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DWARROWDELF mastermind and multi-instrumentalist, Tom O’Dell looks to draw inspiration from the fantasy world of Tolkien (project name aside) but also blend real world weight and emotion into a powerful delivery. Latest release, The Fallen Leaves, has done just that and a whole lot more besides. Since the initial EP release Of Darkened Halls in 2017, Tom has evolved his writing and honed the compositions, each release providing a further step up from its predecessor. The Fallen Leaves feels like a culmination of a musical journey. While earlier works played with more of the fantasy elements, Tom was keen to push the more real-life influences into these new tracks.



Reflecting on the writing process. Tom offers that he was “quite nervous about this one. It’s a very personal album, different to what I’ve put out before.” Not that he has reason to be nervous. Reception for the fourth album has been widely excellent from both critical and fan points of view. Tom highlights the key difference between The Fallen Leaves and previous albums. “The first three albums were made within a year and a half. It was very much I’m making Lord Of The Rings albums, here we go. Then the world changed. DWARROWDELF took a bit of a back seat. When I picked it up again, things were very different. The lyrical front had been explicit Tolkien and I wanted to explore more themes and music. It still felt DWARROWDELF, I didn’t want to make a new project.”

This is very evident, in the tracks of the album. “To Dust We All Return was the first one I wrote and I was experiencing some heartbreak in life and the raw emotion spilled into the music. Deliverance was started around that time as well and their emotion was also in there too. Then Elden Ring came along and the atmosphere was a good way to use a metaphor for my sadness and journey of those few months through a fantasy filter. It was not too much of a departure for DWARROWDELF.”

With the lyrical content exposing a heavy weight subject matter. The musical compositions on the album can often juxtapose the raw, bleakness with at times uplifting melodies. This is very evident in the final passages of Deliverance. Tom readily picks up on this idea, with a grin explaining, “the final choir there uses the cheesy four chord progression of power metal that I’m contractually obliged to use.” Going on to say, “I didn’t want to just write seven tracks of I’m very upset. I wanted to come out the other side and find acceptance.”


It is also this compositional style that has helped with the well-rounded reception of this album. The happier melodies do tend to stick in a listener’s mind more and as Tom opines “…create that memorable hook, that the listener will find themselves humming. Having written power metal as well, it’s quite an easy space for me to adopt.”

What is always interesting with a long-standing solo project is how the project grows as a reflection of the musician behind it. Tom is no different, he freely admits, “DWARROWDELF is me. It’s the albums I wanted to make at that particular time. I’ve grown up as a person as well, each album has got more and more unique. The first one in hindsight might be my attempt at a SUMMONING album but Evenstar is mine and The Fallen Leaves takes that a step further.” While it is possible to identify specific genre/artist influences in his work, DWARROWDELF doesn’t fit into a neat category per se and that helps keep Tom’s musical identity secure.

One of the pitfalls that can face a solo artist is the solitude of creativity. With a band, there are sounding boards of influence and other instrumentalists to add dynamics and textures that may otherwise have been missed. Tom’s approach to navigating this though is having a close group of people to bounce ideas off of and send out drafts for review. “Being my own critic is the biggest issue, but sending files to four or five of my trusted confidants who wouldn’t shy away from criticism really helps. I couldn’t be a solo artist who didn’t take feedback, there’d be too much tunnel vision.”

“This album more than any other would work live, the early material wouldn’t translate too well.” This is thought process when posed with the idea of taking DWARROWDELF on the road. It does have the hooks and riffs for an audience to pick up on and while there are artists out there who do take these types of projects to audiences. While there are logistical issues to be considered amongst many other things, Tom is not totally against the idea. “It’s more likely than it has been in the past.”

Whatever the future may hold for the project, Tom has certainly been able to produce a highly engaging body of work. An approachable artist with multi-faceted influences who is able to draw together fantasy and cold reality and weave a relatable narrative. Tom sums much of it up, “the man who wrote The Fallen Leaves is a lot happier now than what is reflected in those songs.” With a laugh he continues, “it does get better. You may feel crap and things may be going badly wrong but it does get better, you will get through it.”

