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va theepicsideofmetal vol1
Artist: Various Artists
Title: The Epic Side Of Metal Vol. 1
Genre: Epic Metal
Release Date: 19th June 2020
Label: Golden Core Records


Album Review

When reviewing Epic Metal you work in the spirit to create an epic write-up (future generations will judge my effort on this one). As mentioned in the press text of this compilation by Golden Core Records (assembled by MANILLA ROAD drummer Neudi) the definition of Epic Metal is a matter of taste and preferences. What I think is Epic Metal? Bands like MANILLA ROAD surely have a big historical imprint on the definition of the genre, but are only bands that resemble Shelton’s legendary band to be counted as epic? Not at all! But here comes the catch: My personal preference what defines epic for me is not the same as that of the next best metalhead and vice versa. For my personal taste the Doom genre has many bands or songs that I would call epic and would also categorize them as part of that genre.

The artists on this compilation are not defined as epic but the mindset behind the assembling this was rather that some bands have a moment in time (a song so to speak) that has the trademarks or the feel to it to define it as epic. My favourites on this compilation are: WITCHFYNDE’s ‘The Lord Of Sin’ because it is a really odd but still totally catchy tune, TEMPEST’s ‘Control The World’ because it is highly melodic and the epicness is owed to the vocalist (clean but soft vocals), VIRON’s ‘Sniper’ a high melodic and rather long Prog power song with awesome vocals and JAGUAR’s ‘As The Crow Flies’ because it is full of raw energy and the vocals power and craziness increase all the time to total escalation at the end (a real NWOBHM gem). Just check this out and hit me up if you like to chat about your definition of Epic Metal.


Tracklist

01. MANILLA ROAD - The Deluge
02. GRIFFIN - Flight Of The Griffin
03. CUTTY SARK - Vultures In The Air
04. WISHBONE ASH - The Warrior (Live)
05. DARK WIZARD - Evil Spirits
06. WITCHFYNDE - The Lord Of Sin
07. TEMPEST - Control The World
08. SUDDEN DEATH - Dust In The Wind
09. VIRON - Sniper
10. JAGUAR - As The Crow Flies
11. ECONOMIST - The Night That Lasts A Thousand Years
12. Outro: MANILLA ROAD - Morbid Tabernacle


Bands

MANILLA ROAD was the epitome of Epic Metal, with their extremely odd but distinctive style they put out 18 full-length records, they were active from 1977-2018 with a small hiatus from 92-94. The spearhead of Epic Metal is inactive due to the death of band mastermind Mark “The Shark” Shelton.

GRIFFIN were active between 1982 and 1986, they released two full length records in the 80s (1984 and 1986 to be precise) ‘Flight Of The Griffin’ and ‘Protectors Of The Lair’. The band members Rick Wagner (drums) and William McKay (vocals) were both a part of early incarnations of METAL CHURCH.

CUTTY SARK from Bonn, Germany is another one of the bands that were already active in the late 70s only to disappear into obscurity 8 years later. They managed to assemble three full-length records (1984, 1985 and after their reunion in 1998) shortly after the release of the third output the band disbanded again.

WISHBONE ASH is a British Rock band that remains to be active, they had their share of pauses and line-up changes but they are indeed still around and managed to release 23 LPs in their career.

DARK WIZARD is a band from Vroomshoop, Netherlands that play Heavy Metal and they released two full-length albums to date. The band was on hiatus between 1985 and 2011 and released a comeback album in 2018.

WITCHFYNDE is a real NWOBHM band from Derby that is still active to this day, formed in 1973 and first disbanded in 1984 they returned in 1999 and are still rocking out.

TEMPEST is a German band that also seems to be still active since 1983, they put out a LP in 1996 called ‘Heavy Metal’.

SUDDEN DEATH was a rather rough sounding German Metal band that was active between 1986 and 1987 and was sounding a bit like MOTÖRHEAD, they assembled one LP in 1987 and only silence followed.

VIRON was a Power Metal band from Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate that was active from 2004 until 2008 they released two LPs (06`and 08`) and a compilation in 2016.

JAGUAR too is a born and bred NWOBHM band (est. in 1979), active since the reunion in 1998 (hiatus from 85 to 98) the band is five LPs strong and a bit of a cult band among the NWOBHM maniacs.

ECONOMIST is the second band from Rhineland-Palatinate, Frankenthal to be precise. Formed in 1992 and split in 95`they released two LPs in their time.


Website

https://www.zyx.de/Labels-36.htm+/l_id/20 /https://www.facebook.com/Goldencorerecords


Cover Picture

va theepicsideofmetal vol1


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10


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