Diabolic Night: Beyond the Realm (2019)

It is getting very difficult to keep all of these black/thrash/speed metal bands straight.  It seems to be a major trend to go back to the early 1980's and take influence from Motörhead, Venom and Bathory.  One band I think I am going to be able to remember though is this German group, because this album is truly awesome.

Diabolic Night throws in some obvious German thrash metal influence, incorporating Kreator, Sodom and Destruction, and even more melodic acts like Running Wild into their early blackened speed metal riffs.  The result is a caustic, yet shockingly melodic and infectious release.  Diabolic Night have mastered the ability to bring in some truly unique riffs.  Just look at the Egyptian-sounding riff to "Crescent Moon Rise". 

This album grabs the listener from the very first moments and refuses to let go.  There are a lot of bands these days playing this style of metal, but few of them have achieved this kind of infectious energy.  This album is just a ton of fun. 

Baxaxaxa: The Old Evil (2019)

Baxaxaxa is definitely one of the odder names I have come across.  It is apparently the name of an obscure demon found by former guitarist Unholy Worshipper of Shub (probably not his real name).  The German black metal band (duh) originally formed in 1992, releasing a single demo.  Original drummer Condemptor (no clue) reformed the band in 2017 with new members Sulphur Irae, Cryptic Tormentor, Traumatic and Antitron Desecratum W2J1L8.  I will refrain from making the same joke twice.  At any rate, the band re-formed and released this demo last year.

One can definitely see that this is a band that dates back to 1992.  Their sound is based in ancient black metal similar to early Bathory and Mayhem.  The music is dark and atmospheric with primitive-sounding riffs and vampiric vocals.  Keyboards work to fill in the gaps giving the demo an ever more sinister feel.

This is a short demo that calls back to an earlier time in black metal.  This is not exactly an unusual sound to take on these days, but Baxaxaxa come into it honestly.  This is a damn good release, even if it is not anything new. 

Total Hate: Throne Behind a Black Veil (2019)

It was not all that long ago that I thought that German black metal was kind of a rare beast.  Since that time, it seems I have come across a number of very good German black metal bands, including Imha Tarikat, Bethlehem and Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, among others.  Total Hate is another such band.

As one would expect from a band called Total Hate, this is absolutely filthy and angry, hateful black metal.  It is mostly mid-paced, riff-based black metal in the vein of groups like Mayhem and Darkthrone.  The production is crisp and clean on this, allowing the riffs and each of the instruments to be heard clearly.  That is a rare thing in black metal. 

The only real issue with the album is that it is not the most original of albums.  It is a bit derivative of groups that have come before and does not really have its own voice.  That is not generally a problem when the music is as good as this one though.  And there are some damn good songs on this release.

This release by Total Hate is am impressive release of old school black metal.  This album would have been a classic if it came out in the mid 1990's.  Unfortunately, in 2019, it's a decent release but, by no means groundbreaking.

Gravehammer: Primordial Principles | Fundamental Forces (2019)

I'm pretty sure the title of this EP is actually longer than the EP itself.  This is the third and, thus far, most recent release by the German band.  It is made up of four songs and lasts just under 17 minutes.

This release takes on more of a death/doom vibe, with opening track "White Void" sounding like something that Asphyx or Autopsy would have produced.  The release mostly continues along that vein, eschewing the catchiness of the previous two releases in favor of a heavier, more aggressive sound.  The doom metal influences are also much more prominent on this release.  Gravehammer occasionally slows things way down to a crawl, something they did not do often on the previous releases.  "Solum Aeternum" still possesses most of the characteristics of the previous releases, but by and large this one sounds quite different.  The vocals have also changed, taking a much more gruff approach most of the time, but adding some blackened rasps as well.

This release finds Gravehammer evolving into more of a death/doom sound.  Most of the black metal elements have been erased, with the exception of the occasional vocal, and a lot of the rumbling catchiness is also gone.  What is left is a band very much in the vein of the aforementioned Asphyx and Autopsy.  This is not a bad thing, but I wonder if the band has lost some of their identity here.