The Fallen Leaves is out now via Northern Silence Productions.

Like DWARROWDELF on Facebook.

RIOT V - MEAN STREETS

Riot have really stuck to their guns since the debut Rock City in 1977, unfortunately never making it to a household name, any commercial hit songs (ok, "Swords And Tequila") on the radio, or regulars on MTV in the ‘80s. The love of creating music has kept Riot going despite no mainstream success. Was it the inconsistent lineups, odd mascot, cheap looking album covers, ever changing logo, all the above?

Guitarist/original member Mark Reale was the only mainstay until his death in 2012, with guitarist Mike Flyntz (1989 - present), bassist Don Van Stern (back since 2008) picking up the pieces, adding the V to the band name for fifth singer Todd Michael Hall in 2013. Like Hellloween are to European power metal, Riot have championed the American branch with the classic Thundersteel in 1988, and many moments since on following albums. But once getting Hall behind the mic for the last two albums, these mean streets are now lush with triumphant power packed power metal, "Hail To The Warriors"!

"Feel the Fire" could have been a flawless second track if they just went right to the verse riff, but at its start it’s too much Priest like “Grinder”. You guys should know better. Regardless, once it kicks in a solid fist in the air rocker. Hall’s higher vocal just adds spirit and good feel to every song. Nice tasty guitars in the solo section, too. Twin guitar melodies begins that meaty riff to "Love Beyond The Grave" which is one of my favs. Again, Hall shines, and I can't say that enough. Great backing vocal melodies, and the darker chorus. "Higher" and "High Noon" drive with quickened drums and double bass. "Before This Time" is another well-constructed melodic one with complimenting guitar leads

UNLEASH THE ARCHERS RELEASE "BLOOD EMPRESS" SINGLE AND MUSIC VIDEO May 8, 2024, 20 hours ago

Canadian modern power metal icons, Unleash The Archers, recently announced the upcoming release of their massive sixth studio album, Phantoma, out this Friday, May 10 via Napalm Records. Following theirlatest singles "Green & Glass", “Ghosts In The Mist” and “Seeking Vengeance”, today, the band ushers in release week with epic album closer anthem "Blood Empress". The track tells a bittersweet tale with spine-tingling, grooving choruses before closing with a grandiose blastbeat attack amid a sea of voices.

On the new concept album, listeners join protagonist Phantoma, a Phase 4 / Network Tier 0 unit - model A, on an inspiring yet harrowing journey as she discovers the brutal truths behind the manufactured sheen of social media posturing on a dystopian, near-future planet earth. With the band’s one-of-a-kind blend of power metal, traditional heavy metal, modern prog and pop sensibilities, Phantoma spins a web of sharp musicality, high sci-fi concept and important social commentary.

Brittney Slayes of Unleash The Archers says about “Blood Empress”: "This was the last song that we wrote for the album and we wrote it together in our Airbnb while we were recording. We always like to save one song to write together in the studio to give a kind of snapshot of the headspace we were in while recording, and this one was a ton of fun. We wanted to do a bit more of a radio rock track and have it be something simple that would be a blast to play live and potentially end the set with. The album story ends with Phantoma having destroyed both The Collective and the Human Council that once stood against her, but now she had all of robotkind and humankind looking to her for where to go next. We wanted the song to feel dark but also triumphant, and to hopefully be catchy enough to make the listener want to start the album all over again. The video was filmed once again by RuneGate Studio and they did an awesome job with finding a set that could parry between both the synthetic and the human sides of the story. We all love this track in UTA and hope that you all can bang your heads to it too!"


Watch the official music video for “Blood Empress”:



Intertwining reality with imagination, Unleash The Archers were inspired to utilize elements of AI during the creation of Phantoma, in keeping with its innovative theme. Frontwoman and lyricist Brittney Slayes conjured the album's concept in 2021; before the swarm of pressing commentary surrounding AI began to reach an all-time high.

