Definitely check A Twist of Fate too. The first return, like a gift from above, came out of nowhere, with Matheos and Portnoy. EXCELLENT. Relentless had me shivering from the first seconds "HE IS BACK!"

/\ Thanks for that will put it on the listen list.

np Hour Of 13 - Missing Girl

Some dark themed occult doom with the unique voice of Phil Swanson.Liking this debut big time,especially the A side.

Check out The Ritualist next. Excellent album, underrated I'd say.

Tyr- Battle Ballads

Ok this is honestly their worst album they've released since Land.
It's too cheesy but the cheese where it doesn't stay with you. I can barely remember any songs including the single "Dragons Never Die" which has an awful lead in after the melodic riff.

this is a song about a car....its called Red Barchetta.

The balls on the main riff is off the charts.

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

And the best is yet to came…

A 10/10 song.

Thron - Pilgrim
Seems there's some Dissection influence here, pretty good stuff.

Yeah i have The Ritualist and it's a solid album.I've got 333 somewhere on cd too.

np Exodus - Fabulous Disaster

With all the live album news and shenanigans this week i dug it out for another spin.

Ehlder - Stridskall

Great stuff!

Overdrive - Swords and Axes

With talk of Janne Stark joining Legend Revisited I thought I would put this on. Classic 80's Swedish metal.

Electric Wizard - Mourning Of The Magicians

It's been 7 years now since it was released which is the longest gap yet they've had in their history,and with Jus singing 'goodbye farewell' on this last track i'm starting to think this could be the last one.
Been wrong before with them though.

Just yesterday I listened to "Return Trip" and thought about this, it would be really sad if such a legendary band decided to close their career with such a mediocre album, but if they don't feel they can do any better than that then.... Better be that way I guess.

They have one single live appearance over here booked for August in 2024 and usually they have more by now but i dunno,maybe looking too much into it.

np Bolt Thrower - As The World Burns

These riffs are so dark and evil it's insane.And they never let up.

Metal Church Western Allegiance

What riff!!!!!

Wolf - Evil Star

Two years earlier Black Wings had made such huge impact on me that expectations for it's follow up were enormous and honestly expectations were not met.
Right from the start the first thing I notice is that the intensity level is dropped back a couple of notches, not a good sign but the title track is still good, however American Storm and The Avenger are forgettable, kinda nothing tracks that would've been better if a couple of minutes was chopped outta them to make them more compact and impactful, in fact none of the first 3 songs had any need to be as long as they were.
Track four Wolf's Blood is thankfully a vast improvement, shorter with a cool chorus and a sweet climax at the end and this carries over into a cool little instrumental intro to the best track on the album Devil Moon which coulda fit nicely on Black Wings.
Out Of Still Midnight follows and instantly benefits from a shorter runtime even tho it's not particularly great, coming up next is The Dark and it's a pretty good track, Black Wing Rider and a cool cover of Don't Fear The Reaper were good too but it's all too little too late. I've got the version that has covers of Die By The Sword and I'm Not Afraid Of Life too, both are nicely done but ultimately just highlights the weak songwriting of most of Evil Star.
The darkness and intensity that was all over the riffs, lyrics, production and performances on Black Wings was missing on Evil Star. Why? I dunno, maybe it was a Reign In Blood situation of not even trying to top it, whatever, Evil Star was nevertheless a big disappointment.

Vincent Crowley - Beyond Acheron

Most fuckin excellent album. Doom, Death, Black, Trad, it's got it all. Recommended for sure. Just got the limited version with 2 extra tracks from Hells Headbangers.

Today's playlist was:

Triumpher – Storming the Walls
Sacred Rite – Sacred Rite
Sacred Rite – The Ritual
Sacred Rite – Is Nothing Sacred?

Triumpher's singer is impressive, really a dead ringer for Eric Adams. Not sure yet if I like the tech elements in this epic context but the band is unquestionably original. The black metal elements are not a problem. After all, the combination of black metal and epic metal exists since the first days of black metal (cf. early Bathory or, if you want to delve further, "At War with Satan").

I'd completely forgotten what Sacred Rite sounded like. Heavy metal with an affinity to hard rock, USPM and, occasionally, speed metal. Also, they weren't afraid of leaving metal land altogether if the song asked for it, a bit like early Priest. Solid songwriting with pleasant vocals, nice leads and a bass guitar in a prominent role. Not to forget a memorable logo and two of the most iconic album covers of the 80s: "The Ritual" (take that, "Night on Bröcken"! ) and, above all, "Is Nothing Sacred?" (take that, "Mystification"! ).

Next up is Sacred Rite live at KIT.

The Vision Bleak - Weird Tales

I will be listening to this on repeat the coming weeks. Heavy riffs, catchy melodies, those typical vocals. Had to wait eight years and the lads did not disappoint!

Blue Oyster Cult - Ghost stories
Love proto-metal, had no idea this was coming out, let alone yesterday. Loving Shot in the Dark and Gun especially, primo bluesy proto riffs. Definite Cream vibes for some of these tracks such as The Only Thing as well. About to finish it up and listen to their Beatles If I Fell cover at the end

Yea, this is pretty damned strong for a collection of "unfinished" songs (from '78 - '83).
It's supposedly their very last album.