Gravehammer: Nine Days Deep (2017)

Here we have the second release from the subject of yesterday's post, the death/doom band Gravehammer.  I talked about the band's first release, in particular their rumbling and downright catchy riffs.  This release is mostly more of the same.

The first half of the release is the second EP.  All of the songs are new here and the band built on the foundation set on their first release.  If anything, the riffs and songs on this release are even more likely to get stuck in the head.  Most of the tracks are built around one or two riffs and are quite short, other than the seven minute epic last track.  The songs are much more stripped-down and raw.  The vocal style has changed somewhat, taking on more of a clean tone, but with a sinister edge.  The vocals are more of an angry bark than the more death metal-style vocals on the first release.  Some of the songs seem more influenced by a group like Carnivore than any doom metal band, particularly "Friday Night - Coffin Ride", which at what point stops and the singer yells out "Because dead chicks don't say no!"  Very Peter Steele-esque.

The second part of my release is a live recording.  This is only on the physical copies of the release and not on the digital copy.  The live recording sounds decent, but it does sound like a very small crowd.  There are times you can almost hear conversations happening around the recording equipment.  Ultimately the live recording is not essential listening. 

It is a little surprising that Gravehammer went in this direction on this release.  They went for a rawer and more simplistic sound.  I think I prefer the first demo, but this is decent enough.

Gravehammer: Gravehammer (2016)

There are two bands on the Metal Archives named Gravehammer.  One is a Swedish group that released a couple quick demos and then changed their name to Ensnared.  The other is this group, a German band active since 2015.  Somehow, I ended up with all of their recordings to date.  Both of the Gravehammers combine death and doom metal and generally sound somewhat similar.

This is Gravehammer's first demo, a six-song affair that lasts less than half an hour.  The ideas are still raw and developing at this point, but the songs are generally short with rumbling riffs, a lot of bass and gruff, throaty vocals.  Most of the songs have a heavy groove that makes nodding along (or headbanging) pretty easy to do.  The riffs are pretty damn catchy. 

This is a very good demo and a decent foundation for this band to build on.  As I said, I have their other recordings as well, and will be taking a look at how Gravehammer evolved from here.   

Accept: Restless and Wild (1982)

Accept, to me, is a band that has not really gotten its due as an extremely important band in the history and evolution of metal.  They were possibly one of the first metal bands to truly touch on speed metal and are a major step from Judas Priest and the NWOBHM to Helloween and Blind Guardian.  In addition, Accept's first frontman Udo Dirkschneider should be more recognized for being such an important and influential singer.

This is Accept's fourth full-length album and is the jumping off point for most speed metal bands.  That is thanks to the title track and, of course, "Fast as a Shark".  Pay no attention to the rather ridiculous song title, this is a balls-to-the-wall (see what I did there?), rip-roaring track that spawned an entire subgenre.  There are some slower tracks on the album, such as "Neon Nights", but "Fast as a Shark" is the song that most remember from this release. 

The band is in terrific form throughout the album, crafting an absolutely perfect representation of what it meant to be a metal band in the early 1980's.  The riffs were heavy and loud, Udo's vocals were powerful, despite the fact that he is not close to what I would consider a GOOD singer.  His rough, gruff tone fit the music exceptionally well though.  Accept takes the sound that Judas Priest really perfected and runs with it.

Accept really should be more renowned than they are.  They were a very impressive early 1980's metal band that had a big impact on the speed metal genre.  Unfortunately Accept kind of gets the short end of the stick, not getting their proper mention along with groups like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.  This album should be a metal classic.

Destruction: Born to Perish (2019)

Destruction is one of the Big Three of German thrash metal, however they have generally been my least favorite of the three.  That is not to say that I do not enjoy them.  Release from Agony is a fantastic album and their first three albums are absolute classics from the scene.  It is just that I have typically preferred Kreator and Sodom over Destruction.  All that being said, Destruction's later albums have been the best of the three bands.  That is certainly true when comparing each band's most recent album.

This is the band's fourteenth full-length album of original material (they did release two albums of re-recorded tracks).  And very little has changed in the band's sound.  Founding members bassist/vocalist Schmier and guitarist Mike Sifringer remain with the band, forming the backbone and crafting the sound that has served Destruction well for almost forty years.  So what have here is typical for the band: rampaging riffs, blazing leads and sneering vocals.