The band weaved electronic and synthwave elements throughout the album’s 10 colossal anthems, which - in line with its theme - prove much darker and heavier in comparison to the bright positivity of Abyss. Album opener “Human Era” sets the tone with imagery of a bleak, windswept futurescape that crescendos headlong into the breakneck pace of power metal bastion “Ph4/NT0mA” - a masterwork of dueling guitar solos and vocal acrobatics. Trad-metal influenced “Buried In Code” lights the way with pummeling rhythms before the album’s path turns dark on heavy metal hardened “The Collective”, with Brittney Slayes’ warm tones inviting the listener to ‘join or stand aside’! Hair-raising first single “Green & Glass” unveils the truth before the upbeat 80s flavored “Gods In Decay” and the extraordinary balladic anthem “Give It Up Or Give It All” showcase the varied song writing prowess of Unleash The Archers’ modern era. A trifecta of concept closers begins with the moody “Ghosts In The Mist”, leading into the soaring yet menacing “Seeking Vengeance” before closing with the bittersweet tale of “Blood Empress”.

Mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen, and with lead guitarist Andrew Kingsley at the helm as both principal songwriter and producer, Phantoma is an exciting advancement in Unleash The Archers’ songwriting and storytelling mastery, and a giant leap forward in their towering musical trajectory.



Phantoma will be available in the following formats:

- Earbook Edition with 2CD (2 Bonus Tracks and instrumental version of the album), 7" Single (2 bonus tracks on Black vinyl), 60 pp booklet (Napalm Mail Order only - limited to 1000)
- -2LP Gatefold in Phantoma Cristallo Multicolored Splatter (Napalm Mail Order only - limited to 300) - NEW!
- 2LP Gatefold in Marbled Orange Red with 24 page vinyl booklet and artprint (Napalm Mail Order only - limited to 300) - SOLD OUT!
- 2LP Gatefold in Glow In the Dark (Napalm Mail Order only - limited to 300)
- 2LP Gatefold in Splatter Aquamarine Orange (Napalm International Mail Order only - limited to 300)
- 2LP Gatefold in Transparent Lime Green (Napalm North American Mail Order only - limited to 300)
- 2LP Gatefold in Silver (North American indie retail only - limited to 700)
- 2LP Gatefold in Black
- Cassette Tape Edition in Fluorescent Green with White Print (Napalm Mail Order only - limited to 200)
- Jewel Case CD Edition
- Digital Album

Pre-order here.



Phantoma tracklisting:

"Human Era"
"Ph4/NT0mA"
"Buried In Code"
"The Collective"
"Green & Glass"
"Gods In Decay"
"Give It Up Or Give It All"
"Ghosts In The Mist"
"Seeking Vengeance"
"Blood Empress"

“Seeking Vengeance” video:

NEW SEPULTURA DRUMMER GREYSON NEKRUTMAN SHARES LIVE DRUM CAM FOOTAGE OF "ESCAPE TO THE VOID"

New Sepultura drummer Greyson Nekrutman - who replaced Eloy Casagrande - has shared live drum cam video of "Escape To The Void", shot during the band's recent 2024 Latin American Tour. Check it out below.



Sepultura kicked off their Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour on March 1st at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Fan-filmed video from the show, featuring new drummer Greyson Nekrutman (Suicidal Tendencies), can be viewed below.

ALBUM REVIEW: Silver Romance – Freedom Call

All-you-can-eat buffets. They’re gateways to gorging on gastronomic wonders, a foodie’s foray through the forest of culinary delights. Buffets are a shortcut to satisfaction, but sometimes there’s only so much Salt and Chilli Chicken you can stomach before it’s time to call it a night and head home. As power metal veterans FREEDOM CALL celebrate their 25th anniversary, Silver Romance serves up a reminder of why all-you-can-eat buffets are both a blessing and a curse.



