I’d heard tell amongst some of the scuttlebutts that make up the Sentinel Daily crew that German metal collective Under Ruins were a ‘pirate metal’ band, which nearly led me to ignoring them completely. Do we seriously need another set of Gumbies shouting ‘yo ho ho on a dead man’s keel’, or whatever it is they say?

The answer to that, of course, is no we don’t, but something compelled me to investigate Under Ruins further, and I have to tell you – never listen to gossip, because Age of the Void is one of the heavy metal discoveries thus far in 2025.

In fact I’d go so far as to say if a better straight-up metal song than Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death – the glorious headbanging feast that kicks off Age… – has been released this year then I haven’t heard it. Under Ruins have created, from nowhere it seems, the perfect mix of strident riffs, vibrant, complex rhythms and elegiac vocalisation. Imagine, if you can, Maiden at their epic mid to late eighties best, mixed with the grinding pomp of Manowar – sans loincloths, natch – and you are getting close to the sonic majesty spun by Under Ruins.

That first track is the best of the bunch by some way, but the band still kick up a storm that will be the envy of the opposition elsewhere; Both Moonlit Requiem and Whispered Curses, Woe Unleashed are mighty slabs of proper metal, whilst the more playful Crimson Seas of Courage is as old school as it gets, right down to the drifts of dandruff your loved ones will have to clear up after every listen…

Great metal in it’s truest sense should always provoke involuntary reactions and unfettered joy; It allows the listener to shed their everyday woes and be transported to otherworlds of the artist’s construction that delight, excite and maybe even frighten in equal measure. And here, on Age of the Void, Under Ruins do that, repeatedly, much to my delight.

Age of the Void is out now.