Destruction has once again released an album full of catchy-as-hell songs.  Tracks like "We Breed Evil", "Butchered for Life" and the title track are bound to get stuck in listeners' heads.  The only real complaint I can make is that there is not much variation between the tracks and the band has basically released this exact same album every time for the last fifteen years.  That being said, Destruction knows what they are doing and they do it quite well. 

I always enjoy a new Destruction album.  While they do not really ever reinvent the wheel these days, they still pack a wallop in each new release and they have been amazingly consistent over the years.  This is unlikely to rate on my top albums list, but there is something to be said for some good, old-fashioned thrash metal.

Gamma Ray: Land of the Free (1995)

A few weeks back I reviewed a tribute album to German power metal masters Gamma Ray which featured a number of up and coming groups from the genres of heavy, doom and power metal.  I was familiar with Gamma Ray, but had only checked out one album by the band previously.  Most of that was due to the difficulty in tracking down the older, more highly regarded albums.  Even the one I had (Somewhere Out in Space) was expensive.  But I was blown away by one song in particular off of that tribute album and I decided to see if I could track down the album it appeared on.  This is that album.

The song I was referring to is "Rebellion in Dreamland" and it is the first song on this album.  The cover was pretty damn good, but the original is so much better.  Seriously, this is a power metal masterpiece.  It is extremely dynamic, going through a number of musical sections, but it remains at an extremely high quality throughout.  It is one of the catchier power metal songs I have ever heard, and that is truly saying something.  This song is absolutely terrific.  It is very hard to top.

Unfortunately Gamma Ray is never able to quite match the bar they set on the opening track, but that does not mean that this album is a letdown, far from it.  In fact, this is probably one of the finest examples of a power metal album out there.  There are a number of great songs on the rest of the album, including "Man on a Mission", the title track, "Abyss of the Void" and "Salvation's Calling".  The music is generally fast-paced power metal that clearly resembles the type of music Kai Hansen was writing with his previous band Helloween.  And if this album sounds a lot like Helloween's Walls of Jericho, well there is a reason for that.  Hansen sings on this album, just as he did on Helloween's aforementioned debut.  So we have Hansen writing the music and singing.

There are very few weak moments on the entire album.  I will point out that "Fairytale" is so short as to be mostly irrelevant and "Farewell" tries hard to be Gamma Ray's version of Blind Guardian's "Bard's Song", but mostly fails.  And finally "Time to Break Free", which features Helloween's Michael Kiske, ironically the singer who replaced Hansen in Helloween, comes across a little clumsy.

This album is an absolutely essential power metal album, and should be held in the same esteem as albums like Walls of Jericho, both Keeper of the Seven Keys albums and Tales from the Twilight World.  It is an absolutely incredible album from start to finish, even if it never really comes close to matching "Rebellion in Dreamland".

Tankard: Chemical Invasion (1987)

Well, since I just talked about Tankard yesterday, I do not really need to re-introduce them.  The German thrash metal band released their follow-up album to 1986's Zombie Attack the very next year. 

Tankard was already pretty damn good on their debut album, but they still managed to improve on their sophomore release.  If anything, this album is even more savage and biting than their first one, kicking off with some terrific riffs in "Total Addiction".  The songs are more sophisticated from a compositional standpoint, featuring varied structures and a more dynamic sound, rather than the more direct songs on the debut.  Shockingly, the band even uses some very pretty acoustic melodies leading into the instrumental "For a Thousand Beers", which is quite the dichotomy when considering the title.  But that song represents the best songwriting on the album.  The band also uses a blues riff to open the title track.

The band's sense of humor and obsession with alcohol persists.  "Tantrum" is about being pissed off that someone stole your beer.  And then there are songs like "Puke" and "Alcohol", which is re-recorded from their debut release.

I am just beginning to discover the music of Tankard with these two releases.  Their debut was impressive enough, but this is even better and belongs in the pantheon of great German thrash metal albums.  I will have to keep going with this band.  I still do not know if their larger body of work deserves to be held up with the Big Three (Destruction, Kreator and Sodom), but I could be convinced.