Warming up like a sensible plate of starters — your sesame prawn toasts, spring rolls, and chicken satay skewers — the title track is a booster shot of euphoria, as power chords straight from the 90s power metal playbook synthesise their past, present, and future into a single song. Continuing through the buffet’s plethora of plates, Symphony Of Avalon and Supernova are taste sensations that bring the sizzle to proceedings; the former pulling its ingredients from QUEEN’s We Are The Champions as much as it does pure cheese power metal and Cotton Candy-sweet hooks, whilst the latter’s sparkly Eurovision synths take you on a wild ride through a cosmic supernova, with a chorus so catchy you’ll claim they’ve created ‘power-metal-pop’.

Three tracks through and head chef (and vocalist) Chris Bay might as well have made the tasting menu of your power metal dreams. Silver Romance, for the first 25 minutes or so, achieves the right balance of flavours between pure cheese and serious shredding. Infinity’s striking keys and racing riffs dart across the stratosphere, Out Of Space is heavy metal for Mario Kart fans, and returning drummer Ramy Ali’s pounding percussion puts your heartbeat through its paces.


Several courses in though, and that second plate of roast pork in honey sauce isn’t looking so sweet. Blue Giant brings the bloat, as its sweeping, mountainous riffs, and its lightning in the bottle buzz roll over into formulaic fields, before a niggling bout of nausea begins with Big Bang Universe, its bombastic, suspense-building balladry overcompensating for a lack of substance. Sorry folks, it feels like FREEDOM CALL have started to run out of steam, like sprinting the first mile of a marathon.

If Silver Romance’s 53 minutes start to become a struggle, just listen to the lyrics to sign Bay up as your personal cheerleader. Behind all the power metal pomp and high-level production, there’s a serious sous chef spinning plates, carrying the team through with messages of self-love and positivity — the kind we all need to hear with the world the way it is right now. It’s impossible not to want to make our world a better place when In Quest Of Love pipes up and says “Hold on tight, let’s share this night together / In quest of love and peace will bring back belief / A new world in harmony, for everyone”.

By the time the cheesiest cheese board you’ve ever consumed — aka Metal Generation — closes out this all-you-can-eat power metal buffet, you’re ready to be rolled out the doors. Silver Romance, for the most part, is a celebration of the magic of FREEDOM CALL; just come ready to be left bloated by its never-ending platter of power-metal-pop.

Rating: 7/10



Silver Romance is set for release on May 10th via Steamhammer/SPV.

Like FREEDOM CALL on Facebook.

INTRODUCING: Slope

Hardcore is arguably in the most accessible state that it has ever been, from the likes of TURNSTILE being featured on the likes of Jimmy Fallon’s late night show and amassing over a million monthly Spotify listeners, KNOCKED LOOSE featuring POPPY on their upcoming You Won’t Go Until You’re Supposed To album, and plenty of smaller record labels nurturing burgeoning talent; see Convulse Records and Flatspot Records for further excellence. There’s never been a better time to soak in the multitudes of frustrated and nuanced hardcore than right now. We’re in a glistening golden age of the genre, its resurgence has been in full swing for some years now but we currently sit atop its zenith. Making it all the more fertile for smaller bands to be appreciated, mimicking digging through random boxes at local record fairs, unknowingly stumbling upon an undiscovered gem. One of those gem’s is SLOPE.



Found in Duisburg, Germany, although they have two full-length albums and four EPs under their belts, there’s something to be discovered within their funk and hardcore fusion. Being touted as a sort of mini TURNSTILE, the German outfit’s new album Freak Dreams is full of groove oozing basslines and head nodding vocal rhythms. “We started to go to hardcore shows when we were fifteen, and we thought it would be cool to do something similar,” says Simon. “We actually started in Fabio’s parents basement,” he chuckles.

Fabio cements the date noting it was 2011 that they officially started out. It sounds like they had good taste too, when getting into the scene and discovering hardcore as Fabio recounts the first band they got into. “TERROR and TRAPPED UNDER ICE really got us hooked.”

There was something wanting to be added into SLOPE’s mix, more than just hardcore. During their days recording EPs, it was much more rooted in hardcore, “on Street Heat and Freak Dreams are much more diverse in the sound because we started listening to genres other than hardcore,” Simon tells us, before Fabio interjects.

