Reviews: Warkings, Celestial Wizard, Front Row Warriors, Rites To Ruin (Matt Bladen)

Warkings - Armageddon (Napalm Records)

From Valhalla and back again mighty metal warriors face the end times with their fifth album Armageddon. The foursome of The Tribune (vocals), The Crusader (guitar), The Viking (bass) and The Spartan (drums) are now joined permanently by Morgana le Fay on growls/vocals for this album after she joined as a guest on previous album Morgana.

Now they are five piece and showcase their new dual vocal sound with the powerful title track, (which deals with the raid on Lindisfarne monastery in 793 leading to the Viking occupation of Britain). Both voices similar to singers of other band but of course this is group of warriors from Valhalla who are back to regale us with more stories of battles and any resemblance to any other band members, living or dead, is purely coincidental *wink wink*. Saying that even though these are immortal warriors, they seem to have some friends in the metal scene teaming up with Orden Ogan on Genghis Khan (the legendary Mongol Kin), Dominum on Hangmen's Night (execution of The Knights Templar) and Subway To Sally on Stahl Auf Stahl (steel on steel).

So they have friends but they have plenty of talent to go around, Morgana taking the lead on Circle Of Witches which proclaims "the end is here" as we lead to the epic Kings Of Ragnarök, though I wonder if this wouldn't have been better suited at the end of the album, they have a few more to come putting this album at 14 tracks long, which is possibly a few too many even though at least three are intros.

As we head to the climax, Nightfall is the best example of the five piece line up with the clean/harsh vocals working in harmonic union. Armageddon is another set of tales from Warkings, historical fantasy metal with plenty of histrionics, but probably a few too many track 7/10

Celestial Wizard - Regenesis (Scarlet Records)

US power metal from Colorado based Celestial Wizard, Regenesis is their third studio album and features a lot to digest musically, there's some of the American power/thrash greats such as Savatage, Nevermore and that one we can't talk about, plenty of Scandinavian melodeath as they've been compared to bands such as In Flames and Soilwork along with a bit of Western flavour on Pale Horse and the artwork from Dan Goldsworthy.

The expectation would be for clean/harsh vocals, virtuoso shredding/soloing and plenty of galloping rhythms and you get all of that on the third track Fangbearer, one of the strongest on the record, shades of Nevermore come on the dramatic Emerald Eyes as they close with some savage melodeath on the title track. You could also easily compare them to Children Of Bodom but without the keys, the power and melodeath fused well across the 10 tracks here.

On this third album they have looked inward imbuing She Is The Blade with emotional choruses as they add some lilting strings/acoustics to Shores Of Eternity for a bit more punch. So there's introspection, but also aggression on Ride With Fire which is all snarling vocals a sharp riffage as the tone gets darker with Wicked Master. Regenesis is Celestial Wizard dealing in heavier lyrical themes with some technical excellence. 8/10

Front Row Warriors – Running Out Of Time (ROAR Records)

German band Front Row Warriors play melodic metal and while I liked their previous album there was some jarring moments where metal and AOR didn’t sit as good bedfellows. Well they return with their second album and they’ve leaned into 80’s hard rock and AOR style which suits singer Elkie Gee’s voice much better.

Elkie is backed by a group of German music veterans, Dominik Barth replacing Sorin Badin who took a step back into the background, on this record as the recording line up is guitarist Stef Binning-Gollub, bassist Timo Michels, keyboardist Richie Seibel and drummer Jay-G with Elkie on vocals.

This experience shines through on Running Out Of Time, the band able to adapt to whatever they play, from the power metal of Turn The Tide, the melodic metal of Cast A Spell to the jangling New Horizons and balladry of Running Out Of Time there's a lot of AOR soul here with the touches of Pat Benetar.

It's when they combine genres such as Don’t Think The Night Is Over that they display's this experience, that track puts together Heart and Queensryche, which shouldn’t work but definitely gives Running Out Of Time more coherence than the debut. This second album feels bigger and better then the debut, it's Front Row Warriors capturing a few eras in one great record. 8/10

Rites To Ruin - Daughter Of Hatred (Otter Chaos Records)

After much anticipation Welsh heavy metal band Rites To Ruin drop their debut album entitled Daughter Of Hatred. Their Fire EP was an four track intro to this veteran heavy metal outfit, all the members having been involved in the South Wales metal scene for a number of years, they showcased their collective talents and all that experience on four tracks that still make up part of their live set to this day.

Two of those tracks, Rise and Fire return on this album, re-recorded and adjusted to how they sound now after countless live shows. Rites To Ruin are a band who are at their most triumphant when on the stage, especially the vocals of Krissie Kirby, who has an Ann Wilson-esque range and often could be just as potent without a microphone.

I've been in awe of Krissie's voice since her time in Triaxis and it has never faltered or wavered in that time. With this force up front the rest of the band has to be just as prominent or it could fade into the background, now while on stage, their classic metal is always loud and involving, the band always look like they're having a blast, this didn't really translate as well on the EP for my two cents.

So let's hope it does more so on the full length debut? Well we get off to a good start, the empowering title track kicks off with some thrashy riffs and those brilliant vocals, the production a little harsh on the clarity of everything but you can hear the virtuosity of lead guitarist Lee Cartner especially. 

The one thing I'll say is that you wouldn't notice that they've had a change of drummer since the EP as Zak Skane is a monster behind the kit, he gives the songs their muscle, the engine room alongside Paul Boschen's technical bass and Matt Chambers' snarling rhythm guitars.

The thrash elements continue on Prevail, while In Memoriam adds a Maiden gallop and some twin axe duelling, For The Love Of Gold continues the storytelling lyrics but with some riffs from the Blaze Bayley songbook. 

So far so good on the promise of almost capturing the live force of Rites To Ruin. We get to Fire and there's some marginal differences to the EP (at the end for sure) but I'm not sure why it and Rise are featured here again.

I assume it's probably something to do with how the songs have evolved on stage now being more reflective of how they sound today. Still I'm not in the band so can't say for definite. 

Back to the remaining new tracks then and it's Sorrow that stands above for me, lost in space with latter day Maiden vibes. But I do think there could be a little more variation on the album, leaning into the prog side a bit more as the skill is there.

So Daughter Of Hatred is filled with high levels of skill and songwriting, and while it doesn't quite have the same force as their live show, pick it up, play it loud and get learning the words ready for their performance at Bloodstock in August. 7/10