Tankard: Zombie Attack (1986)

From Tank to Tankard.  I remember a discussion on the metal forums about whether there is a actually a Big Four of German thrash metal.  Obviously there is a Big Three, consisting of Destruction, Kreator and Sodom.  But is there a fourth titan of Teutonic thrash?  Many members posited that if there were, perhaps that band would be the beer-loving goofballs in Tankard.  Personally, my vote would go to Holy Moses, but Tankard has been going fairly steadily ever since their formation in 1983.  So there is something to be said for longevity and consistency.

Zombie Attack is the debut album from Tankard, who got a bit of a later start in the game than their more well-known colleagues.  The band's sense of humor and light-heartedness is on display early on with the title track which talks about watching horror movies then finding it was coming true.  Tankard is definitely less serious than the members of the Big Three.  With songs like "Alcohol" and "(Empty) Tankard", their obsession with beer shines through.  The latter makes a terrific drinking song with a grooving stomping riff.

Musically, this is fast-paced thrash with a lot of bass-heavy riffs thrown out at the listener.  Despite it being a debut release, and the goofy lyrics, there is no doubt that this is a mature-sounding thrash metal outfit.  The riffing is surprisingly sophisticated, sounding like the work of a veteran band.  The vocals are often delivered in a harsh yell, but are often backed by gang vocals singing along during the chorus.

This is a damn impressive debut.  It is much more refined than the debuts by Destruction, Kreator and Sodom.  I am still not sure that Tankard belongs on the same level as the other three bands, but their debut fits in well.

Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult: Mardom (2019)

First of all, what a name.  That is a mouthful.  Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult (or DNS as they will be henceforth known as) is a German black metal band.  Just a few weeks ago I recall talking about how black metal is not as prevalent in Germany as in other countries.  Since that time, I think I have reviewed three German black metal bands.  Still, it is not as popular as thrash or speed metal.  I am sticking by that.

DNS stands out a little bit in one respect from other black metal bands.  That reason is that the vocalist Onielar is a woman.  It is not exactly easy to tell with her howling, shrieking vocal style that sounds like Dimmu Borgir's Shagrath and Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth combined.  I cannot think of too many other black metal bands with a female singer that are not borderline folk metal bands (Arkona) or that are not a one-woman band (Myrkur).  So, there is that.

Otherwise, DNS is a fairly typical, hyper-blasting black metal band with some atmospheric moments, but by and large built on blackened thrash metal riffs and pounding drums.  The band does lock into a rumbling groove at times and some melody does rear its head at others.  This is most prevalent in "T.O.W.D.A.T.H.A.B.T.E.", which is easily the best song on the album.  The title stands for "The One Who Dwells Above the Heavens and Below the Earth".

The most impressive aspect of this album is the overwhelming dark and evil atmosphere seeping through every riff and shriek.  This is on display throughout the album, and is most present at the beginning of "Exaudi Domine" and during the introduction to "Imperishable Soulless Gown".

This is an incredibly impressive black metal album, and probably one of the best traditional black metal albums of the year.  I guess I am going to stop talking about a lack of black metal from Germany.  This one should not be missed.

Lunar Shadow: Triumphator (2015)

Lunar Shadow has been making a little bit of noise in the underground as one of the better example of a new wave of traditional heavy metal bands.  The German band has released two full-lengths and this EP, which was their debut, to impressive accolades.  I first heard about them after being randomly sent the J-card from the cassette release of this album in another order.  Not the tape mind you, just the J-card.  Well, that was not going to stand, so I tracked this release down.

From the album title and the cover art, it is pretty obvious this band ascribes to the swords-and-sorcery fantasy themes that are fairly common in a lot of early 80's metal styles and to the power metal and epic doom metal genres in particular.  The music here is a terrific take on NWOBHM bands like Angel Witch and Blitzkrieg, with soaring dual guitar melodies and decent, if not great, vocals.  The music is generally fast-paced with infectious hooks and melodies.  And the bass takes strong influence from the galloping bass work of Iron Maiden.  There is definitely a lot going on here musically, and even though Lunar Shadow does not break the mold or present anything truly new or original, they are incredibly proficient at what they do.

