Holy Martyr

Hellenic Warrior Spirit

Written by: PP on 07/10/2008 14:46:12

For a band singing about the Spartan battle of Thermopiles and with a majestic album title such as "Hellenic Warrior Spirit", Holy Martyr turns out to be such a big disappointment, especially after the symphonic intro track "The March", which wouldn't feel out of place at the start of a battle on a Lord Of The Rings movie. One immediately thinks of Turisas and their wonderful form of battle metal and expects more of the similar, but instead, the first three to four minutes of "Spartan Phalanx" offer tired, boring heavy metal that's been heard again and again and again, albeit with a really good lyrical universe. Only after then does the band give the slightest nod towards the rhythmic sounds expected of a battle/victory metal band. "Lakedaimon" does the opposite, it starts with trumping guitars symbolic to a battle, but then surrenders itself to more cliché heavy metal.

At least the acoustic instrumental ballad "H'Tan H'Epi Tas" offers some folk sounds to keep me interested... but it's only two minutes long, and is followed by more 'epic' soundscapes and 'blazing' guitars and all the same shit you've heard on a million albums of this sort before. It's such a shame that the band isn't able to get more folksy / battle-y sounds out of their instruments because the concept is otherwise fucking awesome (as anyone who's seen 300 will surely agree), and the lyrics are (for the most part) really good. Oh well, another power/heavy/epic metal band to my huge "never to be listened again" pile on my desk.

5

Download: Lakedaimon
For the fans of: Sacred Steel, Virgin Steele, Manowar
Listen: Myspace

Release date 12.09.2008
Dragonheart/Audioglobe

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