Tag: Symphonic

Twilight Force – At The Heart Of Wintervale Review
[Album artwork by Kerem Beyit] It’s been four years since we last heard a peep from Twilight Force, Sweden’s answer to Alan Menken stuffed into a mail hauberk. Were they the first power metal band …

Album Premiere: Ancient Mastery – Chapter Two: The Resistance
Writers and artists build by hand little worlds that they hope might effect change in real minds, in the real world where stories are read. A story can make us cry and laugh, break our …

Qrixkuor – Zoetrope Review
If we wanted to keep it short and sweet, we could probably just say that London’s (likely Scrabble cheaters) Qrixkuor make nightmare music. Here at Last Rites, however, we are generally impressed with being neither …

Epica – The Alchemy Project Review
Epica could record an album of Karol G covers and no one would bat an eye. So the fact that the band is collaborating with musicians from Shining, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Soilwork, Aborted, Insomnium, Uriah Heep, …

Grave Digger – Symbol Of Eternity Review
At this point, 42 years in, the title “Symbol Of Eternity” may as well refer to Grave Digger themselves. Like their fellow Germans in U.D.O., Chris Boltendahl and his cast of comrades have carved out …

I Am the Night ‒ While the Gods Are Sleeping Review
[Cover art by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin] The Grand World of Heavy Metal Music is no stranger to works of tribute, typically to an era or sound or Days of Yore, but sometimes bands zero in …