Just when you thought that Euro Power Metal couldn’t get any more cheesy, please welcome Finland’s Dragonknight! This five-piece collaborative project is made up of musicians attempting to avoid their home country’s fiendishly complex taxation laws by preserving their anonymity behind robes and masks, with the exception of vocalist Mikael Salo who can be seen unmasked on the video for single The Legions Of Immortal Dragonlords. Yes, they really have song titles like that. And ones like Pirates Bloody Pirates! too…
It's all great fun, and deliberately tongue in the many cheeks of Power Metal stalwarts like Blind Guardian, in exactly the same way as Gloryhammer do, so plenty of conceptual sword and sorcery at play, but in an affectionate doffing of the cap way, rather than the more blatant piss-taking style of Christopher Bowes’ side project. Salo is not someone I’ve come across before, but he’s got a broad and varied range on him, and particularly shines on the slower and gentler pieces of music, although he’d more than capable of belting out multi-octave scales on the fast, traditional Power Metal belters, of which this record is liberally sprinkled.
The other aspect that makes them noteworthy, is that there is some pretty nifty playing going on here too. The guitar and keyboard interplay has strong neo-classical twists (to the point where I am convinced that the keyboard player is Stratovarius’s Jens Johansson) and would not be surprised to find that Matias Kupiainen is in the mix too. All in all, it’s a good mix of songs, with a lot of maturity in the writing and arrangements, and although the cheesiness is baked in, it’s not overtly silly and the focus remains on delivering some good tunes and performances, rather than being slave to a forced concept.
I was not expecting that. 8/10
FAITHXTRACTOR - Loathing & The Noose (Redefining Darkness Records) [Matt Bladen]
This blows you away from moment one. 2 years since their last album FAITHXTRACTOR return with new record Loathing & The Noose but this two year gap hasn't dampened the technical brutality at all. From finger blistering supersonic lead guitars, dive bomb solos, to blastbeats upon blastbeats and guttural vocals that come from the lower cockle region (any Dennis Leary fans in?) every moment of this 8 track record is extreme metal excellence.
FAITHXTRACTOR is the creative output for extreme metal veteran Ash Thomas, having been involved with tonnes of projects he's the US equivalent of Rogga Johansson, albeit not quite as prolific as Rog. There is however quality in the quantity, Thomas whipping up a storm with tracks such as Fever Dream Litanies or bludgeoning with Flooded Tombs.
It takes several turns towards stifling doom on a track such as Caveats which asphyxiates you then switches back to technical death metal with Ethos Moribund. Loathing & The Noose is another savage shot of dense death metal, tinged with doom from FAITHXTRACTOR. Ash Thomas delivers more gravedigging death from the underground. 8/10
Necromaniac - Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable (Invictus Productions) [Mark Young]
As we bid farewell and adieu to 2024, its out with the old and in with the black metal and the debut from Necromaniac. This is about as old-school as you can get in terms of how it is put together and for its overall sound. It’s a collection of tracks that steadfastly anchor themselves to the early primitive days of black metal. And I mean that in a good way.
FAITHXTRACTOR - Loathing & The Noose (Redefining Darkness Records) [Matt Bladen]
This blows you away from moment one. 2 years since their last album FAITHXTRACTOR return with new record Loathing & The Noose but this two year gap hasn't dampened the technical brutality at all. From finger blistering supersonic lead guitars, dive bomb solos, to blastbeats upon blastbeats and guttural vocals that come from the lower cockle region (any Dennis Leary fans in?) every moment of this 8 track record is extreme metal excellence.
FAITHXTRACTOR is the creative output for extreme metal veteran Ash Thomas, having been involved with tonnes of projects he's the US equivalent of Rogga Johansson, albeit not quite as prolific as Rog. There is however quality in the quantity, Thomas whipping up a storm with tracks such as Fever Dream Litanies or bludgeoning with Flooded Tombs.
It takes several turns towards stifling doom on a track such as Caveats which asphyxiates you then switches back to technical death metal with Ethos Moribund. Loathing & The Noose is another savage shot of dense death metal, tinged with doom from FAITHXTRACTOR. Ash Thomas delivers more gravedigging death from the underground. 8/10
Necromaniac - Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable (Invictus Productions) [Mark Young]
As we bid farewell and adieu to 2024, its out with the old and in with the black metal and the debut from Necromaniac. This is about as old-school as you can get in terms of how it is put together and for its overall sound. It’s a collection of tracks that steadfastly anchor themselves to the early primitive days of black metal. And I mean that in a good way.
This isn’t new, modern or post black metal, this is material hewn from the blackest seam they could find, and it positively drips with an evil intent. Lest you think I am getting carried away, it is simply a collection of songs that could have been released in the early 90’s such is the way they have been put together.
Caput Draconis kicks off with a bombastic instrumental opening that gives way to the frenetically paced Daemonomantia that speeds in like the proverbial demon. Its aim is to go for the throat, with a spot-on low growl courtesy of C. Howler, who is credited as Throat Possessions and its that kind of nasty, low guttural spew that we love. There is a love of Slayer in here too, check in around 2.30 for some nifty parts.
