Medieval fantasy doom metal outfit Castle Rat premiered the official music video for “Dragon” from their album The Bestiary, ahead of their largest North American headline run to date this autumn with support from Unto Others and Wraith Knight. Watch it now and grab your tickets below. Continue reading
Guitars quite literally illustrate the opening action of “By The Light”, a group of paladins attacking an evil necromantic death cult. Their failure and the sole survivor Emaly’s efforts to avenge the deaths form the balance of Burning Sun’s Retribution (Metalizer Records), a Power Metal tour de force of a concept album in the vein of Helloween and my last album reviewed for Ghost Cult, Martyr. Pancho Ireland’s vocals maintain smooth power akin to Bruce Dickinson. Continue reading
Iceland is not the first location you think of when considering the legacy of traditional or melodic metal, and would probably not be amongst the first (hundred) places you would go if you were searching for the next great Heavy Metal band. Indeed, brooding, expansive post-Rock; emotive, atmospheric Black Metal; twisted traditional folk are all styles that you’d more instantly connect with the volcanic, expansive, open landscapes of the western-most point of Scandinavia. So, I think it is fair to say that you would have got fairly long odds on the first release for the metal industry-shaking new label giants Atomic Fire being the debut album of a brand new Power Metal band from Iceland.