Hail metal men and Maidens, brothers and Sisters of Steel! The most-powerful editor has graciously invited me back to the Sentinel Daily top table and bestowed on me the magazine’s highest honour – a monthly column! With Power Up I intend to shed light on some of the best ‘true metal’ outfits currently doing the rounds, names that perhaps might not be familiar to all but certainly deserve to be!
I’ll also be casting the net back from time to time, highlighting older releases that I feel should have got a bit more recognition when they originally emerged… That’s a lot of metal to get through, so let’s get down to business… Power Up!
POWERCROSS
First up we have Powercross, one of the latest names to emerge from Greece’s robust power metal scene. Known for fusing straight up metal riffage with power metal dynamics, the band released a rather good album, The Lost Empire, through Elevate Records late last year. Overall, tracks like Nightlight and Eternity have the lipsmacking feel of Helloween about them, despite the fact that Spiros Rizos handles all the guitar duties – excellently, I might add – on his own.
There’s a pleasant, no frills nature to the production on The Lost Empire; This is direct, hard hitting heavy metal which relies on the skills of those making the music to carry the day without reliance on studio frippery. John Britsas leads from the front with a powerful, punchy vocal presence which complements Rizos’ classic metal pretensions perfectly. The title track allows all four band members to shine – Stelios Pepinidis drums the hell out of the song whilst bassist Panos Bt holds everything down with stern-hearted precision. I won’t beat about the bush – this is just the sort of heavy metal I love to sit at home listening to, and I think you will agree after a few listens that this is seriously top-drawer stuff!
MASTER SWORD
I first wrote about American fantasy metallers Master Sword way back around the time of their debut album, Shadow and Steel which emerged in 2018. I predicted big things for them at the time, and, though they haven’t quite become the metal Colossi I predicted, I’m pleased to announce they are still churning out the good stuff eight years later…
Album Number Three, Toying With Time, is about to hit ears across the globe, and once more the band are fusing classic metal melodies to the mythos of The Legend of Zelda video game series…
C’mon – it’s a perfect matchup, and I defy anyone in the world who loves fantasy metal to say that ain’t so; Add to this the World-Class vocal performance of Lily Andromeda, thrilling guitar work, heroic songsmithery and… well, pure heavy metal brilliance, since we’re being honest – and once more you’ve got a band that would appear to have two worlds at it’s feet.
I’m not going to get carried away and claim the world for them this time around – but I am going to demand you give them a listen and then invest in their new full-length!
LORD SYMPHONY
Next up are Indonesian veterans, Lord Symphony. The band, who formed twenty years ago and who have carved out a name for themselves as one of their homeland’s leading metal names, are this month reissuing their 2014 album The Lord’s Wisdom with what they call ‘the Original Mix’; I haven’t heard any other mixes of the record, so I can’t say whether this reissue is a good idea or not, sonically, but I can say that it is rammed tight with very effective power metal.
The band punctuate the album with native Javan instruments, and whilst this undoubtedly gives a point of difference that ‘World metal’ buffs will enjoy, the exoticism never overpowers the metal! Lead guitarist Fa’i is never less than impressive without ever shredding himself into a corner, and his partnership with rhythm guitarist Fuad forms an impresive bedrock to the sound. Monk Bodhi occasionally gets a bit carried away vocally and wanders into areas in which he clearly isn’t too comfortable, but for the most part he sensibly employs a powerful mid range vocal style that sits in with the more histrionic musical backdrops as a nice counterpoint.
The third track on the album, Mirror, weighs in at nine minutes but never outstays it’s welcome as the band stretch out in a progressive power metal romp that shows the keys of Dani Purbosaid off to maximum effect and features some powerhouse rhythm work from drummer Uji and bassist Ichsan Angorro. This is high quality stuff, and fans of old school Euro power in particular will find much to enjoy.
SINAL DE ATAQUE
Sinal de Ataque is celebrated not just for their music but for their role in their local Paraíba metal scene and the broader Brazilian metal community. They represent a movement to keep metal music’s traditional elements alive amidst a landscape in their homeland often dominated by modern or more extreme sounds. Their approach is seen in many quarters as a cultural preservation of Brazil’s metal heritage, which resonates well with fans both in Brazil and abroad who value the classic metal ethos.
Indeed, the superb Até o Fim, the third track on their recently released album Ao Anoitecer, with it’s heady mix of Scorpions and Whitesnake, takes the listener right back to the days when what is now regarded merely as ‘rock’ was regarded as the heaviest, of peacock proud, strutting metal!
The band are right at home in that eighties metal pocket where metal and hard rock exist side by side, and my they know how to work it; Song after song on …Anoitecer is so shot through with authentic class that you’ll find yourself wondering whether this isn’t a little-listened to album that you’ve had in your collection all along…
That’s big praise around these parts, of course, but it’s well deserved for a band that rocks like an absolute hurricane through all ten tracks on their new album. Pick it up and take it for a neck-exercising spin!
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