Releases This Week (April Week 3)

On this Easter I have for you some worthwhile releases that are worth checking out (as usual, but this is special because it’s fucking Easter). Anyway, just scroll on past this and listen to some of the stuff below!

Singles

Brothers of Metal – Fire, Blood and Steel

We’ll start of with a music video for a song that’s been out for a few years from the much-beloved Brothers of Metal, who seem to have signed onto AFM from Nuclear Blast. I must’ve missed that. ‘Fire, Blood and Steel’ marks one of Brothers of Metal’s more epic tracks, which is pretty easy to tell from the title alone.

From my own speculation alone, I think it’s safe to say that we can expect a new album from these guys within a year, what with the recent label activity.

Brothers of Metal – Fire, Blood and Steel (AFM)

Constantine – Bushido

With Constantine’s second album on its way, the band have unleashed ‘Bushido’. The track will be well-received by any fan of shred in the vein of Steve Vai or Nita Strauss.

Aftermath will feature many guest musicians and will be available for your listening pleasure on 31 May.

Constantine – Bushido (Rockshots)

Accept – Life’s a Bitch

German heavy/power metal pioneers Accept have released a new track: ‘Life’s a Bitch’. It’s not great, and is closer to old school hard rock/heavy metal, but it deserve’s a place here solely because of the artist. Check it out; you might get more out of it than I did.

Accept – Life’s a Bitch (Nuclear Blast)

Majesty – Burn the Bridges

German heavy metallers (or, should I say, pop-power metallers) have released a new single to accompany the news of their upcoming ninth album, which will be released under Napalm Records. The album’s concept will be built around the setting of mankind striving for a better life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Original, right?

As is their style, we can expect heavy, chorus-driven cheese when Legends arrives on 28 June!

Majesty – Burn the Bridges (Napalm)

Visionatica – The Pharaoh

Along with the announcement of their second album, symphonic metallers Visionatica have released ‘The Pharaoh’. Like the rest of the album is promised to be, the track is more vibrant than their older material.

Fans of Within Temptation’s old stuff and the symphonic/melodic/gothic realm of metal will surely get a kick out of Visionatica. Make sure to check out Enigma Fire when it comes out on 12 July!

Visionatica – The Pharaoh (Frontiers)

Albums and EPs

Atlas Pain – Tales of a Pathfinder

Set a course for fantastical, over-the-top brilliance, because Italian folk metallers Atlas Pain have prepared a world-capturing journey in their sophomore record, Tales of a Pathfinder. Like their first record, it contains a combination of folk melodies and themes on top of relentlessly energetic power metal beats. Additionally, the quartet remains unchanged from What the Oak Left, which allows for a more refined sound.

There is one word that describes this album perfectly: epic. It’s flooded with strings, synths, choirs, and sickeningly upbeat choruses. Topped off with chugging riffs and rough vocals, it’s quite the blood rusher. It is very straightforward, but if you’re looking for wondrous motivation, this is definitely for you.

If you want to see where I plagiarized this description, check out my review!

Atlas Pain – The Moving Empire (Scarlet)

Tillian – Lotus Graveyard

Ho. Ly. Fuck. This debut album from the female-fronted Tillian is nothing short of spectacular. Lotus Graveyard is a passionate, dramatic, and fluid piece of prog rock/metal, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’ll amaze you.

Go read about all the other great things I had to say about it here!

Tillian – Black Holes

And don’t forget to see this week’s Sabaton History!

Sabaton History 011 – Saboteurs

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Stay Metal \m/

Atlas Pain – Tales Of A Pathfinder Review

Score	7.5/10
Genre	Power/Folk Metal
Country	Italy
Runtime	48:49
Release Date	19 April 2019
Record Label	Scarlet

Set a course for fantastical, over-the-top brilliance, because Italian folk metallers Atlas Pain have prepared a world-capturing journey in their sophomore record, Tales of a Pathfinder. Like their first record, it contains a combination of folk melodies and themes on top of relentlessly energetic power metal beats. Additionally, the quartet remains unchanged from What the Oak Left, which allows for a more refined sound.

There is one word that describes this album perfectly: epic. (So why am I writing a whole fucking review, then? Oh well.) It’s flooded with strings, synths, choirs, and sickeningly upbeat choruses. Topped off with chugging riffs and rough vocals, it’s quite the blood rusher. It is very straightforward, but if you’re looking for wondrous motivation, this is definitely for you.

Tales of a Pathfinder has a wide range of different cultural influences but their core power metal underbelly is never far away. On this heroic expedition we meet ‘Baba Jaga’, venture all the way to Japan in ‘Hagakure’s Way’, and we even get a badass Maori throwdown in ‘Kia Kaha’ (you know, if the Maori made some of the cheesiest fucking music in existence). The folk elements are often overpowered by the surrounding orchestrations and galloping drum beats, but they don’t go unnoticed.

While I wouldn’t go as far to say that all the songs sound the same, there’s no variance to the uplifting and positive tone, which limits the possibility of much variety. And, like most power metal, it’s very much a team effort. None of the musicians are extraordinary (despite the extraordinary themes). However, they’re undoubtedly great together and achieve exactly what they set out to: an adventurous, entertaining experience that is as lively as it is intense.

