01.Monolith
02.Demon
03.The Sanctuary Of 83
04.Horsemen Of The Grail
05.The Dusk
06.Under The Pentagram
07.Fallen Rainbow Warrior
08.Bells Of fate
09.Through Different Eyes
10.Running High
11.Blade Of Black
Demondawn (Vocals)
Hellduke (Guitar)
Mayhem (Bass)
Messiah Of Evil (Drums)
German band formed in 1997 by Jan Tappert and Carsten Stiens, after a few line up changes they settled on a four piece and drew influence from NWOBHM and classic hard rock bands.
After numerous demos they released their debut album 'Hellstory' in 2008 and later made an appearence in the movie 'Fate & Destruction', work on this new album began in december 2012.
'Monolith' kicks us off and takes us back to the glory days of early 80's metal, this one has a touch of Armoured Saint about it (remember 'Can U Deliver'??)mixed in with some Tygers Of Pan Tang.
Some faster riffs and drums for 'Demon' and a very obvious NWOBHM influence, they do manage to keep it the correct side of proto thrash/speed metal and create a good solid song.
Quite a moody start to 'Sanctuary Of 83', a spoken intro which works well and you are left waiting for the song to explode through the speakers, which it does for quite a Dio sounding song.
'Horsemen Of The Grail' has another awesome little riff running throughout, good strong vocal and some nice timing changes to drive this one along, but where was the blistering guitar solo that this one cried out for?
Acoustic guitar intro, then slow bluesy electric guitar, this one 'The Dusk' is looking dangerously like a "Ballad", lets hope not, but oh fuck slow and melodic then a heart wrenching vocal, yep this was a ballad, why oh why do bands insist on putting this kinda crap on their albums?
Do i detect some good old 12 bar chords? I was expecting 'Under The Pentagram' to have a Witchfinder General vibe, but this one is more like Saxon.
'Fallen Rainbow Warrior' is another one that is early 80's NWOBHM influence, and funnily enough another one i could have imagined Saxon doing.
After more of the same with 'Bells Of Fate' we get 'Through Different Eyes' which sounds like a 45 second intro dragged out to a four minute instrumental that goes nowhere and does nothing, a pointless waste of 4 minutes.
Fortunately 'Running High' gets back on track, this one reminds me of an old song, though cant remember which one, but whatever it is, this is another good track.
Ending with 'Blade Of Black' soild powerchords, mid tempo drum beats and a powerful vocal delivery, we end on a good one that even has some shout it out loud style backing vocals.
Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Saxon, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Amulet, Cauldron
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