Grave Digger - Rheingold

Fuckin cranking, propulsive power metal - fucking A. Great energy and muscular style.

Nightwish - Astral Romance (the 2001 version)

One of those instances where the re-recording is better than the original. Clearly Tony Kakko is a better singer than Tuomas Holopainen (who did the male vocals himself on the "Angels Fall First" version).

That album is a lot of fun indeed. Certainly their best work.

NP: Asphodelus - Sculpting the Time

Seeing this band live really changed my perspective about their sophomore album. This doesn't sound as instant as the debut, but it makes up with these twists and turns; while the vocals and guitars sound as majestic as ever.

Nocturnus - Ethereal Tomb

Might not be truly otherworldly, but still it works lovely.

A decent album nothing more

Nimbifer Der Wind

Black metal in his supreme form

They have so much stuff I can't even keep up...

Sanhedrin - Lights On

They're unique among modern trad bands with this more gritty, streetwise feel and a really nice, hard guitar tone. Very good.

Sonja - Loyd Arriver

This is so good. Can't believe I forgot about it almost all of last year. Some of the better new trad metal for sure.

Gevurah - Blood-Soaked Katabasis

Been a minute since I last spun their latest album, still rips

Cult of Eibon - The Burning Gates of Acheron

Amazing band, still keeping the old greek sound alive!

Azaghal Tämän maailman prinssi

Often we forgot how good are these guys…

What song!!!!!

After a diverse selection of epic metal albums – how about…

Molly Hatchet – Devil's Canyon?

You have to search long and hard if you want to find a band that's similarly locked in their collective groove. More than half a dozen rockers that play like one man. Oh, and they're epic, too.

Good call. Their last 4-5 albums have been stellar and all have an epic, or two.
Solid stuff that, sadly, flies under the radar.

Black Sabbath - Tyr
A couple listens on this so far, and it's a surprisingly appealing one, right there with Headless Cross. They really hit upon a good formula with this seamless infusion of a moody but accessible '80s rock vibe into the more epic heaviness. And the production is great. Tony Martin's a damn good singer; this kind of accuracy and confidence is what I'm usually talking about when I criticize (constructively! ) a lot of the contemporary trad/epic metal vocalists for their shaky deliveries.
I do wish this were more of a focused concept album (at least more thematically coherent), but at least there's kind of a general through-line of beliefs, worldviews, life philosophies and such being discussed to tie things together alright. The title is just confusing because only like 25% of the running time has anything to do with Norse mythology. Weird choice.

The thing with singers is I guess it's just tough to find guys who are that good. Tony Martin is incredible with his voice, his feel for melodies - but when you get the hordes of newer bands without the clout of Black Sabbath I guess it's just down to luck of the draw in finding a guy who's even adequate.

Wolf - The Black Flame

The Black Flame was a huge improvement after the disappointment that was Evil Star. Shorter more concise songwriting and just generally catchier overall, Wolf had matured into a formidable band.
The reality is The Black Flame is a near perfect heavy metal album, the first four tracks fuckin kick ass in particular but the back half has some excellent songs too like Demon and the awesome Steelwinged Savage Reaper.
The only negative's and it's really minor ones that comes just down to my taste is that it sounds a little too nice, I prefer the production and mix on Black Wings, just had a darker feel to it and it's probably a song or two too long.
All in all tho The Black Flame is essential Wolf and any self respecting metla should have it in their collection.

Vulture - Sentinels (Heavier Than Time)

Giving the new title track a second listen and it's looking and sounding better than i expected.A mid-paced,catchy headbanger.Can't wait for it to arrive.

I think the guitar sound and production are fucking flawless on there. Massive sledgehammer of sound.

Angel Dust - Bleed

They really had a unique approach to things sometimes. This can get heavy as fuck but there's also moments where it uses all the distortion and everything to make this chamber of sound and atmosphere - a real mood, odd and mysterious.

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Not really a guilty confession, but I had only heard Dirty Women before. Except that and Back Street Kids, this ranges from forgettable to garbage. Significantly worse than Never Say Die, which I actually like.

For sure, it's not like great singers are a dime a dozen. Singing is hard! Just a shame that it hobbles what would otherwise be very good releases. It's easier for flaws in instrumental performance to go under the radar than it is for vocals, since the latter draws so much focus.

NP:

Mutiilation - Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
Finally got through the garbage intro track to end up hearing this for once. The riffing is fairly good in parts and there are some pretty furious, overwhelming sections, but overall I'm a bit at a loss as to the high scores and reverence for this. It's barely coherent and the drums are laughable, some silly vocals at times...kind of a slog.

Abigor - Verwüstung / Invoke the Dark Age
I've always wanted to like Abigor more than I like Abigor, if that makes sense. Their early albums show lots of moments of brilliance, but they're lost in a garbled patchwork sense of composition, rushing excitedly from idea to idea without a clear sense of flow or pacing. And the drum production never quite gels with the rest of the music somehow. Frustrating because the band obviously had abundant enthusiasm, but not the songwriting skill to match.

Grip Inc - Rusty Nail

Mid-tempo thrash showcasing the drum mastery of Dave Lombardo