ShadowQuest – Armoured IV Pain Album Review

Tracklist:
1. Blood of the Pure (4.8)
2. Last Farewell (4.7)
3. All One (4.7)
4. Live Again (4.75)
5. Midnight Sun (4.75)
6. Reach Beyond the Dream (4.8)
7. We Bring Power (4.5)
8. Insatiable Soul (4.2)
9. Take this Life (4.3)
10. Where Memories Grow (4.5)
11. Freewheel Burning (4.7)

Album Rated: 4.75/5

This Band had released 3 digital tracks (Blood of the Pure, All One, Last Farewell) at the end of last year and they sounded good, so I waited for them to put out this Album and I haven’t been disappointed. They have put out strong Power Metal for their first album. They are a six piece Power Metal band, they are made up from other groups Patrik Johansson Vocals Currently in Bloodbound and Dawn Of Silence, Ronny Milianowicz Drums ex-Dionysus, Kaspar Dahlqvist Keyboards ex-Dionysus, Peter Huss Lead Guitars currently in Shining, Jari Kainulainen Bass ex-Stratovarius, Ragnar Widerberg Rythm Guitars currently in Witherscape. If I was asked who would like their sound, I’d say if you like Mob Rules, Powerquest, Iron Savior, Gamma Ray, you’d probably find this album interesting. There’s a mixture of Melodic and Heavier Power Metal.
As you can see from my track rating, I don’t think there is a bad track on the album, probably some of the tracks with the higher marks are more familiar as they were pre-released. I hadn’t realised till I did this review they are an experienced band, and I’m not sure if this is a collaboration put together for a one off album or more to come, but I like what I hear. A bit early in the year but I’m sure this album will rate highly in my Top 2015 list. All I know is I had difficulty in deciding which tracks to choose for the Radio Thunder UK playlist.

Radio Thunder UK now has a
free Radio app
in #Googleplay http://tiny.cc/im83rx for Android
in #iTunes http://tiny.cc/fp3esx for iPhones & Pads
in #appworld http://tiny.cc/xvk5rx for Blackberry


Screen shot of app Playlist on Android Pad.

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Battle Beast Unholy Savior Review

A bit of a mixed bag this album, a few good tracks, but more poor ones. There’s a mixture of Metal Styles from Epic, Ballads, Power Metal to Pop Metal.
Think this album has been over produced trying to get a big sound, with drum and bass taking over most of the Metal tracks, and other tracks like Touch in the Night and Push It to the Limit sounding like ABBA meets Battle Beast. The Black Swordsman and Hero’s Quest sound like they’ve been produced as some gamers soundtrack. The two Ballad songs Sea of Dreams and Angel Cry are reasonable but have nothing to put them in the epic category. The only saving grace are the tracks Madness and Far Far Away, this is what I was hoping from Battle Beast.
After 2 good albums this one has taken them a step backwards. My advice to them would be to return to what they were doing, there are far better bands out there doing this ‘big’ sound, and from being a good prospect this album has made them slip down as mediocre. Lets hope the next album gets them back on track.

Rated 3/5 (Overproduced)
Lionheart 3/5
Unholy Savior 3.5/5
I Want the World… And Everything in It 3/5
Madness 4.5/5
Sea of Dreams 4/5
Speed and Danger 3.5/5
Touch in the Night 2/5
The Black Swordsman 2/5
Hero’s Quest 2/5
Far Far Away 4/5
Angel Cry 4/5
Push It to the Limit [bonus track] 1/5

Metal Album Reviews December

Bloodbound – Stormborn
Rating 4.75/5
Good news that after a last poor album Bloodbound are back to their best, they’ve returned to their trusted Power Metal, the band immediately goes full throttle in to most songs, Melodic vocals are backed with Epic Power Metal tracks similar to Book of the Dead and Unholy Cross, a relief after the ‘In the Name of Metal’ album left me giving it 2/5. Tracks to look out for are Iron Throne, Stormborn, in fact I like all the tracks except Made of Steel.

AC/DC – Rock or Bust
Rated 4/5
I confess that when it comes to AC/DC albums I prefer the Live albums to the Studio Albums for me outstanding tracks for me are Play Ball, Dogs of War but I can see a lot of tracks getting better when performed Live.

Neonfly – Strangers in Paradise
Rated 3.5/5
Power Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Ballads, a real mixture here on this album kinda lets this album down a little from this UK band. But I do like it, I just can’t say I like all of it. Tracks I like: Whispered Dreams, Highways to Nowhere, Aztec Gold, Fierce Battalions.

Stallion – Rise and Ride
Rated 4/5
Speed Metal, Heavy Metal with a raw feel of the 80’s Rise and Ride is one of these albums where tracks grow on you, The Title track is an example.
There are many bands out there with the Stallion name this band hales from Germany and I think the early influences could have been Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

Pythia – Shadows of a Broken Past
Rated 4.75/5
A British Symphonic Power Metal Band, Shadows of a Broken Past is a mixture of symphonic and power metal and I like their style. There’s not a bad track on the album, but outstanding tracks for me are The King’s Ruin, Sword of Destiny, The Highwayman, The Key.

Astralion – Astralion
Rated 4.6/5
No they are not from Australia they are Power Metal from Finland and I like what I hear, from fast and Heavy to Melodic and Epic a good blend. Stand out tracks for me The Oracle, At the Edge of the World, Black Sails, Mary (Bloody).

Eternal Voyager – The Battle of Eternity
Rated 4.3/5
Power Metal from Minneapolis in the USA and as a first album I like it, it has a rawness to it, and you can see influences of Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian with a bit of Ensiferum. Outstanding Tracks Vagabond, Holy Warrior, This is war, Army of Our Lord, and from these titles you can see the theme of the album.

ShadowQuest – Blood of the Pure
Rated 4.6/5
So far this Band has only released 3 digital tracks (Blood of the Pure, All One, Last Farewell) but all of them have been good Power Metal.

Axenstar – Where Dreams are Forgotten
Rated 3.5/5
May be this album will take a few more plays before the tracks clicks, it starts off well with the first 2 tracks but then goes down hill for me and becomes disappointing. I was expecting more stand out tracks from a band who normally come up with 1 or 2 really epic tracks, but not this time for me.

Mind Maze – Back from the Edge
Rated 4.5/5
Back From the Edge (2014) is the second full-length album by US metal act MindMaze. Having released their debut album Mask of Lies to good reviews their blend of Power Metal, Progressive Metal can take time to get use too, but on both albums the are some gems of tracks. On their latest The title track and End of Entity are the top tracks for me, there’s not a bad track on the album, but one or two track last of bit too long, but that’s the nature of Progressive Metal.

Within Temptation – Let Us Burn (Elements & Hydra Live In Concert)
Rated 4.7/5
This Live album gives another energy boost to a good catalog of this Dutch groups Elements & Hydra albums which dabbles in a mixture of Gothic Metal, Symphonic Rock, Acoustic Rock, Pop Rock, that creates a good atmosphere to the album, if not that it is a bit long, with 2 concerts being combined, so some tracks get a double play from each concert.