of the power metal side of the sound comes in the speedy "Kunnecup". Then "Scream of the Dragon" returns to the heavier melodeath, while having a soaring chorus. "Gekirin" (Search) blends a bit of the death metal of Pestilence with the epic symphonic melodies of Epica.

"Saigo No Hoshi" (The Last Star) is more of a radio ballad, but it's quite exceptional. The chorus actually hooks you up with memorable beauty. There's an English version of that song, which we will get to soon. The 7 and a half minute epic "Ryujin" can practically be considered the band's theme, not just in the title but also how it exemplifies the whole album's sound. "Guren No Yumiya" (Crimson Bow and Arrow) is a cover of the song by Linked Horizon for the anime Attack on Titan, and it has the same mighty power as Epica's cover. The aforementioned English version of "Saigo No Hoshi" has more of the vocal talents of Matt Heafy that you just gotta love.

I highly recommend Ryujin for anyone willing to hear epic Eastern metal. I have absolutely nothing to complain about for this perfect product of fresh ideas. You get to enjoy almost an hour of Eastern-folk-influenced melodeath/power metal. And if anyone that I recommend this album to say otherwise, what matters is, I had fun, and I want to play this some more. I feel like headbanging in joy right now. A true piece of Eastern metal!

Favorites: "Dragon Fly Free", "Raijin & Fujin", "The Rainbow Song", "Gekirin", "Ryujin", "Saigo No Hoshi" (English version)

This is an album with a concept that is not doomed from the start. I am a sucker for music that takes inspiration from oriental folk music and even if the music does not work out, I tend to be more favourable to those records. Take my review of 2022's Bloodywood album for reference. Ryujin are a Hokkaido based power metal/melodic death metal band who are quite liberal in their usage of native Japanese instruments beyond the standard heavy metal instrumental timbre of guitars, bass, and percussion. And this self titled debut is pretty solid; I really enjoy the additional percussion that is added to drive these songs forward from time to time. I would have liked to possibly hear some acoustic passages throughout the record to accent some of the softer sounding string instruments that are present. But the constant sheathing of a katana is a sound I could have used without; it was okay the first couple of times, but after a while it just felt like Ryujin were adding it to remind listeners that they are a Japanese power metal band and it loses its grandeur.

I feel like Ryujin took full advantage of their partnership with Matt Heafy because these songs are well constructed with solid forms, great memorability and just enough metal wankery to keep the elitists in check. However, the production of the record feels very thin as parts of this record do not pop with authority as you might expect. It does allow for some very good bass presence, but it does not feel like this epic tale of mythology and folklore without some chunky low end. It would have been beneficial to recruit some of the Trivium producers to assist with that, or even just copy that powerful sound of a band such as Avantasia. I did enjoy this record and would recommend to someone looking for a different, heavier take on power metal with some obvious oriental flare, but a little refinement, especially in the production keep this from being an unconditional recommendation.

Best Songs: Dragon, Fly Free, Kunnecup, Scream of the Dragon, Saigo No Hoshi

This is the catchiest "metal" record I've ever heard. It's got just enough shred to be considered metal for me, but otherwise it's very on the cusp. I've never really gone into their back catalog before too much but I am definitely aware of their hits as most are. I love a good cheese, and they do it really really well here even if at times it does get a bit repetitive at times, songs like the title track "Thunder and Lightning", "The Sun Goes Down", "Baby Please Don't Go" have very memorable rhythm guitar lines that hit into my soul just enough where it almost gets annoying how long they go with same 3-4 measures of notes get played throughout the song. I wouldn't say I found any song on here to be bad but many do just hit that 10 seconds too long but for the 4 minutes-ish before that they are very enjoyable. I actually found those aforementioned songs to be my favorites plus Bad Habits that I got an early pop punk vibe from. Even Heart Attack is a solid enough closer to the album, but by the time that it gets to that point in the album the cheese gets to be a bit much for me. It's barely a 40 minute album and I can't say there's really a bunch of extra fat on this to be cut out but I do think there is some bits and bobs that could to make this an even better just fun quick bop that's in and out and you get your full on this pop metal sound. Really enjoyable overall for me though.

