Blood Star Sighting

One of my more anticipated releases for this year has to have been the Blood Star LP. I first heard of the band when a friend turned me on to their 7 inch back in 2020. That record came from out of nowhere, but it quickly became a fav for the year. Even with only two songs, that Blood Star 7 inch still shot to number two on my ranking for the year. It was that good.

Even though I was very much looking forward to First Sighting, I still wasn't too hyped on new releases, so the record went untouched for months after it arrived. I was too preoccupied with other music, so the new Blood Star was going to have to wait until the time was right. Apparently that right time didn't kick in until we were approaching the end of the year and I needed to try to get all my new 2023 records up on the blog before we roll into the new year (yeah, I'm not sure if I'm still going to be able to do that).

Once I did finally check it out though... FUCK, this is so good. Tradition metal and the vocals of Madeline Smith fit this sound perfectly. No doubt, Blood Star is going to be high on my ranking again this year.

I wasn't very happy with how the colored vinyl looked for the 7 inch and I expeced the same with the LP, so when preorders went up and I saw that the more limited press was on black vinyl, I figured that's the way that I'd go. Turns out that the colored vinyl didn't look as terrible as I'd expected and given, the chance to do it over again, I may have made a different decision. 300 pressed on black.

Fear The Blood Star

I'm usually reluctant when people make recommendations for me to check out new bands. There are a small handful of people that I trust completely, and if they think that I'll like it, chances are they will be right...but for the most part I tend to be a bit skeptical when someone suggests that I check something out.

When my friend, Jeff, sent me a link to listen to a band called Blood Star, I didn't have high expectations. Now Jeff has great taste when it comes to 70's and early 80's metal, but he doesn't really bother with new bands, so I didn't expect much with this EP.

Holy shit. Blood Star are straight up traditional heavy metal, and I can't get enough of these two songs. Featuring one of the guitarists from Visigoth and a female singer, this EP is catchy as hell, and Tortured Earth may be my favorite song of this year.

The packaging for this 7 inch looks great. The cover artwork, colored vinyl and the OBI strip are all fantastic. "Tortured Galaxy" colored vinyl is limited to 500.

Freezing Haunt

I was late picking up the new Haunt album last year, and when I was scrambling at the end of 2019 to catch up on what I'd missed, the colored vinyl options were sold out and I settled on the common black vinyl pressing. Shortly after picking up that 2019 release, If Icarus Could Fly, preorders were up for the lasted Haunt album, Mind Freeze...and not wanting to miss out on the colored vinyl, I quickly ordered.

Both colored vinyl options looked amazing with the cover for Mind Freeze, but I went with the "frozen pinwheel" option. Once again, the packaging from Shadow Kingdom Records is top notch.

Haunt play a traditional heavy metal style, and have to be one of the most productive bands around. This record is my first 2020 release that I've picked up, and I'm sure we will see another EP or something from them before the year is out.

Haunted Icarus Visions

Another late addition from 2019 that could have possibly cracked my Top 10 for the year if I hadn't ignored this record for most of the year. While Haunt released If Icarus Could Fly back in March I wasn't really paying attention.

After Trevor William Church released a 12 inch EP plus a full length album with his band Haunt in 2018, and then released ten EPs of material with his band Beastmaker, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with it all, so when Haunt released If Icarus Could Fly in 2019, I decided to sit that one out. I did however pick up the Haunt split 7 inch with Seven Sisters, and as I was checking it out at the end of the year, I was completely hooked by the Haunt song. The song was so good that it made me go back and check out If Icarus Could Fly and I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it.

All the colored vinyl options were sold out at Shadow Kingdom Records, and while I could have spent a few extra dollars to grab one off Discogs, I decided to settle for the black vinyl.

When I was picking up the last Haunt album from Shadow Kingdom Records, I discovered that they also released another EP, Mosaic Visions, at some point last year. Does this band ever fucking stop?

Mosaic Visions contains songs that were left over from the Luminous Eyes sessions back in 2018. Not wanting to miss out on the colored vinyl option, I scooped one up while I was already in the Shadow Kingdom store. More great traditional heavy metal from Haunt!

Savage Myth, Magic And Steel

New metal records felt a bit underwhelming in 2019, and for the most part I wasn't strongly pushing any of the records from my Top Ten list. They were good albums, but there wasn't much on there that I was excited about. Now that 2019 is done and dusted, suddenly I've stumbled upon a record that I have been giving daily spins.

I'd seen the name Savage Master tossed around a bit over the last couple of years, but I never had any desire to check them out until I was recently in the Shadow Kingdom store, and saw one of their promotional ads for their third and latest album, Myth, Magic And Steel. The cover art looked great, and I figured that I'd check out the video for the title track. Oh damn. I was immediately hooked with that one video...man, that thing is just fucking fun to watch.

Savage Master play an old school traditional metal style. Seriously, this stuff sounds like it was pulled straight off an early Metal Massacre compilation. We aren't breaking any new ground here, but who fucking cares. Let's just bang our heads!

I mean look at that band photo from the inside gatefold sleeve! That is a band that has my attention! This may not be the "best" metal record of 2019, but it is certainly the one that I keep reaching for and giving it multiple spins.

Iron Man Lives Again

I first heard of Iron Man late last year when Rise Above released their South Of The Earth LP. I could not get enough of that album, and before too long, Iron Man were one of my favorite new bands. Those riffs...that guitar tone...doom perfection.

I was surprised to find out that the band had been around in one form or another, and had a string of four albums already under their belts. One of the reasons that the band has struggled to receive any recognition has to be because of the continual rotation of band members, with the guitarist, being the only constant. With the changing line ups, I was hesitant to check out their earlier records. South Of The Earth was so good that I worried that changing that band chemistry wouldn't have the same strength and power. Still I was desperate for something more than that new album, so I took a tentative step back to 2009 and tried I Have Returned.

Oh damn! Even with a different singer, this Iron Man album rules just as much as their new one.