Philadelphian metalheads Blazon Rite are back! The band caused quite a stir around these parts with their debut full length, the clunkily-named Endless Halls of Golden Totem, becoming a staple on the Sentinel Daily death deck for quite a while in 2021.

So, here we are in 2023 – how are the band faring?

If you loved that first album as much as we did, the first thing you’ll be glad to hear is that the band hasn’t tinkered too much with the formula for Wild Rites and Ancient Songs; Tracks like Salvage What You Can From The Night stay on the right side of ‘rollicking good fun’ without ever becoming kitsch, with the eighties metal tropes fully deployed with skill and a gung-ho, devil-may-care attitude that remains very appealing. However there are signs that the band are keen to move things on a bit, stylistically; No longer do they sound like a band that’s merely interested in paying homage to the old Gods. The very progressive The Fall Of A Once Great House, for instance, recalls more recent names like Hammers of Misfortune, and overall this is a less British, more American sounding album.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and if you like your US power metal on the quirkier edge of the blade then it’s easy to see Wild Rites… becoming a firm favourite as 2023 winds on. Pierson Roe and James Kirn continue to develop their guitar partnership very well here – some of Roe’s soloing is truly heroic without ever over-egging the pudding – and Johnny Halladay continues to forge a presence for himself on the metal landscape as a truly unique vocal force. Devin Graham, pushed higher in the mix this time around, adds some nice bottom end to proceedings in harness with rhythm buddy Ryan Haley, who handles the twists and turns of the ever-changing song structures with no little aplomb throughout.

Overall, it’s hard to see Wild Rites… as anything other than a resounding success – the band continues to develop, refining their sound on bangers like Mark of The Stormborn Raiders and The Coming Tide of Yule, improving on what has gone before whilst still retaining the core facets that made us fall in love with them first time around. That’s good to report, and bodes well for an exciting future for the band…

Wild Rites and Ancient Songs releases on April 14th.