Lost in Time

Lost in Time: Adramelch – Irae Melanox Review

In 1986 Fates Warning released Awaken the Guardian. This incredible album set a new foundation as well as a new boundary for the very new, exploding, and exciting progressive approach to metal. It was imaginative and provides to this day a great piece of musical escapism. The next year, near Milan, a few teenage friends would spend their time, as did countless other bands, covering songs by Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Queensrÿche and generally honing their musical skills. At one point they had enough of covers.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: Blood Farmers – Blood Farmers Review

Most people today know about the bands that were direct results of Black Sabbath; for example, Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Solitude Aeternus, Trouble, Solstice etc. These bands are classics for a reason, they provide something new and they excel at it. Sometimes, though, a band takes their influences and innovates just enough to “perfect” the sounds. In doom metal, it’s not as clear as who that might be, but I’d argue that band could have been Blood Farmers.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: A Double Dose of Bulgarian Epic Metal Ft. Trotyl and Dr. Doolittle

Most people probably don’t think of Bulgaria in the ‘80s as a particular hub of heavy metal. If they think about epic heavy metal, they almost definitely don’t. In fact, the metal-archives only has eleven releases marked for the entire ‘80s as being Bulgarian, with several being from the same bands. In spite of this, two of those releases feature some of the ‘80s best epic metal.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: Acero Letal – Veloz Invencible/Duro Metal Review

While some may prefer English as a sung language (myself included), I also enjoy when bands sing in their native tongues if they feel more comfortable doing so. While there aren’t many noticeable acts choosing to do this, Acero Letal are one of the best Spanish speaking Heavy Metal acts of the past decade. Hailing from Chile and with only a demo and a single to their name, the band has nonetheless caught the attention of many through their unrelenting speed metal assault.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: Manilla Road – Mark of the Beast Review

One year ago today (July 27th) metal lost one of its most ardent and valiant warriors in Mark “The Shark” Shelton. Mark’s impact on the metal underground cannot be understated. He was a passionate musician who cared deeply for both the music and the people. His career with Manilla Road spanned four decades and nearly twenty remarkable records. Like many, I’ve taken the year since his tragic death to more deeply reflect on Manilla Road’s career. In doing so, I’ve found a much deeper appreciation for eras of the band that I had mostly ignored in favor of their classics. In particular, Mark of the Beast has resonated with me, leaving me wondering why I didn’t appreciate it as much before.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: V8 – Luchando por el Metal Review

One of the most perplexing and hotly debated topics in history (particularly economic) is the tragic descent of Argentina from one of the pillars of the world economy as late as the 1950s to just another South American country fraught with economic and political turmoil. To dive into the history of this country is a tiring task – one that would take multiple books just to cover certain epochs. Yet one period of time continues to scar the national collective – the military dictatorship of 1976 until 1983.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time: Stingray – Rain Review

Stingray were a band that was rather mysterious, they appeared essentially out of nowhere, were signed almost immediately by a large label in King records and dropped a debut album right away. They had seemingly no demos leading up to this, no known previous member experience in popular bands or anything. Not quite the typical start to a career for an 80s metal band to say the least, especially uncommon for Japan where metal bands being signed by big labels in the early to mid 1980s was a rare occurrence.