CD's I received over the last weeks that you should hear too.
Eternal Storm - A Giant Bound to Fail
Before you start, yes this album was released in February already. Point is that after ordering swiftly thereafter I only received my copy now. This with Eternal Storm were so friendly to send a new copy. Last year Transcending Obscurity set my PR in a 4 month wait for Ashen Horde, this time they came close. Point is that they do release my favourite extreme metal albums, as again I think Eternal Storm shall rank very high at the end of the year. The progressive melodeath metal that this band presents here is nothing short from sensational. What a great band they are and what great songs they give us here. Be it long epic tracks like opener An Abyss of Unreason, shorter instrumentals or there 5-7 minute songs all hit the bull here. The voice you might recognize from recent Persefone gigs. I can't recommend this band enough, as it should also open doors to those not all that open to grunts. Check it out and be amazed too.
Marty Friedman - Drama
I first heard of Marty Friedman with Hawai, but bought his first album when he formed Cacophony with Jason Becker. Speed Metal Symphony an all time classic. Than I saw him a few times with Megadeath through the nineties. His solo work started in 1988 with Dragon's Kiss and runs until today. I have many, but not all of these mostly instrumental albums. So yes I am a fanboy and when I read this would be a more ballad like album I knew I would get it again. Marty Friedman is one of my favourite guitarists, mainly caused by his great sense for melody while going heavy as easy. This album is filled again with lots of beautiful emotional guitar work and as he said fine ballad like work. Triumph is now called official version, as I had it on two previous releases already. Maybe one day I should rank what I own by him, but that shall be hard. This album is good on a Sunday morning, while some harder rocking releases fit better at a Monday night. No matter the day of week, Marty Froiedman always is a party.
Riot V - Mean Streets
Riot released their first album Rock City in 1977 already. Their classic is Fire Down Under from 1981 and I have a soft spot for Restless Breed (82) due to youth sentiment. The band faced lots of losses over time and what we have now is a continuation with no original members around. The last I saw of Riot was Riot Act, another spin-off with almost original guitarist Rick Ventura. This Mean Streets band even changed their name to Riot V some years ago. Long story short, if you like good old Heavy Metal you should get this album. Last month they toured The Netherlands, but with both shows far from home I missed them. Pity as I would love to see and hear if Todd Michael Hall's voice is as awesome live on stage as on this album. I shall be able to check that out at KIT next year. For now if you like Heavy Metal you can buy this in the blind. Songs, performances and sound all perfect even the seal man biker is a funny continuation of one of metal's weirdest mascottes around.
Warlord - Free Spirit Soar
Fourty years ago I bought the album And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun.... This live album, performed without an audience holds some of Warlords classic songs. Due to little success I guess the band broke up in the late eighties and only came back at the begin of this century. I have several of their CD's, but matters became confusing when often older songs would reappear. In 2021 William (Bill) J. Tsamis passed away and as he started the band with Mark Zonder and wrote most of the songs I thought that was the last we heard of Warlord. Sad I was as I never saw them live and they were high on my list of bands I really wanted to see once. Than came the news of this new album were old songs by Bill were used as basis. No surpise that this album sounds still very typical Warlord. Metal Archives calls them Heavy Power Metal, but I would add folky influences. Warlord never were extremely heavy or fast, but always building songs around melodies. New vocalist Giles Lavery fits well to the style of the band and the guitars also remain that typical Warlord sound. While name dropping Jimmy Waldo (Alcatrazz) plays keyboards here. And the best is yet to come. Never seeing them before I now shall see them twioce this summer. 25 August in Breda (!!) and 14 September at Pyrenean Warriors Open Air. Already heavily looking forward to both.
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