Fighter Records

Greyhawk – Thunderheart Review

By Holdeneye on April 4, 2024 in Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 44 comments

“Greyhawk peddles traditional metal with a strong element of shred included thanks to their mighty guitar virtuoso, Jesse Berlin. The band’s focus on positivity and heroism is my favorite thing about them, and their music never fails to raise my spirits. An incident at the band’s 2021 show in Boise showed that heroism moving beyond fantasy and into reality when bassist Darin Wall was wounded while preventing a gunman from opening fire on the people gathered outside the venue. Now that’s a fucking heavy metal tale.” Tougher than lead.

Forged in Black – Lightning in the Ashes Review

By Holdeneye on June 26, 2023 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 13 comments

“Early on in my reviewing career, I had the honor of covering Descent of the Serpent, the sophomore record from British metal sub-genre benders Forged in Black. I was enamored by the interesting songwriting on display on that record, and I was equally impressed by the incredibly diverse vocal performance by singer Chris Storozynski. This combo of songcraft and vocals reminded me at times of classic metal bands like Candlemass, Judas Priest, and Metallica, but at other times, the album veered into modern groove metal territory. It was an eclectic mixture for sure, but it felt like taking a walk down my own personal metal memory lane. Even way back then, I knew that I would be anxiously awaiting the album’s follow-up.” Genre hoarding.

Greyhawk – Keepers of the Flame Review

By Holdeneye on June 16, 2020 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 68 comments

“The other day, I was eating lunch with my 6-year-old son Ezkaton, and I swear to God, he gazed out the window with a thousand-yard stare and said the following without any prompting and without any music playing in the background: “Dad, I don’t know why I like Greyhawk so much. I don’t even try to like them, but they just make me like them.”” Sons of iron.

War Dogs – Die By My Sword Review

By Huck N Roll on January 8, 2020 in 2020, Epic Metal, Fighter Records, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Epic Metal, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 26 comments

“Now we can get down to brass tacks, which in the case of War Dogs is a tasty combination of old Iron Maiden, Manilla Road, and maybe a hint of Visigoth.” Dogs with swords.

Aphrodite – Lust and War Review

By Huck N Roll on July 10, 2019 in 2019, Canadian Metal, Fighter Records, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, 29 comments

“The dog days of summer are upon us. The glory of finding albums that are monthly contenders for our highest accolades seems but a distant memory. Instead, we find ourselves scouring the pits of promo hell in desperate searches for something, anything, with redeeming qualities. So I find myself saddled (by my own choice) with Lust and War, the debut album from Toronto’s Aphrodite.” Speed kills.

Forged in Black – Descent of the Serpent Review

By Holdeneye on March 15, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Fighter Records, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 44 comments

“My foray into the world of metal music proceeded with a two-pronged approach. Killswitch Engage ushered me in through the metalcore gate by which many of my generation have found their metal calling. It didn’t take long for this path to lead me into the rich territory of modern extreme metal, and I surveyed the land and found it to be good. But around the time that I was first hearing “The End of Heartache” on the radio, a friend of mine showed me a band that he had seen on VH1’s 40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs. The band was Manowar, and what my friend meant for laughs struck a very serious chord within me.” Heart of steel and serpents.

Lord Divine – Facing Chaos Review

By Steel Druhm on February 5, 2019 in 2019, Argentinian Metal, Fighter Records, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 107 comments

“One of the biggest water hazards in the reviewing game is tackling a unknown band with a decent sized discography already in place that you somehow missed out on entirely. Though I usually try to avoid these challenging situations, Argentina’s prog-power wielders Lord Divine made me take a risky play here. A prolific unit, they boast four previous albums in addition to today’s topic of interest, Facing Chaos. I’d never heard of them, but the promo write up checked all the right boxes and mentioned all the right influences, so I took a cautious flyer.” Chaos is a ladder.

Witchfyre – Grimorium Verum Review

By Huck N Roll on August 18, 2018 in 2018, Fighter Records, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 27 comments

“What’s this? Someone other than Dr. A.[1. bigail]N.[2. utjob] Grier reviewing a Mercyful Fate-worshiping release? Say it ain’t so! Well, sorry for all you King Diamond weenies, but it’s true. With the good Doctor tied up on other things, it falls to me to tackle this new album from Spain’s Witchfyre.”

Iron Hunter – Mankind Resistance Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on July 19, 2018 in 2018, Fighter Records, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Spanish Metal, Heavy Metal, 61 comments

“I can’t remember the last time I reviewed so many back-to-back black metal releases. But, no matter if it’s black metal or power metal, with so listening sessions of a single style of music, it takes awhile to snap out of it. I mean, Craft, Immortal, and Marduk have a shitload of albums to sift through. Though I know almost every one of them by heart, I never miss the opportunity to re-listen to a band’s entire catalog before beginning a new release. So, after hours and hours of listening to albums to better compare a new release to its predecessors, I’m free and now tasked with reviewing the debut album of a heavy/power metal band called Iron Hunter.” Iron up the metal!

Airborn – Lizard Secrets: Part One – Land of the Living Review

By Eldritch Elitist on June 2, 2018 in 2018, Fighter Records, Italian Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, 53 comments

“Lizard Secrets! LIZARD SECRETS! When sifting through the endless pile of gore-drenched and occult-themed album titles in the AMG promo bin, something as adorable as Lizard Secrets immediately stands out. As for Airborn themselves, well, they’ve had a tough time doing the same in the power metal scene over the past twenty two years of their existence, plugging along on a semi-regular release schedule that I had been completely unaware of until I plucked this album from the a(mg)ether.” I toad you that was a secret!