Tag: power metal
-
ProgPower 2015: Day 2 (Thu, Sep 10)
ProgPower XVI: THURSDAY The Thursday Kick-Off Show originally featured Royal Hunt frontman DC Cooper performing a set that would span his career; that fell through. No big deal – just add heavy metal legends Armored Saint and Saxon to the bill, and you have yourself a fucking show. But it started with Brazil’s Almah, a band…
-
ProgPower 2015: Day 1 (Wed, Sep 9)
ProgPower XVI: Wednesday We arrived to Wednesday’s Midweek Mayhem show in time for Ashes of Ares just beginning their set. We missed out on local stalwarts Halcyon Way, because we arrived in Atlanta a little too late to get there in time. Halcyon Way’s sound has evolved over the years, but it’s basically proggy power…
-
Unleash the Archers – Time Stands Still
Napalm made a very good decision in signing Unleash The Archers: they have all of metal’s strengths and none of it’s weaknesses. Time Stands Still is a very positive, very up album. In some respects, it is very traditional – great playing, great songwriting – but in other’s – production and influences – it is very…
-
Helloween – My God-Given Right
There is indeed no happy medium with Euro-metal, either it is very good or very bad. Thankfully, on this album, Helloween are very good. Musically, we have some great Iron Maiden-esque songs. One thing that sets Helloween apart from so many metal bands is there sense of humour ( “Dr. Stein” anyone?), which is still…
-
Venomous Maximus – Firewalker
Though I don’t consider Venomous Maximus to be doom—they’re a little too up-tempo, IMO—these guys definitely stole the show at the third installment of Days of the Doomed fest a couple years back. They sure sold a lotta copies of their first CD that night… I didn’t buy one myself, but I’m still looking forward to…
-
King Hitter – self-titled
Though it’s not unheard of for me to review a band that’s completely unheard of, this North Carolina outfit comes with a bit of history—namely, frontman Karl Agell sang on Corrosion of Conformity’s breakthrough Blind album. (He was also in Leadfoot, a late 90s stoner-rock outfit, alongside King Hitter guitarist Scott Little.) Do I expect…
-
Visigoth – The Revenant King
I’m probably the last person I’d expect to see reviewing an album by a band such as Salt Lake City’s Visigoth. I’m usually the coward running the other way when “power metal” is mentioned but something about these traditionalists and their debut The Revenant King threw a bolas around my ankles and dragged me into…
-
Crypt Sermon – Out of the Garden
Everything about Crypt Sermon just screams power-metal (in a Dio-style falsetto) to me. The name, the font, the album cover of a knight riding up to a castle…and yet, I’m told they have more than a hint of the Candlemass, or even the Dio-era Sabbath, to them. Hey, if this album’s anything like Atlantean Kodex,…
-
Viathyn – Cynosure
Once again, another self-release that would put a major label to shame, this is of the same quality as many a band on, for example, Nuclear Blast. The music is very heavy, but progressive, and very heartfelt, reminding me of folk music in its feel and atmosphere. The song-writing is superb, which is how it…
-
Amon Amarth, Sabaton, and Skeletonwitch in Charlotte NC, October 24, 2014
Photos by Justin Richardson Want to read a review of the Thunder Bay show on the same tour? Check it out here – review by Jonathan Smith, photos by Scott Hobbes.