First thought listening to this album was, I wish I was driving because this feels like a solid road trip album. Unfortunately it's too damn cold and icy at the moment for the full experience but I may have to try again with this once it warms up to try it out. I had a good time, but unfortunately nothing stood out to me. I feel this is more of a 3.75 record, but not quite a 4 star so.. 3.5 it gets. I see the love, but it just feels like a good time. Not one of those I'm going to keep coming back to this party but I will have have nothing negative to say about it when trying to reminisce but also won't have any specific moments to reflect back on for me. The hooks are fun, good solos, good dance-able headbanging beats, and I even enjoy his unique voice but even listening again for something to stick out to talk about positive or negative I just really can't find specifics. I feel if I listened to this enough I would be able to sing along to every song while I am on that aforementioned road trip and then immediately forget the lyrics as soon as it ended until I turned it on again.

Anyone else have those albums, that you've listened to more than you realize but when trying to explain or talk about the album it just completely leaves your thoughts until it shows up in your playlist or disc collection to be put on again to then just be put back in it's sleeve for the next spring cleaning? I have a few that unless you pointed out and we agreed to put it on I would have forgotten what it even is. I've listened to Saxon a handful of times over their near 45 year discography and still have that positive emotional reaction but couldn't tell you anything they've done. Sorry guys, too much metal but this is still a good time. 

Not sure why I never got around to listening to Satan, they're really good. Some very juicy fun riffs to really head bang to. The guitar solos were the best part. I really enjoyed No Turning Back and The Ritual and put both on my metal playlist. If I did have a complaint I would say the vocals are pushed back in the mix so I can't hear them as strongly. I do listen on spotify streaming so maybe that could be a reason for it but oddly after listening to the full release it actually ended up adding to the charm. I don't think there was a bad song on the joint, and for an '83 release this should definitely be talked about in early metal releases that led to heavier and inspirational music. Definitely need to check more of these guys out.

I felt like this may be one of those albums where I really get a "You had to be there" vibe. I think my teenage self would have loved to hear this, however I wasn't born until 5 years after this album released. It just has that teen angst vibe to it to me. The lyrics are a bit on the immature side, (Fuck Like A Beast anyone?) but they're not overly cheesy and can totally see someone who grew up with this album have that bit of nostalgia for it. I definitely do from some of my more emo music of the 2000s that's more cringe than this. The guitars are heavy for the glam metal of it's era and never feels out of place. Maybe akin to a heavier Kiss. I don't really have much to say otherwise, each song really felt simple with no overly memorable riffs or melodies but I can't say I had a bad time with this one. Though I wasn't a fan of their cover of Paint It Black, didn't suit them.

It's sacrilege I know, but I have never enjoyed the scorpions and I have given them a chance on multiple occasions. Full disclosure, I listened to this on Spotify with their 2015 remaster version and it just sounds way too clean. Not sure if the original version had more personality but the version I listened to was too "perfect" like they went in and took out any of the tiny extra vibrations from the strings or that the drums never rang out more than absolutely necessary. It feels like they went back in and made sure any imperfections weren't there so much so that it kept it from having substance. Also, this does not feel like a metal record to me at all. Glam rock at best. The best song on here to me was The Sails of Charon where it actually felt like they tried to have a bit of an edge on it with some harsher tones. The rest of the album was way too poppy for me, starting with Steamrock Fever which was trying to be catchy but went on way too long especially for an intro track. Then We'll Burn The Sky was really chorus heavy, and so was most of the rest of this record. Most of the songs tended to lend into just repeating the song title too much with overly clean guitar tones and melodies. He's a Woman - She's a Man, what is that? Why? If I knew the meaning behind these songs would I like it more, because I just did not have that great of a time with this one. There's way to much music out there I would rather be listening to so that I can skip being negative towards the Scorpions.

