Genre: Power Metal/ Heavy Metal
Country: Norway
Label: Worm Hole Death Records & Tmina Records
Format: CD
Our view : 89 %
From mystique Norway, a land that above all
reminds us of metal music, at the end of the 20th century a
fantastic metal band has risen their flag. Passionate fans of power and heavy metal genre
will certainly have a clue who it is about. The Guardians of Time, founded in
1997 in Kristiansand, is a significant name in a northern power metal legion.
After four long years of anticipation Guardians of time bring us this harsh and
melodic album taking us on mystical paths of fire and fury.
The lyrical story of this album follows a
young archeologist who discovers brutal secrets in the vaults of Vatican.
Persecuted by Vatican, he fights its evil forces discovering the darkest
secrets of their villainy and passing on his knowledge all over the world.
Guardians of time offer us a blazing and intriguing story permeated with epic,
historical and mystic elements based on the exceptional mysical and lyrical
fantasy.
Album is opened by an instrumental
“Praeludium in ferrum pecture”, written and arranged by Andreas Vagane, the
guitarist of this marvelous band. The instrumental overture itself is in fact a
musical reflection of lyrical theme of this album. The song “Iron heart” is a
classic yet also remarkable in its powerful riffs, backing vocals and
fascinating vocal parts of Bern Fjellstad. Unlike easy and captivating song
“Empire”, the third song “Euphoria” brings the band back to original power heavy
tracks with its fast double-kick drum sections and well composed sharp riffs. Their
perfect music expression made trough distinctive solo parts and harmonic
refrain who is presented in the song “Save me”. The song “Tomorrow never comes”
is followed by a slow and gentle melody and high vocal though it still leaves a
strong and fierce impression. The seventh piece of Guardians of time has a fast
and militant rhythm with imminent guitar solo sequences of these Norwegian
masters. The next three songs “Primevil”, “End of Days” and “Core” surely won’t
leave this band’s admirers indifferent. The album closes with the song by which
it is named – “Rage and Fire”.
Guardians of time have surely proven that
they are the true power metal masters summing all their skills in these eleven
songs. Unlike some elements on their
second album and the whole last album, “A Beautiful Atrocity”, here we can see
that the Guardians have shown the will to retain their original sound, which is
surely recognized by their most loyal fans. An interesting fact is that the
album is recorded in the deep forests of southern Norway, in the Telemark
county, which gives a more curious epilogue to this fantastic power metal
story. Speaking of recording, it would be crazy to say anything negative about
the sound production, cause these guys sure know what they’re doing and they do
it very professional which won’t leave anyone unimpressed. The artwork is done
by an Argentinean artist Carlos Cabrera, and everyone who has seen his work can
speak of the art quality he brings. All in all, this is a very original art
piece which must be heard and felt with all it’s Rage and Fire shall burn
within you!