These Swede’s are part of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal with Striker, Gatekeeper, SkullFist, Night Demon, Icarus Witch, Snakebite, Cauldron, etc, etc. If you have yet to do your homework on the present, get on it. Just from the first single, ‘Die For The Devil’, off their fifth album, I knew it was going to be a winner. Take equal parts NWOBHM, Raven Stay Hard/’On and On’ era, with some of the underground American names from the 80s like Leatherwolf, Malice, and Riot. It’s a great balance between traditional heavy metal big riffs, twin guitar harmonies, fast and mid pace rhythms, and a hook.

‘Zenith Of The Black Sun’ follows with a mood setting keyboard and clean guitars into a Dio (Holy Diver, Last In Line) inspired riff and rhythm. ‘Searching For You’ gets them back to their fast speed metal roots heard on earlier albums. ‘Regrets’ in contrast is a deep piano power ballad, great reflective leads, with a nice Savatage touch in its added orchestration and Gregorian chant. ‘Sail On’ is a little different, guitars not so hard edged but switches to a mid tempo. Kind of reminds me of those different songs from Budgie or Diamond Head. Drums and a rolling bass build on ‘Thunder And Hell’ with a very 90s European speed power metal (Blind Guardian, Grave Digger, Running Wild) guitar and attack, ‘Forever We Worship the Dark’ guitars briefly leave for a Powerwolf like sung hymn chorus. ‘Ode To Death’ closes the album with such a Manowar triumphant arrangement.