Aussie power metal veterans a Black Majesty return with Oceans Of Black. It's their eighth album and doesn't stray too far from their tried and tested method of twin guitars, huge vocals and melodies galore, it's from the darker side of the power metal style with nods to the Germanic/Swedish style of bands such as Primal Fear, Dragonland, and Nocturnal Rites, the mixing/mastering from Ricardo Borges & Jens Borgen giving it a Swedish clarity.
Galloping out of the gates with Dragon Lord they slow things down for Hold On dialling up the epic and historical in the vocals as John Cavaliere reminds me of Joacim Cans from Hammerfall meets Blaze Bayley, the latter particularly strong on the riffy moments of tracks such as Raven. Here Evan Harris (bass) and Zain Kimmie (drums) lead the charge as Clinton James Bidie and Hanny Mohammed's dual guitars riff with great skill and plenty of leads. Mohamed also adds some keys in the background of Only The Devil which brings atmospherics.
On their eighth album Black Majesty stick to the plan and deliver more full metal alchemy, these Aussies bring the boisterous European sound from the deep Down Under. 7/10
Warlord - The Lost Archangel (High Roller Records)
Another year and another Warlord record, no matter what you think of Mark Zonder and Philip Byone continuing the band without founding member William J. Tsamis you must admit that they seem to be still finding a wealth of material written by the sadly departed band founder after his death in 2021. There was a new album in 2024 and a compilation too and now in 2025 they return with another compilation after treading the boards at classic metal festivals around the world.
While some my think this is a shameless cash in others believe that it’s a way of paying tribute the band founder and their fans by keeping the name alive. Whichever side you land on you’d deny the quality of the heavy metal on off here. The current line up puts Zonder (drums) and Byone (bass) alongside members of Jack Starr’s Burning Starr and Alcatrazz and with this record they have complied every free download single they released in conjunction with a tour date on their last tour (most at festivals).
These make up the first four songs on the album, most new though The Rainbow is a Tsamis demo from the 80’s, while the other three studio efforts here are re-recordings of songs Tsamis wrote for his other project Lordian Guard, the current Warlord having dine this before in attempt to combine all of the elements of Bill Tsamis’ discography. If you have the singles for free (which with Warlord’s fandom I assume they do), then to have this on physical disk with the Lordian Guard re-recordings and the wealth of old and new live material it’s a must buy situation.
However if you aren’t a hardcore fan then only the new singles will possibly be of interest so I’d say to start with their other albums. 7/10
Fer De Lance – Fires On The Mountainside (Cruz Del Sur Music)
Kick off your second album with a 12 minute title track that totally nails your epic battle worn style of heavy metal as it has twin guitar harmonies, organs, gang choruses, riffs that shift between heavy and atmospheric? Yeah, ok then you go for it, Fer De Lance! It’s a heck of a way to come back with a new record but they don’t stop there as every song on this album clocks in at over five minutes, this Chicago band taking from the theatrical approach of Blind Guardian, Falconer and Atlantean Kodex.
Each song is concerned with myth and fantasy, no matter the runtime they shift several times through different passages, as acoustics and keys that emulate traditional medieval instruments such as lutes, flesh out the backgrounds, though with Fire & Gold they are the main instruments used, a folk metal track where the electric guitars accompany the acoustic scrubbing. so there’s a lot of variation despite it only being seven tracks long you get 48 minutes of triumphant heavy metal with folk touches glistening through it like threads of gold in the heavy lead riffs of tracks such as Death Thrives (Where Walls Divide). It’s intensely progressive, the solos sections often coming from nowhere before reverting to the main rhythm of the track.
The scope of Fires On The Mountianside is way beyond many bands only on their second album, they’ve embraced the epic, in epic metal with both hands from the dualling guitars, the expressive vocals which emulate Dio on The Feast Of Echoes and the progressive composition there’s a lot to love about Fer De Lance’s second record! 8/10
Iron Echo - Forged In Fire (Metalapolis Records)
German heavy metal now from new band Iron Echo. Formed in 2022 the band are new but the members are all long time workhorses of the German metal scene. They released this debut album in late 2024 but now have signed to Metalapolis Records and bring their muscular heavy metal that's got all the guts and gusto of Accept, Priest and Saxon, singer Johnny with the powerhouse delivery of Biff Byford meets some Halford histrionics.
Fer De Lance – Fires On The Mountainside (Cruz Del Sur Music)
Kick off your second album with a 12 minute title track that totally nails your epic battle worn style of heavy metal as it has twin guitar harmonies, organs, gang choruses, riffs that shift between heavy and atmospheric? Yeah, ok then you go for it, Fer De Lance! It’s a heck of a way to come back with a new record but they don’t stop there as every song on this album clocks in at over five minutes, this Chicago band taking from the theatrical approach of Blind Guardian, Falconer and Atlantean Kodex.
Each song is concerned with myth and fantasy, no matter the runtime they shift several times through different passages, as acoustics and keys that emulate traditional medieval instruments such as lutes, flesh out the backgrounds, though with Fire & Gold they are the main instruments used, a folk metal track where the electric guitars accompany the acoustic scrubbing. so there’s a lot of variation despite it only being seven tracks long you get 48 minutes of triumphant heavy metal with folk touches glistening through it like threads of gold in the heavy lead riffs of tracks such as Death Thrives (Where Walls Divide). It’s intensely progressive, the solos sections often coming from nowhere before reverting to the main rhythm of the track.
The scope of Fires On The Mountianside is way beyond many bands only on their second album, they’ve embraced the epic, in epic metal with both hands from the dualling guitars, the expressive vocals which emulate Dio on The Feast Of Echoes and the progressive composition there’s a lot to love about Fer De Lance’s second record! 8/10
Iron Echo - Forged In Fire (Metalapolis Records)
German heavy metal now from new band Iron Echo. Formed in 2022 the band are new but the members are all long time workhorses of the German metal scene. They released this debut album in late 2024 but now have signed to Metalapolis Records and bring their muscular heavy metal that's got all the guts and gusto of Accept, Priest and Saxon, singer Johnny with the powerhouse delivery of Biff Byford meets some Halford histrionics.
Now you probably get an idea of what Iron Echo sound like when I said German heavy metal, it definitely has ‘a sound’ to it and Iron Echo are very much an echo of the bands I mentioned, metal fists in the air as they switch from mid-pace stomps such as The Awakening to the breakneck Downfall, each song coming in either side of this divide and nothing more. You could say that Forged In Fire is just an album born from its influences.
Yes it’s got modernity to it and the performances are good but these nine tracks don’t really add much more than say bands like Primal Fear have been giving for a long time now. 6/10
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