All hail the Kings of Cypriot True Metal!

These Hellenic heroes have made something of a name for themselves over their near-quarter century career as purveyors of solidly old school metal, but I really don’t think Solitary Sabred have ever come up with anything as consistently impressive as new album Temple of The Serpent…

Seriously, epic tracks of the nature of Lord of Ganzer don’t come along very often; A riotous, emphatic mix of names like Cirith Ungol and Mercyful Fate, shot through with the progressive tinge of early-career Queensrÿche… need I go on? In hyperbole-free terms, this is music you are going to worship if the Old Gods are your chosen metal deities!

Reaper of Kur is the sort of song Manowar would kill to be able to write in 2023, a sumptuous melange of every single thing you can think about that’s great about this style of music. Petros “Asgardlord” Leptos pitches his vocal presence to reap maximum reward – I seriously don’t recall hearing heavy metal singing as good as this for a long, long time, and he complements the full on assault of he instrumentalists perfectly throughout. The scream, the staccato riffage and the thunderous drumming that usher in Flight of the Banshee cobine to produce pure heavy metal nirvana, nothing more, nothing less.

This happy state of affairs isn’t just down to Leptos, of course – Jimmy ‘Spartacus’ Demetriou and Nikolas ‘Sprits’ Moutafis are a highly capable – devastating at times – guitar coupling, whilst I’m certain you won’t hear a harder working engine room than drummer Fotis Mountouris and four string partner George Stainlesz currently doing the rounds in Euro metal.

Despite the complexity of some of the arrangements, the world-class execution and the overall feeling of opulence, at it’s heart Temple of the Serpent is just a simple, traditional heavy metal record of the type that you really don’t hear that often any more. And fans of true metal are going to love every second of it, you mark my words…



Temple of the Serpent releases on December 15th.