Atlas Pain – The Moving Empire (Scarlet)

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Stay Metal \m/

News This Week (March Week 1)

While tons of singles came out this week, ninety-five percent of them were absolute bullshit. However, there were plenty of album releases (with a couple that are sure to be contenders in March’s Top Ten) that make it all worthwhile, and even a couple singles which were good enough to be mentioned here.

There wasn’t much in the way of news or announcements, but if I missed anything noteworthy, call me out!

Singles

Atlas Pain – Kia Kaha

Epic folk metal group Atlas Pain released ‘Kia Kaha’, from their upcoming record, Tales of a Pathfinder, which will be available on 19 April. The first minute or two are just ambient sounds and samples, but once the light and uplifting instrumentals begin, you’ll be glad you waited. This track contains a fair amount of pirate energy and will be a hit with any fan of the genre.

Atlas Pain – Kia Kaha (Scarlet Records)

Voyager – Brightstar

Voyager is a prog band from Australia which I had never even heard of before this week. I’m not really upset about that, though, because it’s pretty indie rock/underground electronic for my taste. It’s not bad, but it lacks any sort of oomph or energy. If you want to hear something different for a change, though, check out ‘Brightstar’.

Voyager – Brightstar (Season of Mist)

Iron Savior – Stand Up and Fight

This just might be the most expensive music video made ever in the history of anything.

As Kill or Get Killed draws nearer (next week, in fact), Iron Savior has released another colossal single. ‘Stand Up and Fight’ is my favourite so far, largely because of that nasty fucking guitar solo.

Iron Savior – Stand Up and Fight (AFM)

Albums

Stonecast – I Earther

Stonecast rocks seriously fucking hard. Their strong energy will draw you in and their anthemic hooks will make you stay. Their third album, I Earther, is no exception. This earthy metal is sturdy and its sound is nothing short of mountainous. It’s got great musicians, excellent songwriting, and has massive replayability. This album is rock-solid and will pound its way into your heart. (These rock puns doing anything for you?)

Catch the full review here!

Stonecast – Goddess of Rain (Pitch Black)

Queensrÿche – The Verdict

While The Verdict is Queensryche’s worst album in recent years, it’s still pretty good. No new ground has been broken; it’s pretty similar to their 90s material, but many of the songs have a grunge underbelly. In all honesty, though, I’m just glad that all of the legal bullshit and drama has stayed at bay and allowed Queensryche to keep producing records.

Queensryche – Blood of the Levant (Century Media)

Warrior Path – Warrior Path

This album is insanely fucking good. Being forged under Greek guitarist/composer Andreas Sinanoglou, it also features vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos (ex Wardrum, Beast In Black) and guitarist/keyboardist Bob Katsionis (Firewind), making for quite the lineup. Now, I’m pretty biased to all things Yannis, so I’ll try to avoid talking too much about how his already-impressive vocal versatility is demonstrated in yet another new way or how he absolutely fucking masters old school heavy metal singing too much.

Well, shit. I tried.

Ok, I didn’t try at all.

Besides the vocals, the songs are very well written (a trait that is often missing from traditional metal bands), the solos and riffs are heavy, and the slow parts are beautiful. You’ll come back to this record a few times; I guarantee it.

Warrior Path – Warrior Path [Full Album] (Symmetric Records)

Iron Fire – Beyond the Void

Let it be known that Iron Fire is king in the land of heavy metal. After twenty years in the studio, not a single one of their records has lost any heat, and they’ve perhaps hit the pinnacle of their career in their ninth: Beyond the Void. These heavy metal veterans show absolutely no sign of slowing down, and it’s greatly reassuring to see them continuously produce nothing but excellence.

Now, I’m not exaggerating when I say the songwriting is fantastic. No song sets into one feel, and the molten-hot solo sections, especially in titular track, have some serious underlying grooves. Honestly, while Kirk Backarach’s soloing is awesome, the rhythm section underneath is just as good.

Read more about it here.

Iron Fire – Beyond the Void (Crime)

Týr – Hel

I’ve never really been a fan or Tyr, largely because the vocal style and effects remind me so much of Volbeat that I can’t even stand it. Volbeat needs to retreat far, far into the shadows and never plague us with its bootlegged ‘metal’ again.

Anyway, I do know that Tyr is hugely popular in both progressive and folk metal, and I also know that these songs are really good (even though I can’t enjoy them). So, check out the track below. If you like it, you’ll love the album. If you can’t stand it, know that you’re not alone.

TÝR – Ragnars Kvæði (Metal Blade)

Darkwater – Human

Darkwater’s Human is very late-Dream-Theatery at its core (but not anything like Distance over Time, which is something entirely different) , but the hooks are catchy and the numerous symphonic, choir, and keyboard tracks that are consistently scattered throughout the album add a lot of depth. The solos and grooves are pretty tame by prog standards but these guys do an excellent job at proving that you don’t need to be shredding like a fucking madman for an entire ten minute song in order to be a successful prog musician.

All things considered, this album is great.

You can read my review here!

Darkwater – In Front of You (Ulterium)

The Raven Age – Conspiracy

I usually don’t listen to groove metal, but I find myself enjoying this album very much. It has an almost emo metal sound with a metalcore rhythm section and melodic choruses. It’s nothing new by any stretch, but edgy 13-year-old me definitely approves.

The Raven Age – The Day the World Stood Still

Bonus!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here’s this week’s Sabaton History episode.

Sabaton History 005 – Last Dying Breath

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for another article!

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Stay Metal \m/