“It was damn lucky for us that during that time our guitarist broke his leg,” which, frankly, doesn’t sound like much of a blessing at face value. He continues, “he was couch bound for six months and we did nothing but smoke weed and listen to music, so that was when we found all this new influence and regrew as a band.” Almost as if they healed alongside their guitarist’s leg. It’s sort of poetic if nothing else…


“Fabio already listened to a lot of hip-hop when he was young. I mean ‘younger’, you’re still young Fabio I swear,” Simon jokes. All Fabio has to laugh back is, “Bitch!” He takes the point from Simon, “I grew up with the old legends like BIGGIE, TUPAC, and NAS. I was really hooked on hip-hop as a kid, not much German stuff but like UK grime and American stuff. My parents gave me EMINEM’s Marshall Mathers LP, I think when I was either ten or eleven years old, and that was the first time I got in touch with hip-hop.” Alternative music and hip-hop’s relationship isn’t new by any means, but it’s not often that you hear a full blown synthesis of the two, there’s the stand out ones like LINKIN PARK and JAY-Z, RUN DMC and AEROSMITH – hell DIZZEE RASCAL even lent his flow to ARCTIC MONKEYS one time.

But how do they achieve that synthesis, not just mashing two genres together or butting heads where things don’t quite fit, they achieve it in a way that makes the genres hug each other. “We have no plans when writing a song or an album. We always have the roots of hardcore in our music. When we have a structure of a song, we might incorporate some harder stuff or some more funky stuff.”

Fabio follows Simon up, “we try to keep a record in balance, because there are some songs that lean on the heavier side of either style, so it’s not ten funk songs and one hardcore one.” Freak Dreams really puts SLOPE in the best position so far in their band career, they’ve released their best album yet and signed on to play multiple festivals this year. “We started writing this record just two months after we released Street Heat, which was difficult because we were still in the pandemic. It was fucked up because we had plans.” Fabio’s voice filled with disappointment as he expressed this, “we couldn’t even do a release show for the previous record, but it all worked out in the end, I guess.”

“After an album we are always scared that we cannot write another song which is as good as one of the songs from the latest album.” Simon seems to be accepting of that and at peace with the turbulence of making music. Fabio reassures saying, “we never have plans for writing music and just like when we sit together in a rehearsal room the most important thing is that we focus on music. We like it but I think if you like write music for yourself and not for anybody else, then the outcome will be like more honest and most of the time, better.”

There’s a confidence in that; that not everything is for all audiences, and that’s okay. You aren’t its creator and the only thing that belongs to you as a listener is the relationship that you have with it. SLOPE are at peace with the weirdly wonderful music they write and the response they get, but are just as content with it, just because they like it.

Freak Dreams is out now via Century Media Records.

Like SLOPE on Facebook.

BARON - BENEATH THE BLAZING ABYSS

Finnish crusty death/doom trio Baron immediately approach from a couple different angles on Beneath The Blazing Abyss' opener “Primordial Possession”: the chainsaw guitars nod to classic Swedeath, the spirit feels slightly more Relapse-smart, the sonics are a mix of sludgey Morbid Angel and faster Incantation.

So, yeah, of course I'm on board, and I'm on board with “Infernal Atonement”'s sideways bass plunking and double-bass-led spelunking; “At The Dawn Of Damnation” is massive in length (9:17) and sound, the band crafting a huge epic, guitar and drums in lockstep, the song going by in what feels like three minutes, no small feat. Given the oppressive nature of a lot of the sonics here and the hefty song lengths for some of these tunes, the album does get a bit tiring as we near the finish line, but I feel like that's part of the beauty of Baron.

And talk about oppressive: 9:09 monolith “Bound To The Funeral Pyres” is the heaviest song you'll hear all year. Lose the blackened “Hands Of Sin...” and snoozer outro “...Swallowed By Fires Beneath” and there's eight minutes gone, putting the album closer to where it needs to be to achieve maximum debut album destruction.