This is a terrific EP of a band who seems to be rising.  The band has recently changed their vocalist and I am anxious to hear what effect, if any, that has had on the band's sound.  This is a very short introduction to a damn good band.  I will have to track down their full-length albums.

Bethlehem: Dictius Te Necare (1996)

This is a very weird one.  Bethlehem takes their cue from a number of other metal bands by taking a positive biblical reference and putting a very dark sound to it.  Bethlehem was an early German black metal band taking shape at the time that the second wave of black metal was ruling in Sweden and Norway.  I believe I have discussed previously that Germany has not been a major place for black metal, but this is a very good exception.

Bethlehem has a more experimental structure with a lot of doom metal influences in their sound.  The band frequently goes from fast-paced, rumbling riffs to morosely slow chord progressions.  It is extremely dark and unsettling music that very likely had a massive influence on the depressive black metal wave of the late 90's/early 2000's.  But as interesting as the music is, this would likely not move the needle all that much if it were not for one other element.

When discussing this album, the major thing that must be mentioned above all else is the vocals.  Quite simply, they sound absolutely psychotic.  Going from a malevolent whisper to a blood-curdling shriek and tortured wailing comes unsettlingly easily.  It is the vocals that really make this album what it is.  The fact that the lyrics are in German makes them that much more terrifying, because let us face it, German is kind of a an odd language.  Combined with the vocal style here it is horrifying.

This album should be a classic.  It reminds me a lot of Silencer's Death - Pierce Me, though maybe not quite as extreme.  It is masterfully creepy and eerie, but it does not seem to have quite the following it deserves. 

Destruction: Mad Butcher (1987)

I talk about German thrash metal a lot.  Well, I am a huge fan of thrash metal, and despite discovering German thrash significantly later in my life, I actually prefer it to Bay Area thrash metal.  In general.  There are obviously bands such as Metallica, Testament and Exodus that I love, but I really do tend to like the more aggressive, rawer style of the German bands. 

There are of course three primary bands that most thrash metal fans know of as the German Big Three.  Of the German Big Three, the only sure thing is that Destruction is my least favorite.  My views on Kreator versus Sodom change almost daily, but Destruction generally lags behind.  That is not to suggest in any way that I dislike them, I just like the other two more.  I love Release from Agony, and I believe Destruction is probably the best of the three currently, but those early albums cannot be ignored.

That brings us to today's review, Destruction's Mad Butcher EP.  This was released shortly after the band's sophomore release and it featured two new members who were extremely technically proficient at their instruments.  That is likely the reason the members were brought on as Destruction sought to distance themselves from the raw and dirty sound of their countrymen.  It worked reasonably well as Destruction is generally known as the better musicians than Kreator or Sodom.

There are just four songs on this release, including the title track, which has become something of an anthem for Destruction with the Mad Butcher basically becoming the band's mascot.  The song acts as a showcase for the new members and the band's new direction.  The second track is a cover of a Plasmatics song, which is emotionally-charged.  I am not familiar with the original version, but the song is impressive.  The third (and last real song) is a slow-burning one with more advanced composition than anything the band had done previously.

This is an impressive EP.  It is not really a vital release, unless one is a huge fan of Destruction (particularly in light of its combination with the previous album into a compilation), but it shows the band maturing and is an interesting step in the band's progression. 

Running Wild: Under Jolly Roger (1987)

It took me a long time to discover Running Wild's music.  I had always heard about them of course, the German band is a major influence in the power and speed metal genres.  Running Wild is often mentioned in the same breath as Blind Guardian and Helloween when discussing the origins of power metal.  But so much of their material was hard to find and out of print, so it took a long time to find anything.  That started to change last year and this is now the third album by Running Wild in my collection, joining Death or Glory and Blazon Stone.  This is also the earliest of the albums in my collection and was one of my primary targets when I began looking into Running Wild's music.

This album may be Running Wild's first to take on the pirate theme that the band would become well-known for.  I could be wrong about that, but it is certainly when the theme became the most obvious.  This is obviously different than groups like Alestorm, who take the pirate theme to the next level, but Running Wild did have a strong lyrical theme about pirates.  It showed through in the title track here which also featured various sound effects to sound like cannon blasts.

