Invicti are band coming from Seville, Spain and they are new to the scene being formed in 2022. This is their debut full length opus. This one contains eight songs plus one bonus song, meaning nine in all. The music of Invicti can be described as a melodic heavy metal leaning also on some hard rock influences in songwriting and structures, also some groove metal and progressive played parts. Musically, that is pure heavy metal, with good vocals at times reminding me of mixture between Bruce Dickinson and Eric Adams. ‘Riders of Death’ reminded me a lot of Dickinson’s solo material in many parts, having that melody and groove. Lyrically, songs with titles like ‘Rock, Drink and Fuck’ or ‘Balls of Steel’, also ‘Heavy Metal is Painful’ will give you the picture what this band is about in lyrics side of things. Musically they are tight, superb guitar solos, especially in above mentioned ‘Rock…’, and the whole atmosphere and vibe of the album reminded me a lot of early Manowar albums and that era of first three albums, but maybe a bit less epic, but also having some longer songs and more fantasy leaned like ‘The Arena’ or ‘Song of Conquest’. This is great debut for a heavy metal band.
Time for another band from mighty US underground scene to grace the pages of this webzine. Lord Mountain are relatively new band in the scene being formed back in 2014. They are hailing from California and after one e.p., two singles, this is their first full length opus with help of King Volume Records. This opus contains eight songs. Music of Lord Mountain is a mixture of heavy metal and doom metal, leaning more on doom side of things. Songs are epic and melodic, if I must compare it to some bands it would be Grand Magus, Crom, Candlemass even early Manowar in their doomier songs on first couple of opuses. Lyrics are more into fantasy side of things, epic war, mythological themes. Vocals are melodic but could be a bit stronger in the production, vocalist/guitarist Jesse Swanson has great voice and I think that a bit louder vocals in the overall mix could add to the dramatics of the songs. The album sounds raw and metal, but atmospheric at the same time. Songs like ‘Well Of Fates’ and ‘The Giant’ are doom/heavy anthems, topped with instrumental quick intermezzo ‘Beyond The Frozen Sea’ which kind of leads us to second half of the album with epic ‘The Last Crossing’ which starts as more straightforward faster heavy metal song and then evolves like butterfly from caterpillar to doom with epic solo in the end. ‘Chasm Of Time’ has most eerie and haunting melody vocal lines of all songs on this opus and has beautiful chorus and guitar work reminding of NWOBHM influences. This is a band which shows how can you make varied, interesting and strong debut opus.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 