Unitron As far as classic heavy metal goes, there aren't a whole lot of new bands of that pure old school 70's/80's sound, and even fewer that get much attention. The few that will, usually have bigger production values that ruin the impact of the music. Look a bit, and you'll find bands that both play and sound just like what could be a classic metal band of old. Visigoth is one of those bands.

Visigoth takes influence from bands like Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road, as seen in their cover of the latter's "Necropolis", but they don't come off as copycats. They sound like they would fit right into a hidden 80's metal gem list you might find, and deliver masterful traditional heavy metal in every way. The ultimate highlight of the album and one of the greatest metal songs of the 2010's is the single "Dungeon Master". The heat-seeking hook of the riff and attacking drums instantly just gets the listener hooked, couple that with beautifully melodic vocals, and you've got yourself a masterpiece. The bass gets some shine on the album too, with the crushingly heavy yet melodic "Iron Brotherhood", where you can feel the reverb.

Now sometimes with extreme high points such as that, the rest of an album can pale in comparison. Thankfully, The Revenant King does not. Most of it is consistently fantastic, "Creature of Desire" in particular comes very close to "Dungeon Master"'s greatness. It opens right up with a punchy riff and a scream that could have come right from a classic Helstar album. "Necropolis" is a faithful and excellent cover of the original Manilla Road tune, but the band gives it their own touch. The band couldn't have picked a better song to close out the album than "From the Arcane Mists of Prophesy", this is what I call an epic. Each riff and melody hooks the listener, especially sort of a mix of singing solos creating a rhythm in the middle. The epic perfectly ends with a melodic doom metal finale that would make 80's Candlemass proud.

What about the production? No polished bullshit is to be found here, this has a nice warm and organic sound that is what traditional heavy metal should sound like. It's not that raw like a thrash or death metal album needs to be, but you can hear and feel all of the heaviness on this record.

If you miss the traditional metal sound without any modern bullshit, Visigoth is an essential listen. Along with Crystal Viper, these guys renew my faith in bands carrying on the torch of classic metal. Turn it up, headbang, and sing to the epic melodies. It's old school all the way! Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

adg211288 The Revenant King (2015) is the debut full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Visigoth. The band have previously put out both a demo and an EP, but The Revenant King is their first release for a label, Metal Blade Records. The album includes a cover of Manilla Road's Necropolis.

The music on The Revenant King is for the most part traditional heavy metal with a focus on crafting reasonably long tracks. The Manilla Road cover aside there's nothing here that doesn't hit at least the five minute mark, and most tracks go a bit further than that with the longest being the closer, From the Arcane Mists of Prophecy, at 9:44. The music is usually quite mid-paced but sometimes the band do put their feet down and hit power metal tempos. A notable example of this would be the song Blood Sacrifice, but there is some more upbeat but still traditional metal based material on offer here, such as the album's lead single, Dungeon Master. The Dungeons & Dragons themed lyrics of this one may be a bit too cheesy for some listeners but Visigoth's style isn't really for those who require their music to have a more serious tone all told. Elsewhere, though to a lesser extent, the band go in the opposite direction and hit doom metal territory, such as the end of Mammoth Rider.

While not the most instantly attention grabbing heavy metal album The Revenant King does open up with repeat listens. I think that here and there the band could stand to hone their song-writing craft a bit and shave a little bit off the running time of a few of the tracks in order to make them more cohesive, but in general this is a pretty damn good debut album from Visigoth. The vocalist Jake Rogers has a strong heavy metal voice that fits well with the band's rather old school style and if you want classic metal style riffs, then you've got them on this album in abundance. The band Argus are probably a valid comparison to make though much more doom metal based than Visigoth, but the singing styles of the two band's vocalists certainly warrants a comparison. The more galloping style rhythms obviously bring mind to Iron Maiden as well.

The Revenant King isn't the sort of album that blows me away but quality traditional metal can be quite hard to find, especially if the more modern bands out there aren't your cup of tea, and I think you could do far worse than picking this one up the next time you're out looking for a traditional metal fix. 4 stars.