ALEX LIFESON HAS BEEN JAMMING WITH GEDDY LEE - "WE SOUND LIKE A REALLY, REALLY BAD RUSH TRIBUTE BAND"

ALEX LIFESON HAS BEEN JAMMING WITH GEDDY LEE - "WE SOUND LIKE A REALLY, REALLY BAD RUSH TRIBUTE BAND"




Rush guitar icon Alex Lifeson spoke with Ultimate Classic Rock and revealed that he recently discovered a brilliant new practice regimen to keep his chops up: playing Rush songs with former bandmate Geddy Lee. It's something they hadn't done regularly in nearly a decade, as Rush played their final show in 2015 and called it quits after the death of drummer Neil Peart in January 2020.

Lifeson: "We decided that we would play some Rush songs. Because, you know, we haven’t played these songs in 10 years. We started that a couple of weeks ago. We get together one day a week over at his place. We just picked some Rush songs and we started playing them and we sound like a really, really bad Rush tribute band."

"Trying to figure out the songs, I'm thinking, 'Why did we write that so difficult? Why is this so hard to play?' After about three run-throughs of all of these songs, muscle memory kicks in and your hand just goes to where it goes. You sort of get out of the way and you play and you go, 'Thank God, I did make this simpler than it felt.'"

Bruce Dickinson beira a perfeição em show em São Paulo RESENHA

Bruce Dickinson beira a perfeição em show em São Paulo




Lançado em 2024, The Mandrake Project marcou o retorno triunfal de Bruce Dickinson, após 19 anos sem lançamentos. A turnê, de mesmo nome que o álbum, é também o momento de volta aos palcos do vocalista, de maneira solo, passado mais de duas décadas.

No último sábado, 04, aconteceu em São Paulo, no Vibra, o último show do giro do frontman do Iron Maiden pelo Brasil, tendo estado em Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro e Ribeirão Preto, com shows que marcaram sua passagem por solo nacional.

Para começar a noite, a banda brasileira de metal progressivo Noturnall iniciou sua performance de abertura às 20:45. Vindos de uma apresentação na segunda edição do Summer Breeze Brasil, subiram ao palco Thiago Bianchi (vocal), Victor Franco (guitarra), Saulo “Xakol” (baixo) e Henrique Pucci (bateria).

Logo de início é possível perceber o quão técnica a banda é. Entregando um espetáculo de luzes que brilham freneticamente ao ritmo da bateria, eles fazem uma boa performance.

Com pontos altos, a banda fez um show potente, trazendo um metal pesado, tendo como um dos principais destaques as linhas de baixo, muito bem trabalhadas e que aliadas à bateria pulsante, criam uma atmosfera de poder.

É um show bem alto e que em um geral não empolgou o público, apesar de serem aplaudidos após o final de cada música. Mesmo assim, eles não se deixaram desanimar, em um show veloz.

Outra peça fundamental para que o Noturnall entregasse um bom show com, foi o guitarrista, que performava solos com habilidade.

Apesar disso, após algumas músicas, a apresentação pode se tornar um pouco cansativa, mesmo que curta — com menos de uma hora.

Entre o show de abertura e o principal, houve uma pausa, mas às 22:11, Dickinson iniciou sua performance na capital paulista.

Acompanhado por Tanya O’Callaghan (baixo), Dave Moreno (bateria), Chris Declercq (guitarra) Philip Naslund (guitarra) e Mistheria (teclados), o vocalista já havia explicado que não tocaria o novo registro na íntegra.

Trazendo uma série de clássicos de sua carreira solo, a primeira música que a banda tocou foi “Accident Of Birth”, do álbum de mesmo nome, lançado em 2005. Em poucos minutos de apresentação, já foi possível ver todo o amor do povo brasileiro pelo músico. O refrão da faixa foi cantado pelo público, com empolgação.

Sem pausa entre uma e outra, “Abduction” do Tyranny Of Souls (2005) veio em seguida. “Laughing In the Hiding Bush”, do Balls To Picasso (1994) configurou também a apresentação sendo uma boa coisa — dado o número reduzido de músicas desse registro no setlist.

Como não poderia faltar, a primeira música do The Mandrake Project foi “Afterglow Of Ragnarok”, que traz um dos melhores vocais de Dickinson no novo registro, além de um riff de guitarra potente que torna-se ainda mais poderoso ao vivo.

