“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.
Fighter Records
Aphrodite – Lust and War Review
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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!
Preludio Ancestral – Oblivion Review
“Next up on the AMG stack of rotating power metal promos is the fourth studio album from Argentinian independent sympho-heavy/power entity Preludio Ancestral, a band heretofore bound to digital obscurity in the South American underground. The band’s past fits with my general impression of many underground metal acts from South American nations: a strange amalgamation of Spanish and English lyricism, bizarre album cover art, and a penchant for very eccentric, almost anarchical musical stylings that run the gamut from alternative rock, Manowar-hailing shirtless heavy metal, and Euro-styled power metal across individual albums.” Hail, hail the shirtless.
Candle – The Keeper’s Curse Review
“It’s now been over a decade since King Diamond released an album. It’s almost been two decades since Mercyful Fate’s final record. Hell, the last time the King released a full-length disc, yours truly was is Mr. A.N. Grier. How fucking sad is that? As you can imagine, I’ve been dead inside since 2007.” Leave a Candle lit for the King.
Death Keepers – Rock This World Review
“Of all metal subgenres, heavy metal is the one with the honor of regularly being used as a synonym for metal at large. Considering it’s arguably the oldest of the bunch, this should come as little surprise, but one could also argue the case for doom metal, which no one outside of the scene ever heard about. Is it then due to age, exposure, or just my own warped view that heavy metal seems to be the most stagnant of metal subgenres? I won’t say nothing fresh ever arises from its corner (Sumerlands is a fine example) but by and large, heavy metal bands today all seem like pale imitations of the golden boys from the 1980’s. Death Keepers don’t do much to change that impression with debut Rock This World.” Remember the old, those days were gold.
