{"id":42692,"date":"2014-07-14T06:42:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T11:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=42692"},"modified":"2014-07-14T06:42:11","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T11:42:11","slug":"stormwarrior-thunder-steele-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/stormwarrior-thunder-steele-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Stormwarrior | Thunder & Steele<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"StormwarriorGerman power\/speed\/traditional heavy metal band Stormwarrior is back with a new album, their fifth full-length release, titled Thunder & Steele<\/em>. It\u2019s the perfect title for a band equally obsessed with old school power\/speed metal and over the top fantasy themes, and the band delivers hefty doses of both thunder and steel with this release.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, Stormwarrior has made their appreciation for early Helloween obvious, and that hasn\u2019t changed over the course of their five albums. Sure, they\u2019re more polished and melodically accessible now, but Thunder & Steele<\/em> still has that Walls of Jericho<\/em> foundation. Even Lars Ramcke\u2019s vocals sound quite similar to Kai Hansen\u2019s. Beyond the high speed riffing and pounding rhythms, these are some very catchy metal anthems. The kind that make you want to raise a sword and\/or tankard of ale, in the name of metal of course. Come on, how can any manly metal warrior resist the call of \u201cMetal Avenger,\u201d \u201cSteelcrusader,\u201d \u201cFyres in the Night\u201d and \u201cDie By the Hammer?\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, so the lyrics are over the top cheesy, and the spelling of the song titles is just bizarre, but that only adds to the appeal of this album. Thunder & Steele<\/em> is just a completely fun, completely catchy, old school power metal album. Call it a guilty pleasure if you must, but if you still listen to Manowar and Hammerfall you\u2019re not going to be able to say no to this one …<\/p>\n

Stormwarrior isn\u2019t giving us anything new here, and they really don\u2019t have to. They\u2019re unapologetic about their influence, and their fans should be equally unapologetic about loving this kind of ultra-cheesy power metal. Thunder & Steele<\/em> is probably the most purely enjoyable power metal album you\u2019re likely to encounter all year. Even the mighty Hammerfall is going to have a hard time topping this one.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nLars Ramcke (v) (g)
\nAlex Guth (g)
\nYens Leonhardt (b) (v)
\nJorg Uken (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tThunder & Steele
\n2.\tMetal Avenger
\n3.\tSacred Blade
\n4.\tIronborn
\n5.\tSteelcrusader
\n6.\tFyres in the Nighte
\n7.\tDie By the Hammer
\n8.\tChild of Fyre
\n9.\tOne Will Survive
\n10.\tServants of Metal<\/p>\n

Label: Massacre<\/p>\n

Website: www.stormwarrior.de<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — German power\/speed\/traditional heavy metal band Stormwarrior is back with a new album, their fifth full-length release, titled Thunder & Steele. It\u2019s the perfect title for a band […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":42694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9591,1097,9589,9590],"class_list":{"0":"post-42692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-massacre","10":"tag-power-metal","11":"tag-stormwarrior","12":"tag-thunder-steele"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42692","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=42692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}