R I F F S
Epic heavy metal is a tightly knit community, it’s a very niche genre of an already niche music style. It’s then normal that each epic heavy release gets its fair share of scrutiny from their nerd community.
Ezra Brooks, the solo project of Smoulder’s lead guitarist Shawn Vincent has always been excellent. The Magickal Realm has covered two of their previous releases, including the split with Emblem, a super underrated Newfoundland heavy metal band and I was stoked to hear more from them. When I learned that Matt Preston (known for Borrowed Time) was gonna be a guest on their side of the split, I got even even more excited. This guy is a beast and I’m keeping myself pure for whenever the new Prelude to Ruin release decides to drop as he’s featured there too. Anyhow, Ezra Brooks is a riff firstt, ask questions later kind of band and right from the start, you’re bludgeoned with excellent guitars. “The Helm of Sacorb” (who the hell is Sacorb?) riffs hard and the presence of Preston on the lead guitar adds another excellent layer to their solid formula. Unfortunately, Shawn’s decision to put the vocals so low in the mix wasn’t the best decision, it’s like listening to Mark Shelton singing from the immortal realm of heroes deep down in hell. It’s still kinda cool and it’s certainly distinctive for their style but I would have preferred something else.
Their music has this enjoyable epic but science fiction based feel but without getting too nerdy or gimmicky. Just blistering quick epic heavy metal that’s constantly delivering high energy material. The synth opening of “Am I just Paranoid” reminded me of the smartest sci fi prog metal bands like Shadow Gallery or early Ayreon, it’s a nice touch. "When the Future Fails", a somber track evokes the trad days of Fates Warning with aplomb but it's mixed with the contemporary sound of North American obscure heavy metal.
Serpent Rider is also originally a solo project, one created by Brandon Corsair (Draghkar, Azath…) and they released a decent demo back in 2019. Back with a different lineup and a widely different singer, their side of the split slaps. Their new singer (who could very well be Brandon’s wife!?!?!) is a gifted vocalist but her style, approach and delivery are all 0% metal, it creates some sort of disconnect with the supremely metal guitars of Corsair and Kelly Kuciemba (from death metal legends Drawn and Quartered). To be honest, I’m not sure it’s a negative aspect, it just takes some time to get used to. I still think Mariah Carey fronting Omen would still work, to be fair. Anyway, if Tsamis made unconventional women vocals work with Lordian Guard, I’m sure others can too.
If there’s something than the Greeks like more than remembering everyone how cool they were 3000 years ago, it’s certainly Manilla Road (there ya go, namedropping the Road in the same review twice) and it’s felt within their music. Their epic heavy metal sound is basically USPM meets Doomsword, hellas metal and the Italian pagan epic doom mood of Doomsword (see “The Wretch”). The Greek influence is even obvious as they cover a Varathron cover but in a heavy metal style, it’s also present in Brandon’s compositions for Draghkar's debut album, this just shows how well he integrates those influences in those two different projects. Their three original compositions are speedy epic numbers with a lot of groove and might, it's aggressive but pretty distinguished. Andrew Lee (Ripped to Shreds, etc…) handles the drums and bass and it’s pretty much faultless as you’d expect with him. Serpent Rider are super super tight musically, not something usual for the style that often likes to play it loose but it works very well for them.
Both possessing unique vocals, this is a pretty interesting split release, their influences are obvious for the acolytes of epic metal but they do a lot of new and fresh things as well. Something I’d like from both bands is a long ass epic song, like more than ten minutes, I’m sure they would succeed at the task too. They have the chops, the talent and the reasons to do so. Excellent split, lads.
Out soon on No Remorse records (CD/LP)
Edit: based on Shawn, Sacorb is just Brocas backwards and the whole song is a tribute to the legendary US band Brocas Helm. This rules.
