Shadowland – The Necromancer’s Castle (Heavy Metal Magazine in Metal Form)
Yay, congrats, Shadowland, you have the only album worth listening to that’s dropping this week. Everything else I think I puked all over. And yay, this is another rare instance where I give a positive review to epic heavy metal. But this one comes with more awesome than I could have ever imagined. Lead who works as a tattoo artist and does artwork reminiscent of lo-fi Heavy Metal covers? Crazy ass band photos with fooking swords? Wild hair? Candelabras that are fully lit and melting everywhere? Musical adventure that summons the best of fantasy and sci-fi with motorcycles? The Necromancer’s Castle is the perfect combination of all that usually makes this type of music kitsch nonsense but here, in the hands of true masters, is rather a power wielded by beings who are practically gods and also ride motorcycles.
Oh man this was so good on repeat. And it was good from the start too. If I would have one complaint, it would be that The Necromancer’s Castle must absolutely be listened to loud or not at all. It does not present itself well at lower volumes, but this is “the epic metal,” so you probably won’t do that anyway. Shadowland has got them riffs and solos that lead to an absolutely killer presentation of epic, fantastical musical adventures that have ye scoring an 18 in strength with an additional percentile roll. I mean damn. But, and here’s always the clincher for this form of metal, does it have a commanding lead? Tanya Finder is an absolute sorceress when it comes to her lyrical command and delivery. This be some Janis Joplin shit without the smoker’s tar coating the throat so it sounds more style, less static. It unearths the best of 1970s Euro trash fantasy and creates from it true greatness. I strongly recommend you check out their earlier discography too because it’s also very awesome.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Shadowland – The Necromancer’s Castle
No Remorse Records
Cover Art: Tanya Finder
4.5 / 5