Muito bem recebida pelo público, “Chemical Wedding”, do The Chemical Wedding (1998), tem ótimos teclados e a voz de Dickinson soa irretocável.

Outra grande faixa provinda do novo material do vocalista é “Many Doors to Hell”, que traz um solo melódico, e mais uma vez, ele solta a voz e mostra o por quê de ser conhecido como um dos maiores vocalistas da história do metal.

Isso é algo importante de ser ressaltado. Bruce Dickinson mantém sua voz surpreendentemente saudável, atingindo notas altas e entregando uma performance repleta de pontos de destaque, além de ter feito uma bela escolha de músicas a serem tocadas.

Sempre que possível, o público entoava os famosos cantos em homenagem ao vocalista, já característicos dos fãs brasileiros.

Também do The Chemical Wedding, “Gates Of Urizen” traz uma levada cadenciada, com vocais mais tranquilos, em que Dickinson também demonstra total controle e habilidade, entrando em contraste com o trecho do refrão, quando ele atinge notas altas, de maneira melódica.

Fato é: se ele fizesse um show com apenas músicas do The Mandrake Project, seria uma performance de nível elevado, e prova disso é “Resurrection Men”, que cria uma ambientação antes do vocalista iniciar a sua parte, de maneira performática.

Mais uma do álbum que nomeia a turnê, mas agora, “Rain On The Graves”, trazendo excelentes linhas de baixo, com os teclados sendo fundamentais para a criação da atmosfera que a música traz.

A escolha de fazer um setlist com quatro músicas do registro foi das melhores, dessa forma, manteve um bom número de músicas clássicas e ainda assim, deu lugar às novas que tem grande potencial de se tornarem históricas.

Um solo de bateria que movimentou a plateia antecedeu o cover de “Frankenstein”, originalmente do The Edgar Winter Group. Apesar de muito bem executada, a faixa instrumental soa um pouco deslocada com relação ao restante das músicas que estavam sendo tocadas.

Voltando às faixas de sua autoria, eles tocaram “The Alchemist”, que conta com um ótimo refrão, antes da queridinha do público “Tears of the Dragon”, a única outra adição do setlist provinda do Balls To Picasso.

A balada, ainda que mais lenta, é de tamanha potência, levando o público a cantar em uníssono, juntamente com o vocalista.

A parte introdutória de “Darkside of Aquarius” já é facilmente reconhecível e ela foi a responsável por finalizar o show antes do bis.

Voltando ao palco, a banda performou “Navigate the Seas of the Sun”, do Tyranny Of Souls. Mais uma bela balada, mas dessa vez a faixa é mais tranquila e traz também um ótimo solo de guitarra.

Já se encaminhando para o final da noite, “Book Of Thel” veio como uma total explosão que, definitivamente, animou o público, fazendo a plateia pular.

Após apresentar a banda, o grupo liderado por Bruce Dickinson tocou “The Tower” e finalizou a sua passagem pelo Brasil.

O que mais impressiona na performance é justamente o vocalista. Ele apresenta total domínio de sua voz, com momentos em que ele a solta de maneira experiente e bem melódica e outros em que se contém, cantando de maneira mais suave.

A banda que acompanha Bruce Dickinson também não falha. Dinâmicos em cima do palco, demonstram conhecer muito bem o que estão tocando, e realizam um trabalho fundamental para que o show seja no nível que é.

MORGUL BLADE - HEAVY METAL WRAITHS

MORGUL BLADE - HEAVY METAL WRAITHS




Sophomore effort from Philly foursome, although there's been a couple of online, pre-release singles/videos, and both "Spider God" and "Beneath The Black Sails" have been available since a cassette-only issuance, a year ago (also through a Bandcamp download).

