I can still safely say that Ravening Iron is primed to be my album of the year. Eternal Champion are one of the best active bands in traditional metal right now and this is simply another testament why.
Just one look at the cover of the demo tape tells us everything we need to know. Scanning the artwork, you see an all black and blood-red aesthetic featuring a medieval warrior sitting upon a throne. Your eyes are drawn to the words “WHETSTONE” and “ANCIENT METAL”. Now I see something like this and it immediately gives me a certain expectation of the band’s sound and luckily, Ancient Metal sounds exactly like it looks.
Track premiere from Old Mother Hell’s upcoming album Lord of Demise! This German trio play a fantastic blend of heavy and doom metal.
Possessed Steel are a four-piece traditional heavy metal band hailing from Toronto, Canada. They’ve been toiling away in the underground since 2010 and two EPs and one band break-up later, they are finally poised to release their highly anticipated debut album Aedris on Temple of Mystery Records!
An interview and track premiere from Megaton Sword. Checkout “Verene” from their upcoming debut album Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire!
Musically, Moontowers straddle the line between 80s traditional metal like Manowar (Sign of the Hammer) and epic doom ala Candlemass or Solitude Aeternus.
The Cult Metal Classics label is known for digging up past metal jewels and re-releasing them. Most of them are from the 80’s and here we have a new band and a new album from this label and I gotta tell you: if Steelwitch were an 80’s band this EP would be considered a stone cold classic and they’d be straight to the top of this label roster.
The winds of a city howl and have called forth the entrance of a new entity: Fer de Lance. Formed by current members of Smoulder and Moros Nyx, a different brand of epic doom has appeared on the horizon.
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.
This elusive project from the middle of Greece is back after a five year absence with an extended play released by No Remorse, a label widely known for their extensive focus on traditional metal.