Phew. New Horizon‘s new album, Heroes, is some statement. Featuring ten metallic treatises on, well, heroism, it’s a stirring, uplifting trawl through history, packed with singalong choruses, leg-testing double kick fusillades and enough air guitar action to leave your fingers on the arthritis watchlist for the next five years. In short – it’s a near-perfect album!

Any band that has the confidence to throw in an Iron Maiden classic amongst their own tracks has got to be worth taking notice of, but New Horizon – essentially H.E.A.T.‘s Jona Tee and Dynazty‘s Nils Molin – are able to do just that and survive the process. I don’t know how many times bands have fallen foul of having their own material eclipsed by ore august cover versions in Sentinel Daily’s history – too many, probably – but there’s just no risk of that here, as Tee and Molin attack their own material with so much chutzpah, skill and guts that the take on Alexander The Great (356-323 BC) simply becomes absorbed naturally into the general flow of the album. This in itself is some trick to be able to pull off, but to render the actual track with such skill and reverence – it’s hands down the best Iron Maiden cover I’ve ever heard – takes the whole thing to the next level.

Add to this the fact that tracks like Against The Odds, King of Kings and, especially Shadow Warrior are all absolutely top drawer in their own right and you have one of the must-hear albums of 2024 so far. Molin is in absolutely devastating form throughout, whilst Tee, who plays everything bar the drums and some guest guitar solos sharpens his undoubtedly monster talents to extract maximum impact from thunderous anthems Apollo and the neck breaking Fallout War.

I could go on and list the qualities of each and every tack on offer here, but that would only serve to waste time you could use more profitably by getting on your bike and heading down to your local record shop to get an order in for this near-faultless record. As another of history’s heroes, Winston Churchill, might have said – ACTION THIS DAY – BUY THIS ALBUM!!

Heroes releases on June 14th.