Classy guitar intro, to go along with the first rate cover art (t-shirt design!), then Lord Klauf unleashes his sinister, phlegm dripping (albeit discernible) vocals. "Eagle Strike", much like the local football team that inspired it, only gets aggressive in the final quarter. The unique mix of blackened doom meets traditional metal continues with mid-tempo pounding of the aforementioned pirate anthem, "Beneath The Black Sails". For the first time, dual vocal tracks are utilized, one a normal, almost spoken word, the other Klauf's trademark. At 6:13, it is not only the longest track of the current ten, but two to three times longer than its surroundings. A trio of cuts each fail to eclipse 100 seconds.

The galloping title track is built around twin guitars, one in each ear, on headphones. The lyrics are delivered in gruff throat, but not as beastly as its predecessors. There's a sneaky melodic structure running throughout it. "Frostwyrm Cavalry" launches like full-bore black metal, but decelerates to an almost militaristic march, focused on the drums. Definitely different from anything else aired, thus far: "One by one, they fell, to the Frostwyrm cavalry." Ends with flanging guitar notes.

LIVE REVIEW: Blind Guardian @ Academy, Manchester

Despite a career spanning near four decades, it’s remarkable that we can count on two hands how many times German power metal legends BLIND GUARDIAN have graced UK shores and only their second appearance in Manchester. The eight years since they blew us away at The Ritz feels like an age, but finally, they are back. And given the queue is snaking its way down Oxford Road, it’s fair to say that this will be an occasion to remember.

The Night Eternal live @ Academy, Manchester. Photo Credit: Jess Robinson

As sole support, there’s a lot riding on fellow countrymen THE NIGHT ETERNAL to kick start the evening with a bang and with a sizeable crowd inside Manchester’s Academy to greet them, it could have been easy for the Germans to wilt under the pressure. But thanks a bombastic, no-nonsense thrills homage to 80s heavy metal, the band hit the ground running. Over the course of their eight song set, guitarists Rob Richter and Henry Käseberg dual and gallop as they deploy riff after riff and in Ricardo Baum, the frontman channels the heroes of yesteryear with an energetic stage presence and soaring vocals to boot. Whilst their sound is far from ground-breaking or truly innovative, THE NIGHT ETERNAL deliver denim and leather in fine fashion and their warm reception from the crowd amassed in front of them shows they will be welcome back on our shores with open arms.

Rating: 8/10Blind Guardian live @ Academy, Manchester. Photo Credit: Jess Robinson

Impressive they may be, but tonight is all about BLIND GUARDIAN and in the moments prior to their grand entrance, the excitement is palpable. As the lights dim and the band announce their arrival with Imaginations From The Other Side, the energy is electric as the band, led by the charismatic Hansi Kürsch, built the atmosphere before delivering a knock out punch of bombastic proportions.

From there, the band just excel as they embark on a journey across their extensive discography. Nightfall‘s early outing sees the crowd grin with glee as the guitar harmonies from Marcus Siepen and André Olbrich sound utterly immense in the live arena, whilst material from the band’s latest album (2022’s The God Machine) sit comfortably amongst their decorated back catalogue. Given that technically, this tour is in support of their latest album, it’s somewhat surprising that just three songs from their latest record make a live outing, but BLIND GUARDIAN‘s history is rich and extensive, and they play to what their fans want; a victory lap of masterful power metal.Blind Guardian live @ Academy, Manchester. Photo Credit: Jess Robinson

The Bard’s Song – In The Forest sees two thousand people join the band in singing the sombre folk tale, and it’s a moment that raises the hairs on the back of the neck, whereas Majesty and Traveler In Time injects a ton of adrenaline in the show’s closing stages.

It’s an exhilarating performance, but a triumphant encore ensures that BLIND GUARDIAN finish their time in Manchester with the most epic of finishes. Sacred Worlds soars as the booming symphonics, mix with the epic riffs and Kürsch‘s soaring vocals, Valhalla has the crowd screaming every word back to the band and in finale Mirror Mirror, the band end their time in Manchester with a flourish. And as the crowds filter out of Manchester chanting in unison, “Valhalla – Deliverance, Why’ve you ever forgotten me”, one thing is clear: BLIND GUARDIAN are one of metal’s greatest properties.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from Jess Robinson here:


























































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