The songs are here are melodic, yet heavy and catchy as all hell.  There are a number of fist-pumping choruses that make the listener stand up and take notice, including the obvious "Raise Your Fist" and then "Beggar's Night" and "Raw Ride".  The riffs take obvious influence from the likes of Accept, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and there are some incredibly impressive galloping guitar solos as well.  The guitars are of course the major drawing card on this album, but the rhythm section shines through as well and is a bit of an underrated part of the band.  The vocals are delivered in kind of a sneering snarl, but are still quite melodic and powerful.

I am still in the process of discovering Running Wild, but this is my favorite album to date.  It packs a punch while retaining an infectious melodic sound.  The pirate theme is not all-consuming at this point, as only a couple of songs deal with pirates.  It is an interesting theme, and at the time was definitely unusual.  This album is a lot of fun and is influential for a very good reason.  This is a great example of what power metal from Europe used to sound like, back when "power" was the operative word.  I will be continuing to explore Running Wild in the future, I have a long way to go.

Imha Tarikat: Kara Ihlas (2019)

Imha Tarikat (and no, I don't know what that means) is a German black metal band.  Despite Germany's impressive history in various metal genres (heavy, speed, power and thrash in particular), there is not nearly as much black metal that has made an impression on me.  There are definitely a number of bands that I have enjoyed (Dark Fortress, Bethlehem, etc.), but compared to the country's other scenes, there is not quite as much representation in black metal.

Apparently, Imha Tarikat has Turkish roots and takes some measure of influence from the Quran, which is definitely an unusual lyrical theme in metal, in particular the often anti-religious black metal.  But apart from having song titles in Turkish, there is not really much to set this album apart from most other black metal.  I would expect some Middle Eastern folk music elements or chanting, or something, but there is not really anything of the sort here.

None of this is to say that the music itself is disappointing.  Musically, Imha Tarikat derives a lot of influence from the nastier moments of Norwegian groups like Darkthrone (A Blaze in the Northern Sky) or Enslaved (Frost), although almost exclusively the relative bands' obviously black metal output.  The band is a duo consisting of a singer/guitarist and a drummer.  Most of the riffs are pretty standard for black metal, and the drumming is fairly typical as well.  The most interesting aspects are the frequent blazing solos and the harsh, yelled vocals.

I actually really enjoy this release, even though it really is not ground-breaking.  It is a fairly safe black metal album with some great songs and terrific riffs.  Just because it does not break the mold does not mean that it is bad by any stretch.  There is a lot of talent here and this is the band's first full-length.  I look forward to hearing more from Imha Tarikat.

Warlock: True as Steel (1986)

In discussing the history of women in heavy metal, a very good starting point would be Doro Pesch.  Sure there had been women in bands that have toed the line between hard rock and heavy metal for years prior to Warlock's arrival on the scene.  But the diminutive singer with the huge pipes was probably the first real big true metal star as a female.  But more than just being a terrific female singer, Doro was a terrific singer, period.  (And no, I do not know why a band with a frontwoman would call themselves Warlock, the name for a male witch.)

Pesch got her start as a member of Warlock, but the band existed in a constant state of flux, with Doro being the only constant member of the band.  After a series of legal issues, eventually the group changed its name to Doro.  It was always basically her band anyway, so why not?  This was the third full-length album by Warlock and they would only release one more before changing the name.

The music is fairly standard 1980's German heavy/speed metal, owing a lot of influence to groups like Scorpions and Accept, with some Judas Priest thrown in for good measure.  Most of the songs are fairly quick-paced with fist-pumping anthemic choruses.  This is an album that is a product of its time and it would fit in well with other 1980's metal acts like W.A.S.P. and Dokken.  So yes, there is a little bit of a mainstream feel to it, and some cheesy moments, such as "Lady in a Rock 'n Roll Hell".

Of course the major reason to check out Warlock is to hear the vocals of Doro Pesch, and she definitely delivers here.  Her voice is very strong on this album, able to deliver snarled lines and then soft melodic lines and change between them quickly.  And her style fits the music quite well.

