STORMHAMMER ‘Lord of Darkness’
( Mausoleum 251041)(2004)
After getting past a very scary back cover photo (and that was just the
band!) I find that StormHammer are a German metal band, in the tradition of
say Sinner and HammerFall. After an instrumental opener ‘Living in the Dark’
it’s of on galloping metal with ‘Ace in the Hole’, which has the classic
ingredients - double-speed drumming, speed guitars and of course anthemic
vocals. Nothing new here but it is played well and you can't but help
sing-a-long come the chorus.
Other highlights include ‘Lord of Darkness’
which features duelling guitars and vocalist Tommy Lion really belting out
the lyrics. ‘Gates of Mystery’ takes a very Maiden path and things go
mellower on ‘Wise Man’, with an acoustic intro and vocal arramgements from
the Uriah Heep songbook. Only slight downside is that by trimming a couple
of tracks of it would have been a much tighter release, as it tends to fall
down at the middle of the album.
Not a bad album at all and fans of European metal acts like Sinner,
Hammerfall etc and Manowar should investigate this release further.
Label website
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Review by Jason Ritchie
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