{"id":21764,"date":"2012-08-30T03:59:32","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T08:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=21764"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:18:04","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:18:04","slug":"sacred-guardian-sacred-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/sacred-guardian-sacred-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Guardian | Sacred Guardian<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Hailing from Puerto Rico, traditional\/power metal band Sacred Guardian makes their debut this year with this self-titled full-length release. While you can\u2019t always judge a book by its cover, any time you see an album cover with a fire-breathing dragon battling an armored knight, you can make a few assumptions about the kind of music you\u2019re going to hear. Namely that it will be old school and that it will at some point (or at all points) either sound like Dio or Manowar. In Sacred Guardian\u2019s case, the answer would be Dio, lots and lots of Dio.<\/p>\n

Sacred Guardian may not be breaking any new ground here, but hey, they\u2019re adopting a formula that wasn\u2019t really broken in the first place, and you really can\u2019t have too many Dio-influenced traditional heavy metal bands. They also add a hefty dose of speed\/thrash metal to the mix, which results in an overall sound that\u2019s equal parts Dio and Agent Steel. It helps that the band plays this kind of metal really well. Once you clear the obligatory instrumental introductory track, the songs on Sacred Guardian impress with their speedy riffs, crunching rhythms, soaring melodies and strong, powerful vocals.<\/p>\n

This is really solid and enjoyable old school heavy metal. The album has plenty of heaviness to get heads banging, but the combination of the prominent melodies and Gustavo Rodriguez\u2019s dramatic vocal performances brings the album some real power. You hear it especially on songs like \u201cAncient Prophecy\u201d (that one has some wicked soloing, by the way), \u201cKnights of the Moonlight\u201d and the title track. Towards the end we get a couple of songs sung in the band\u2019s native Spanish (\u201cUlises\u201d and \u201cAlma Immortal\u201d), which is a cool touch.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of the classic traditional metal sound, particularly the Dio and Dio-era Black Sabbath and power\/thrash veterans Sanctuary, Jag Panzer and Agent Steel, Sacred Guardian is a band you\u2019ll want to discover for yourself. They\u2019re also going to appeal to fans of current bands like Astral Doors and Benedictum. Go forth, Sacred Guardian!<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJose Blondet (g)
\nRaly Vega (b)
\nGustavo Rodriguez (v)
\nLuis Roman (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tIntro
\n2.\tThe Last Rites
\n3.\tSacred Guardian
\n4.\tDark Ages
\n5.\tAncient Prophecy
\n6.\tTruth Within the Lies
\n7.\tKnights of the Moonlight
\n8.\tMajesty
\n9.\tUlises
\n10.\tAlma Immortal
\n11.\tNorseman<\/p>\n

Label: Stormspell Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Sacredguardianmetal<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – News Editor — Hailing from Puerto Rico, traditional\/power metal band Sacred Guardian makes their debut this year with this self-titled full-length release. While you can\u2019t always judge a book by its […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,2491,1097,334,5930],"class_list":{"0":"post-21764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-heavy-metal","9":"tag-power-metal","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-stormspell-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}