This is actually the first full-length Warlock album I have picked up.  And also the first album with Doro at all.  I just never really got around to it before, but I have been trying to get some classics occasionally recently and this was on my list.  It may not be the best Warlock album, but it is a damn fine example of 1980's German heavy metal with a true metal legend behind the mic.

Eternity's End: The Fire Within (2016)

I have been covering a lot of bands that inhabit the darker corners of heavy metal recently.  Brutal thrash metal bands like Blood Feast, filthy and Satanic death metal bands like Vital Remains, cold black metal bands like Uada, etc.  Of course there are much more melodic styles of metal, such as power metal.  Unfortunately, finding decent new power metal bands is not nearly as easy for reasons that have never been quite clear to me.  Maybe it's just me though.  It is somewhat telling that in the last year, the only power metal bands I have covered were Sonata Arctica and Visigoth.  Only Visigoth is relatively recently-formed.

One day I was able to find some decent power metal recommendations from someone and went about trying to find the releases.  Which leads me to German group Eternity's End.  Germany has always been one of the leading exports of power metal from the very beginning.  After all, Helloween, Running Wild and Blind Guardian were all born in Germany.  Eternity's End play a very fast-paced style of power metal.  The best reference points are probably the bombastic melodies of Dragonforce, mixed with the pop sensibilities of Firewind, and the progressive tendencies of Symphony X all thrown together in a blender. 

Eternity's End is something of a supergroup.  The guitarist is Christian Münzner who has previously served with groups like Defeated Sanity, Necrophagist and Obscura.  Sort of odd to find a tech death metal guitarist in a power metal band, sure, but he is fantastic on this release.  Most of the other members have also spent time in similar groups.  Yet these technical death metal musicians make it work.  The biggest impact of these members is in the virtuosic riff work and solos.  Münzner absolutely shreds throughout the entire release.  There are some damn good keyboard solos as well.

The songs throughout are damn impressive.  They are catchy as all hell with terrific hooks and shredding guitar work.  The lyrical content is typical fare for the genre.  Fantasy themes ("Demonblade" and "Twilight Warrior") fit in alongside horror literature ("The Dark Tower" and "the Fall of the House of Usher") and glorious warfare ("Eagle Divine").  So yeah, the album definitely has the typical power metal cheese factor, but when the music is this damn good, it is very easy to overlook.

This is one of the best power metal albums over the last several years.  All of the musicians are absolutely top-notch and the songwriting is extremely impressive as well.  These songs really stick with the listener long after the album is over.  Power metal is probably one of the most difficult metal genres to really get right, but this collection of technical death metal musicians pull it off.  Eternity's End did release another album last year, but I have not yet checked it out.  It will be interesting to see what this band decides to do in the future.

Witching Hour: ...And Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon (2018)

As a huge fan of the Hells Headbangers label, I tend to pick up a number of their releases each year.  Usually the releases are some kind of old-school-sounding combination of black, thrash and speed metal.  Occasionally there is a death or doom metal album in there.  And so when I saw the Witching Hour release, I had at least a reasonable idea of what to expect.  Their Metal Archives page lists them as black/thrash metal, so I had an idea what this would sound like.

I was wrong. 

Witching Hour refers to their sound as "ancient black metal", but I am guessing that refers more to their earlier material, because this album is pretty far removed from typical black metal.  Upon a superficial first listen, I would have called it more doom/heavy metal.  After a few more spins, my opinion is more that it is the hypothetical result of if Manilla Road started covering Venom.  It is an epic, dynamic and melodic album with slower-paced thrash-esque riffs and pained, wailing vocals.  The songs are mostly lengthy, and overall tell a cohesive story. 

The highlight is the opening title track which is something of a microcosm of the album as a whole.  It begins in grandiose fashion and splinters off into several movements with some very impressive riffwork, warbling leads and the vocalist's breathy yowl.  From there the remaining songs follow a similar pattern without ever becoming too predictable or boring.

It took a few listens to fully digest this album.  It was not what I was led to believe it would be.  It is so much more.  I will dig deeper into Witching Hour's discography, but I doubt I will find anything quite like this one.