“A supergroup of sorts—featuring members of Temperance, Serenity, and Even Flow, among many many others—Wonders play a triumphant, uplifting, adventure-bound sort of heavy/power metal. That means belted cleans, big stadium-crushing choruses, sparkling synths, speedy guitar chugs and noodles, double bass runs out the ass, and ten thousand metric tons of shredded cheddar.” If Wonder Bread was cheese.
“It’s been a sparse year for traditional metal for old Holdeneye. I usually cover at least a few albums of the classic variety each year, but as I look back over the travesty that is my “Albums Reviewed” spreadsheet, I see only one 2021 album with the lone “heavy metal” tag. A couple of factors play into this shortage, namely supply chain issues (read: Steel Druhm takes most of the classic metal albums for himself because he’s old) and my own lack of productivity. Well, the holiday season is the perfect time to set all wrongs right, so I swiftly grabbed this, the third record from FireWölfe.” Power…of the Wölfe.
“As if the cover of Memories of Old’s debut wasn’t enough of an indicator, this one is for all the fantasy nerds out there. Promo materials for The Zeramin Game identify Memories of Old’s music as symphonic power metal, but if we’re talking specifics, The Zeramin Game is a spirited cross between castle metal and pirate metal. It’s the kind of album I’d expect might be born if Serenity and Alestorm had an inkling for each other — an album concerning equal parts ancient times, legend, and prophecy and equal parts a journey across turbulent seas.” Game-core.
“When it comes to my favorite metal guilty pleasures of the past decade, Ancient Bards’ first two records have locked down a pretty sweet slot. Arriving at a time when even the first wave of Rhapsody imitators were beginning to lose relevance, the Bards fully embraced the irony of their “Ancient” moniker, injecting a well-worn formula with Power Quest-levels of sugar-coated melodies and the invigorating folk overtures of Equilibrium to formulate something that was fully cheesy, yet fully fresh.” Bards, beets, Battlestar Galactica.
“Hey look, the weirdest inside joke in all of metal is still going strong. Backstory: Masters of Disguise is a throwback speed metal act living and breathing to pay homage to a particularly obscure band from the 80s called Savage Grace. Who, you ask? Exactly. They were a good band but barely got any traction or notoriety despite a pretty solid outing with 1986s After the Fall From Grace. Now Masters of Disguise (named after Grace’s debut album) seek to revive their hero’s nonexistent legacy due to some highly tenuous ties to the original singer.” First Will and Grace comes back and now Savage Grace too?
“As a wise man named Mr. Fisting Himself once observed, the latest trend in metal is finding the most obscure acts from the past and repackaging them as underground, cult and cool, or to quote the man Himself, embarking on “the slow journey up it’s own ass.” Taking part in this mining mission to Uranus, Masters of Disguise is a band wholly created to pay homage to the extremely under known mid 80s speed metal act Savage Grace. Whom, you ask? Exactly.” Talk about wallowing in obscurity! These guys are so far up metal’s ass they may never be seen again, but I thought the same thing about their progenitor too.
