I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve explored a good ol’ fashioned meat and potatoes traditional metal album. I’m talking about the type of album that brazenly takes the finest tropes of 80s metal and attempts to rearrange them without sounding too derivative, the umbrella term for this sound/style being “NWOTHM”. Today’s featured band most definitely falls into the “NWOTHM” category and that’s Knight & Gallow. Hailing from Sacramento, California, Knight & Gallow have concocted a lethal cocktail of power, thrash, and epic metal on their debut full length, For Honor and Bloodshed.
For simplicity’s sake, I should just call them a heavy metal band, but the fantastical lyricism and enthusiastic musicianship are closer to what power metal was before it got reinvented post-Thundersteel. At least this is how I feel while listening to the opening “Men of the West”, which boasts epic metal riffing and the first of many over the top guitar solos from guitarist Ryan Ohlson. Granted, some songs on here come off as forgettable NWOTHM clichés (i.e. “Godless”, Stormbringer’s Call”), but they’re not enough to derail this largely enjoyable and energetic listen.
A common mistake of NWOTHM bands is leaning too heavily on the Priest and/or Maiden formula. The only song that does so on here is “Lord of the Sword”, which co-opts those Maiden influences, but beefs them up the same way acts like Omen and Jag Panzer did in the mid 80s. Aside from that, the major factors at hand are old school power metal and bursts of thrash. As the moshy breakdown to “Godless” burst through my headphones, I thought this would be a one off. I thought wrong, and boy am I glad that I did.
By the time I got to “God’s Will”, I thought I was listening to a lost 3 Inches of Blood (remember them?) song. On this cacophony of brutal shrieks and aggressive riffing, the unabashed triumph of power metal collides head first with the unhinged violence of thrash. The beginning of “Stormbringer’s Call” also channels this formula, as does “Black Swordsman”, although the latter’s riffs and arrangement owe more to bone crunching mid-tempo thrash. The band is also sure to flex their high speed muscle on the obligatory “off to battle” neck snapper, “Blood of the Wolves”. It’s a tried and true template that’s been attempted a million times before, but never ceases to get my blood pumping.
Knight & Gallow have a long way to go before becoming a key player in the ongoing traditional resurgence, but I don’t doubt their capabilities to evolve and expand on future releases. For Honor and Bloodshed is a promising debut from this band of young warriors. Their crossover of thrash and traditional metal could also have potential to bridge gaps between scenes and spawn acts of a similar vein. Let’s hope so, because I sure miss 3 Inches of Blood dammit!
6 out of 10
Label: No Remorse Records
Genre: Power Metal
For fans of: 3 Inches of Blood, Eternal Champion, Visigoth