It’s hard to believe that the year (and decade too!) is over in just one week. As far as traditional heavy metal goes, 2019 has been an exceptional year with one fantastic release after another from the get-go. Now it’s time to look back at some of the Ride into Glory author team’s favorite traditional heavy metal releases from the past year!
Follow-ups are always a bit of a risky affair. There’s fan expectation, and if the artist doesn’t evolve at all, there’s earlier material to overcome- many bands can’t rise to the challenge, and either break up or put out a flop of a second album. Terminus, hailing from Belfast, had more of a hurdle than most due to the fact that their debut album, The Reaper’s Spiral, is one of the absolute best albums of the last decade. How does one live up to that?
The old Italian spirit of heavy metal mastery has been proved undaunted by the years, changing trends, and the often non-existent financial support for the strange and epic. Vultures Vengeance, hailing from Rome, have in their ten years of existence completely eschewed all convention to bring us their unique take on epic heavy metal.
After nearly four years of virtual silence, epic heavy metal band Terminus are ready to unleash their second album, A Single Point of Light, via Cruz Del Sur Records. Despite just one album to their name prior to this, the sheer quality of Terminus’s songwriting makes them stand out as one of the genre’s finest newcomers.
Lunar Shadow are a traditional heavy metal band from Germany who have never paid attention to the scene’s trends. Characterized by their unique blend of influences that ranges from post-punk to black metal, Lunar Shadow’s guitar lead driven sound sets them apart from their peers. They released their sophomore full length album, The Smokeless Fires, earlier this year on Cruz Del Sur Records.
We are now half way through the year and what an incredible six months it has been. The bar has been raised for 2019 and there has been high quality album after high quality album. This quarter alone we to nearly 40 different releases across all types of traditional metal to highlight the best ones for you all. The winter 2019 wrap up was our first iteration of this, but we’ve changed things up this time around and involved all of RIG’s regular contributors!
What happens when a man takes off his Bathory crop top and wear Pink Turns Blue shirts for promo-shoots of his new album? Not necessarily bad things.
“Raw and passionate” is a self description provided by Portugese epic metallers Ravensire. We March Forward, the band’s 2013 debut album and my first exposure to their music, clearly demonstrated this to be the case with its no-frills approach. A few years later and we saw the release of the band’s sophomore album, The Cycle Never Ends. Ravensire were more ambitious with this sophomore effort and it manifested itself with a bigger emphasis on songwriting and storytelling. Three years later and the band is set to release their third album titled, A Stone Engraved in Red, with intent to continue in the steps of its predecessors and prove indeed that the cycle never ends.
Hailing from the cold north of Finland, Chevalier play a brand of uncompromising, dungeon-like speed metal inspired by acts such as ADX, Brocas Helm, Omen, and Savage Grace just to name a few. The band already has 2 EPs under their belt and is now finally ready to unleash their debut album, Destiny Calls, this week. You can find our review of that album here. We caught up with founding member and guitarist Tommi to discuss the upcoming album.
I think nearly everyone reading this will be able to relate to the experience of stumbling onto a new band and being completely wowed by the fact that modern bands can sound fresh while also writing songs of such incredibly high quality.