“It is not normal for us to review an album months after its release, but I’ve never been called normal, have I? This album was originally slated to receive the Things You Might Have Missed treatment, but some records simply demand the full-meal deal. This is one of those records.” Brace for Outcry!
“Ten albums down. This landmark tests a band in many ways—not everyone’s destined to land on Defenders of the Faith after all. That vital quality, consistency, remains part of that longevity. And as Angra Metal Guy has stated before “Consistency has been hard to come by for Angra.” At least that was until Secret Garden fell upon the world and took with it those words.” Angra management.
“Austria’s Serenity had a pretty good run over these last 10 years. Starting life as a progressive-minded power metal act, by the time 2013s War of Ages hit the streets they’d shifted to a more streamlined and grandiose style, sounding like Kamelot cross-bred with Sonata Arctica and Avantasia. The formula worked very well due to consistently solid, memorable songwriting and albums like Codex Atlanticus and Lionheart had a lot to offer fans of larger-than-life symphonic power metal. 2020s The Last Knight was a step backward, dumbing down their sound while trying to make it more poppy and accessible, with bright synths and borderline club beats underlying the usual pomp and circumstance. The end product was still Serenity but things sounded plastic, frail, and light on substance. Three years on we get their eighth album, Nemesis A.D.” Serenity NOW!
Angra are back with a new power metal opus this week, so we did our official ranking. You may not agree, but you must study this grand work of metal journalisming.
“The powers that be behind Theocracy saw fit to make us all wait nearly 7 years for a follow-up to 2016s Ghost Ship. This is a sin and something I cannot countenance in good faith. That’s because Theocracy are one of, if not the best American power metal acts running and they deliver such massive, emotion-drenched compositions when they deign to grant us an audience.” Slightly stained class.
“As with so many German metal bands, Iron Savior doesn’t have a kill switch. They’ve been rolling out albums regularly since 1997, completely immune to the shifting tastes and trends in metal. Formed as a classic Euro-power act with legacy ties to the genre’s beginning, founder Piet Sielck has kept his vision and direction very consistent over the band’s 25-plus year voyage, delivering sci-fi-themed power with a heavier, more traditional metal punch and crunch.” Savior complex.
“When the inscrutable beings who rule over the promo sump shackled me to New Zealand’s Bulletbelt, I approached with caution. Formed in 2009, Bulletbelt has operated on a (mostly) biennial release schedule of bog-standard black/thrash albums a la Skeletonwitch. Their line-up has been in a constant state of flux, regularly churning through both vocalists and guitarists, a fact that didn’t exactly inspire much hope for my latest ball and chain.” Bulletbelts to spare.
“I know what you’re thinking. That cover, those outfits, the absolutely killer orange-tinted glasses—they must be Italian. And it’s-a true, the members of Sinheresy hail from Trieste, which technically, in its annexed sliver, flies il Tricolore all the same. Also technically, Sinheresy plays metal, albeit in a variety that resembles the anthemic sympho-ish bounce of Olzon-era Nightwish smattered about with Björiffs to provide a kind of glossy crust.” Sinners bleed orange.
“Ah, Noveria. When I first encountered this talented bunch on sophomore album Forsaken, the clash between the overt melodrama and the serious subject matter forced me to leave a middling score. But 2019’s Aequilibrium was a huge improvement. It was almost like the band had used my review as a template for what to fix, making strides in songwriting, execution, and production alike.” Peak and Death Valley.
“The first thing that interested me about Nuclear Winter is that they’re from Zimbabwe. I don’t know much about Zimbabwe, and I’ve never reviewed or even listened to a record from Zimbabwe, but I thought that maybe metal produced there would have some unique sounds and textures. I quickly found that not to be the case. Seagrave sounds like a thousand other European symphonic power metal-type records.” Uranium graves and winter burials.
