Jun 072023
 

Ritual Servant brings the thrash on their second full length, Albus Mendacium, an album you will want to check out.

Ritual Servant have been releasing material since their demo ep 777 in 2017.  In 2019 their first full length, Metallum Evangelli was released and included the demo tracks remastered.  Since that time the band has been releasing the ep’s Veritas in 2021 and Misericordiae and Opinione in 2022, which make up most of the songs on their now second full length, Albus Mendacium, where the songs have been redone.  The album was produced, recorded, and mastered by Brian McKenzie who also added the session bass tracks.  Additional drum and lead guitars were produced by Nathan Crane and Ryan Roebuck.  The thrash band has a mission to promote the message of Christ using scripture as a basis for their songs and the theme of Albus Mendacium is taken from Matthew 7:15-16…”Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them…”

Albus Mendacium is one of those albums that immediately forces you as a listener to sit up and take notice.  A fast, heavy riff and pounding drum backing open up “Whitewashed Tombs” which is quickly joined by an early layered short guitar solo, all of which immediately brings to mind thrash bands like Megadeth in particular when you think about song structure and composition and that holds throughout the track with Patrick Best’s vocals also carrying a bit of a Dave Mustaine sneer to them although not sounding like Mustaine as Best choose more to bark out the words.  The guitars are simply amazing and work so well in the song.  Given the title, I knew immediately what the song was going to be about as this is common subject matter for Christian bands, but the band’s approach reminded of how Metallica approached “Creeping Death”, than what I typically hear from Christian bands, which helps retain authenticity.

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Jun 022023
 

Roxx Records has teamed up with UK Christian rockers Stairway to release the definitive and very special 30th anniversary edition of “No Rest:No Mercy”.

Stairway was founded in October 1978 at beginning of the NWOBHM era, and has released six full length albums to date. The band was signed in 1990 by Kingsway Music as part of the 1991 White Metal Records compilation CD ‘White Metal Warriors’ and recorded two tracks, ‘Anybody There’ and ‘Walk Away’ exclusively for that album.

The bands debut album for Kingsway Music on the Edge Records label, ‘No Rest: No Mercy’, would be released in 1993, and produced by Paul Hodson (Hard Rain / Bob Catley), hailed the band’s International popularity and saw it’s debut chart entry in the Japanese Import Charts at #48. This is the album that started it all for Stairway and is still in high demand today.

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Vultures Gathering – “The Hunt”

 Posted by on May 23, 2023 at 12:11  No Responses »
May 232023
 

Vultures Gathering is a collaborative effort from three musicians from around the world. Chaz Bond (BioGenesis) in Ohio, USA was contacted to do clean vocals for a Malaysian metal band of which Andre Chiang was a member. Andre (Shamash, Necromanicide) and Chaz hit it off and started talks of a side project that would be Gothenburg style with a nod to NWOBHM. They wanted the music to be dark, somber and melodic with deep lyrics. After Chaz and Andre finished the first song, Andre introduced Ryan Roebuck (Ritual Servant, Motivik) from Georgia, USA to the project and the lineup was solidified. They signed with Roxx Records and released their debut album, The Hunt, on April 14, 2023.

Given their main bands and what they wanted to accomplish, I was intrigued to see how it would pull together. Upon my first listen, the album felt dark. Not that I have synesthesia, but a dark gray shade came to mind. Their style is a pseudo-power metal style that makes use of thrash metal riffs and chords underlying power metal vocals. Lead guitars and keyboards add some extra color from time to time, but tend to be ornamental. Most of the songs are heavy with a couple of lighter songs thrown in like “This Darkened Embrace” and “A Knock on the Door.” The songs are progressive and constantly shifting where often I couldn’t tell if riffs used before came back later.

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May 192023
 

In our quest to bring you the best in Christian Metal today and classic releases from from yesteryear, we get stoked when those two meld together! We are excited to be bringing you, not one but two, brand new EP’s from Deny The Fallen

Deny The Fallen is the brainchild of Jonathan Johnson with vocals from Rey Parra. That’s right Deny The Fallen consists of two members of one of Christian Metals most iconic bands, Sacred Warrior

Deny The Fallen stands out on their own, melding some of that classic power metal feel with some slight modern twists and turns along the way. With their sophomore effort we get more of their great brand of metal, and even a couple fun and killer cover tunes. Just listen below to this smokin sample of a classic Stryper tune heading your way.

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May 102023
 

Shining Force hailing from the Houston Texas area began way back in 1995 and has been rocking hard for over 25 years. But this release is a little extra special, we will have lots of surprises on the way for this one. Including an excellent guest singer that absolutely ‘Rips’

“Spiritual Warfare” also features exciting new artwork designed by Raphael Tavares Gripp. Roxx Records is very excited to be working with Shining Force and we can’t wait to unveil more as we get closer to releasing “Spiritual Warfare” so stay tuned more exciting news to come.

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