Dorylus: Without Sin (Self Released)
4-Piece Dorylus come from Stevenage, so what sort of music does that urban sprawl influence? Well it's a pretty impressive mix of death/thrash metal, they state that their influences are Iron Maiden, Slayer, Lamb Of God and Amon Amarth, which means that their heaviness is balanced by more melodic elements. Off the back of their EP The Rapture they obtained a strong following that saw them supporting Sumer, Krysthla and King Leviathan. Opening with the bone crushing Under My Flesh they send their message of being a band who can rip your face off without sacrificing their progressive approach. With the aforementioned influences I'd compare the band to Floridian's Trivium, on Bite The Bullet they have the crushing grooves of the American metalcore sound with the frantic blast beating of death metal, which means the song will get many a pit going, even with a bass break, that fortunately bleeds into some face ripping solos and a breakdown.
The songs here are all pretty hefty both musically and in length with a lot of progressiveness in each song as they change time signatures frequently bringing a bit of the unexpected to a genre in which you often know what is coming next. This album has taken nearly 2 years to create mainly due to vocalist Joe becoming homeless in early 2018 meaning he did a lot of sofa surfing but still managed to record, produce, mix and master this debut album. Dorylus are Joe Lyndon - guitar / lead vocals (though mainly growls), Craig Carmichael - guitar, Edd Littler - bass and Mitch Cartwright - drums and together they make songs that will appeal to fans of Gojira (Lesser Evil), Lamb Of God (Witch Hunter), Slipknot (Mirrors) and any extreme band you care to mention. They say let them Without Sin cast the first stone, well you'll need a trebuchet full of boulders to cleanse the souls of Dorylus, they are an unrelenting machine drawing from their numerous influences for this blistering slice of ferocious metal. 8/10
Legion: Rising (Rock Company)
Often when on a long journey, in fact most recently on the way to BMF 666 Easter Massacre, we discuss about bands not being as prolific as they were in the past. However that's before we knew about UK rock/metal band Legion who have released a massive 10 albums since 2010, which is insane when you really think about it. Now with so many releases you'd think that there has to be a catch, this is usually that the band are not very good however this five piece are good, yes their music is meat and potatoes, straight down the middle heavy rock but from the production to the instrumentation and vocals it's an album that puts them in as a band that play music that can be considered as good as or even better than much of The Planet Rock fodder. Yes I said it Planet Rock this is where Legion sit from a musical standpoint, it features members from Bob Catley's solo band, DiAnno, Jagged Edge and Lionsheart and does sound like a melting patch of all those bands with touches of NWOBHM (Nothin To Me), a bit of solo Ozzy (How Does It Feel) some of the funk of Skin (Full Moon Rising) and much more leaving every song resonating but not sticking forever. 10 albums in and it's probably not up to me to say whether Legion should continue but on the basis of this album I'd happily hear a lot more of this British rock band. 7/10
Fortune: II (Frontiers Records)
In opposition to Legion, 'cult' AOR band Fortune released their debut album in 1985 (though it was recorded in 1978), it is seen by many AOR fans as the best album of that genre of all time! (A hefty claim) after the collapse of their record label the band fell silent coming back in 2006, the proper come back though was in 2016 as the Fortune brothers, Richard (guitar) & Mick (drums), along with original vocalist Larry Greene, bassist Ricky Rat and keyboardist Mark Nilan came back for the Rockingham Festival. However hyperbole is a curious thing, their debut is lauded (apparently) their second record doesn't live up to this hype for me, admittedly it sounds like it was recorded in 1985, but if the band sounded like this in 1985 then I'd be switching over my cassette for something a bit more substantial. It's so light, airy and keyboard heavy that songs like Freedom Road sounding like a Mike & The Mechanics B-Side! II has been a long time in the making but Fortune are one band that should have remained in the mists of AOR past. 5/10
Diviner: Realms Of Time (Ulterium Records)
Greek metal band Diviner reunites current Innerwish drummer Fragiskos Samoilis with original Innerwish singer Yiannis Papanikolaou, the band was formed with Innerwish guitarist Thimios Krikos but he is no longer in the band and doesn't feature on this second album due to conflicting schedules. Diviner can be classed as traditional heavy metal, in the vein of early Blind Guardian due to Yiannis' vocals. With tracks such as the anthemic The Earth, The Moon, The Sun and the trashy Heaven Falls it's got that classic metal sound running throughout with some of the heavier sounds of Iced Earth, Grave Digger, of course Innerwish and countrymen Firewind. Diviner do not sound Greek, they sound like a German metal act and that is to their benefit as it's the Germans that do this sort of fist punching metal the best, Realms Of Time is a great second album from Diviner full of traditional metal anthems that will placate any fans of any of the bands I've mentioned. 7/10
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