It might sound ‘dead’ but with a good set of earphones you pick up the keys and subtle changes amongst the battering from Messrs Sadistik Fornicator, The One and V.Pestilencia. It’s a strong opening for them, and one that they follow up with by slowing the riffs down on Grave Mound Oath. At least for a spell as they boot it into overdrive after 2 minutes and they drop some glorious old school black metal on you. It’s played with energy and focus, the drums from V.Pestilencia powering it along as well keeping the rest firmly anchored and its surprising how fast it’s 7 minute runtime passes.
Next up is Calling Forth The Shade, a ponderous beast that has echoes of Nile in there. Its almost like a spoken word tale with a taut bass that feels like a counterpoint to the main rhythm. I’ll be honest in that I wasn’t sold on it and its probably due to the two songs that came before. It didn’t sit well with them, at least for me. Great Is The Thirst Of The Restless Dead comes in with another stormer of a bass line for its intro and then BANG we are off once more. This is standard heads down trem picking at its finest, serving up a whirling swarm of angry noise and is complimented by the frontal assault of Teraphim (Skull Sorcery) with some riff patterns that some could call prehistoric compared to modern metal.
I’ll tell you what, I’ll take theirs 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. The guitars are played like this music demands, rapid with a full steam ahead approach. It sounds familiar without being a rip-off of anybody else. They know exactly what they want to do, and they do it well. However, I wish that they’d dropped Conjuration Of St. Cyprian, which in some ways is a condensed version of Calling Forth. After the energy of Teraphim, it comes in and squashes the momentum they built. Swedenborg’s Skull (what a title!) attempts to put that right with some considerable aplomb and nasty guitar. It’s a showcase for their talents, one that manages to combine atmosphere, brutality, and sheer aggression under one hat.
They close out with Necromancess / Cauda Draconis, a near 11-minute opus that goes down the controlled route, building it up and then setting it alight with an extended melody break until they throw the brakes on and usher in some doom, complete with toiling bell. It’s a brave move from them, rather than go all out they change it up again and in doing so show that they have some serious tools at their disposal.
This is a very effective debut from the multi-national (Greek, Spanish, Swedish and Polish) outfit who have been active since 2011. It has some great songs on here, with Teraphim and Swedenborg’s Skull vying for my faves, it also suffers from a couple of missteps which knocks their score down. On balance, it’s a well-deserved 7 and If they can keep this momentum going then we should be seeing a lot more of them. 7/10
They close out with Necromancess / Cauda Draconis, a near 11-minute opus that goes down the controlled route, building it up and then setting it alight with an extended melody break until they throw the brakes on and usher in some doom, complete with toiling bell. It’s a brave move from them, rather than go all out they change it up again and in doing so show that they have some serious tools at their disposal.
This is a very effective debut from the multi-national (Greek, Spanish, Swedish and Polish) outfit who have been active since 2011. It has some great songs on here, with Teraphim and Swedenborg’s Skull vying for my faves, it also suffers from a couple of missteps which knocks their score down. On balance, it’s a well-deserved 7 and If they can keep this momentum going then we should be seeing a lot more of them. 7/10
Moon Wizard - Sirens (Hammerheart Records) [Rich Piva]
I have not been there, but Salt Lake City, Utah doesn’t seem like it would be a hotbed for heavy rock. However, with bands like Iota and the group to be discussed in this review, Moon Wizard, repping, that assumption is wrong, if only using the re-release of the Moon Wizards record from last year, Sirens, as an example. Sirens was self-released early in 2024, and now Hammerheart Records has swooped in to give it a proper wide release in 2025, vinyl and all, and good on them for picking up this killer record.
Right off the bat you get fuzzy riffs, excellent vocals courtesy of Sami Wolf, and a super tight band that has grown leaps and bounds since the first couple of records. I love the guitar tone, with the opening track, Meteor, serving as a perfect example. If you dig bands like Wytch, Aluna, and Guapa you will for sure dig this one.
I have not been there, but Salt Lake City, Utah doesn’t seem like it would be a hotbed for heavy rock. However, with bands like Iota and the group to be discussed in this review, Moon Wizard, repping, that assumption is wrong, if only using the re-release of the Moon Wizards record from last year, Sirens, as an example. Sirens was self-released early in 2024, and now Hammerheart Records has swooped in to give it a proper wide release in 2025, vinyl and all, and good on them for picking up this killer record.
Right off the bat you get fuzzy riffs, excellent vocals courtesy of Sami Wolf, and a super tight band that has grown leaps and bounds since the first couple of records. I love the guitar tone, with the opening track, Meteor, serving as a perfect example. If you dig bands like Wytch, Aluna, and Guapa you will for sure dig this one.
As mentioned earlier, the band seems to have gotten tighter on Sirens, and even more comfortable playing this style, as they come from a black/death metal background. The certainly prove the can slow it down and doom in up on tracks like Mothership and Epoch, where the drumming really stands out as well. Other standout tracks for me include the proto-esque Desert Procession, the killer riff machine used on the song Sunday, and the doomifed closer, Phantom.
If you like your proto doom fuzzy, with killer female vocals, and by a band who knows how to play together, pick up the re-release of Sirens, and don’t let anyone tell you that Utah can’t bring the heavy. 8/10
If you like your proto doom fuzzy, with killer female vocals, and by a band who knows how to play together, pick up the re-release of Sirens, and don’t let anyone tell you that Utah can’t bring the heavy. 8/10
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