I have unexpectedly put this on again and again lately. I may not listen to it all the way through every time, but I have enjoyed the time I've spent with this. As others have mentioned and will for ever I got introduced to Queensrÿche through Operation Mind Crime, which I still think is an absolute classic in heavy metal, and have even listened to their more recent albums and thoroughly enjoyed them too just not as much. However The Warning is one of the best debuts in the genre that I've heard in a while. I'll need to listen to this even more before I give it the full 5-star treatment and compare more to Mindcrime more but this is really enjoyable. Super catchy riffs and memorable moments through out. The vocals are so powerful with some heavy lyrics. I could go beat by beat, but it's just one of those albums that really should be gone in blind like I did and just let in envelope you and enjoy the journey. I'm glad to take this journey and force myself to these debuts and lesser known albums by historical bands because this really is a great history lesson for heavy metal nerds like me instead of just Mindcrime because I never really known much of their other stuff but this really does make me feel like I'm missing out.  -Also, how the hell did I lower the font size in this review?

I didn't feel too bad about severing my ties with heavy/power metal. However, recently this band Beast in Black became popular among some of my metal-loving friends and even my brother who recommended one of their songs to me, so I knew I had to check out their music. I was blown away by the 80s pop-influenced synths, riffs, and solos by founder Anton Kabanen. He was part of a similar band that's more keyboard-focused and female-led, Battle Beast before he left in 2015. Now I can hear his masterful writing again in a different band. His stylistic antics can be heard in the brilliant new Dark Connection!

Ever since Kabanen left Battle Beast, that band ended up descending into a more hard rock-ish direction. Their earlier thunderous 80s-inspired metal would be brought back up by Beast in Black, though here they have a male vocalist named Yannis Papadopoulos with high Halford-like shriek-singing to go with his power metal delivery. The earlier synth prominence now takes on a cyber-electronic vibe, which fits well for the 80s sci-fi themes in many of the songs. You may already know that theme just from the cover art with the cyborg woman in a computer realm. The songs in the album focus a little more on atmosphere and don't force in too much heavy impact, and that's the kind of blend I'm looking for, with elaborate lyrics to match.

Opening this offering is "Blade Runner" (an obvious nod to a certain 80s sci-fi film) punches through with the fury of Kabanen's time with Battle Beast, adding in some Accept influences in the impressive vocals and guitar shredding, in addition to sweet keyboards. Having a little more groove is "Bella Donna", with more of the Accept-infused riffing combined with 80s techno-pop hooks to sing along to. "Highway to Mars" pays tribute to Total Recall with an anthem of rage and rave, as Yannis continues his power metal vocals delivery. The song title "Hardcore" made me think there would be some hardcore/metalcore influences, but NOPE, none of that. Still pretty cool though.

The techno-fueled single "One Night in Tokyo" combines the band's metal heaviness with ABBA-like pop synths that can almost fit well in Mortal Kombat. The slow long keyboard cruiser "Moonlight Rendezvous" has more of a synthwave vibe that sounds fresh out of a 90s sci-fi anime. Killer soloing appears in "Revengeance Machine". The technical speed goes wild in the power metal, enhancing the catchy melody of this band and genre. "Dark New World" continues the headbanging metal.

"To the Last Drop of Blood" is the song my brother recommended to me that finally made me cave in and explore what's all the rage between my metal-loving friends, to fantastic results! The 80s-rock-powered riffs and hooks punch through again with easy 80s action film potential. "Broken Survivors" has more of the 80s synth beauty. The serene symphonic closing ballad "My Dystopia" is actually one of the most memorable songs here. So beautiful! Two bonus tracks appear, starting with a cover of Manowar's "Battle Hymn", maintaining the smooth epic metal march and militant lyrics in a better fashion. Then another cover, this one of Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us". Yannis makes an impressive impression of the King of Pop's falsetto, though I'm a little surprised the original lyrics that were deemed derogatory to Jews were kept in.

What a massive perfect album Dark Connection is! This blend of melody and heaviness complete with 80s sci-fi vibes has made me up for another attempt in reviving my on-off relationship with power metal. Nothing can get more modern and retro simultaneously than this offering!

