Αnother pleasant surprise of 2023 has been the return of Greek epic metallers WAR DANCE. It’s been a dozen years since we first heard their 2011 demo and it was a really promising one; their excellent debut, “Wrath for the Ages“, was released in 2015 (Eat Metal Records) and we had to wait for eight long years for them to strike again.
New album, “Sons of Thunder” is an independent self-release in both CD and vinyl format and if you love epic heavy metal with reference to the classics such as MANOWAR, you just have to listen to it. No, let me put it differently: you MUST listen to it!
WAR DANCE’s music if full of powerful riffs and mid-tempo rousing hymns, starting with the opening title song and going on through the whole tracklist. Steel reigns true in the ancient lands where WAR DANCE is performed under the blessing of Ares and Artemis, so there’s a lot of traditional Greek folk elements in this album that set it apart from the like of other epic metal releases.
The road for this kind of epic/folk metal music has been paved by the mighty SARISSA, to whom WAR DANCE pay tribute in the truest way. Apart from SARISSA, WARLORD have been a major influence, recognized mainly in the album’s elaborate melodies.
All in all, “Sons of Thunder” offers a very interesting blend of power/heavy metal and Greek folklore, with lyrics and compositions that fans of MANOWAR (90’s era) will simply love.
A special mention has to be made for Eleftherios Pletsis’ vocals that reach tones of the one-and-only Eric Adams’ range, so many times during the album, that one cannot but smile happily witnessing that this singer is keeping the legacy of steel going with such passion and talent.
The other two members of WAR DANCE trio are Tassos Pananoudakis (Guitars, Keyboards, Bass) and Kostas Karakitsos (Guitars). The beautiful artwork was made by Ioannis Vasilopoulos.
I should not forget to mention that the album is “Dedicated to the memory of Jimmy Selalmazidis and Bill Tsamis”.
This IS epic metal at its best; don’t it slip your mind when it comes for 2023 best-albums list for there would be an oversight with no excuse!
Check out the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