Favorites: "Blade Runner", "Highway to Mars", "One Night in Tokyo", "Revengeance Machine", "To the Last Drop of Blood", "My Dystopia", "Battle Hymn" (Manowar cover)

Ok, I am done. I have been listening to this off and on for a few weeks being saved in my library and I have had problems listening to this every time. I just finished the album in it's entirely as of starting to write this review. I could not figure out why this album was so difficult for me to put on and listen to until I turned it on today and with no distractions while I cleaned my place and took it all in. I do not have a problem with King Diamonds vocals, I think they are a unique and powerful tool for this band and I think for the most part the instrumentation accompanies it well. The guitars and drumming on this album can be absolutely supreme with some of the best riffs I've heard of the early years and with King Diamond's succinct screams they can be mesmerizing. However, my problem with this album that I never noticed before is the abrupt tone changes. They happen so frequently, I first noticed in Nightmare when I was really enjoying one passage then the drums suddenly slowed down but then one of the guitars stayed it's same pace while the other did a mini solo for about 20 seconds then it would subtly go back to a resemblance of the same melody I was enjoying before but I was already snapped out of it again. I call it the anti-breakdown, because there were plenty of times where a solid breakdown could've taken the place of these frustrating moments for me and it would've done nicely. Now I understand that a breakdown was not something that was really a thing in '84 but whatever you call what they were doing didn't work for me and it made for a very difficult listen. I couldn't just put this on and want to listen to it, even before I noticed what was happening when I would have it in the background over the years. I always debated that I think King Diamond is revolutionary to show different vocal styles that work but I still had it in the back of my mind was that he really didn't fit, but all these listens later and I can't just take the whiplash that these songs give me. It's hard to continue to like something I get really invested in and headbang to and it transitions out of it so unexpectedly then I just get angry cause I won't more of that. I lose my interest and I don't think I will listen to this again.

2-star because I can't deny that when it is really good, it's great in the small doses before the changes in song but I almost think that is too high for me but that's where I stand.

This is a good record, I don't really know Manowar too well. Know them really only for their man yelling at clouds album covers, it's a joke but many of their album covers have the shirtless guy about to go on a raid or something. I know these guys as the epic battle hymns to pump you up to go to war. Hail To England is no different. This has all that but as I have read and agree with, my listen to this record really had a weaker production then I would have liked and the song writing doesn't quite hit to where I expect the potential is there. I love a good war anthem, and after listening to this album a few times and have a good time it's not really all that memorable. It does start of solid with a great intro of Blood Of My Enemies but then the song slows down where It could be a heady hitter, even though I enjoy the chorus it just again feels like lack of potential and needs a bit more power to it. This may be the best of the "US Power Metal" albums that I've listened to because there is some very catchy choruses amongst the lack of true powerful feeling that I would want from a record like this. I do feel the production has more to do it, because I can tell they are playing their instruments well and the singing is good but also in the mix  it just feels muddy and nothing really gets to shine even when I'm enjoying my catchier chorus that I do sing-along to and get stuck in my head. 

Cirith Ungol were originally formed in 1971 and split in 1992 after releasing a string of reasonably well-received albums. They reformed in 2015 like so many other legacy bands, but unlike a lot of those their first album after reforming, 2020's Forever Black was actually pretty good. Three years later the guys are back with another offering, having once more defied the odds and turning in a terrific album that is even better than Forever Black and stacks up pretty well against the band's '80's "classics", King of the Dead and One Foot in Hell which is good going for a band that is over fifty years old.

Dark Parade is chock full of hooky riffs that stick in the memory and give us old metalheads some decent headbanging action, often switching down gear to a more considered, almost trad doom, pacing to give our aging neck muscles some respite. The riffs aren't all there is to DP though, there is plenty of nifty and often extended soloing that should satisfy the most demanding of six-string enthusiasts, in a couple of places reminding me a bit of Blackmore's brilliant soloing during Rainbow's Stargazer, especially on second track Relentless and the later Sacrifice. The Blackmore reference isn't the only Deep Purple related influence though, the fast section of the album's epic Sailor on the Seas of Fate, with it's soaring keyboard overlay takes me back to the days of Highway Star and Burn.

Of course you can't talk about Cirith Ungol without addressing the elephant in the room that is Tim Baker's vocals, his screeching style not being to everyone's taste. Personally I have got used to him and now even view him as having a distinctive and unique style that works really well on it's own terms. But even if you aren't the biggest Baker fan, I think you would find his singing less irritating here, maybe age has mellowed his voice to a degree and rendered it less grating.

All in all this is a really good trad metal album that flaunts it's roots whilst still sounding modern and vital, which is quite a feat for a band four-fifths of whom are well into their sixties (yes even older than me). Gives me great hope than metal blood never fades!