This is Italian Traditional Metal and follow up to the well-received debut ‘The Night Goes On’. ‘Relativity’ is the opener and you’re treated to a cavalcade of galloping guitars, an easy reference would be classic Maiden mode. One thing, its instrumental, so serves as a nice build up. The album starts with vocals during the title track. It begins tranquil and acoustic whilst building the steps up high. Musically, the PR material has nailed this, the music is thoroughly 80’s styled and contains vocal phrasing and hooks extremely similar to Heavy Load. Of course, it would not be 80’s without a touch of NWoBHM influence for good measure. The solo on the aforementioned title track is quite something special, its flows and it appears that Konquest bring some synths into the mix.
When we talk about Konquest, you must remember, it is a solo project. Alex Rossi is the sole writer and performer. Bart Gabriel handled the mastering, which is very much moulded to the sound of the Swedish cult band I mentioned earlier. ‘Something in the Dark’ is pure Heavy Load worship, the recording has also managed to capture an authenticity in the drum sound along with the guitar tone. Even the vocal melody followed some of their third album tracks. Put it this way, it’s the closest thing to the real thing I have heard in a long time! ‘The Light That Fades Again’ starts with a character of a Thin Lizzy tune, it builds with the keyboard synth sound, maybe a touch of Foreigner influence is excreted here too? It takes about 3 minutes before this track steps up a gear prior to the solo and during, again, simply majestic and enjoyable is how I would describe the nature of this metal beast.
‘A Place I Call Home’ is back in Heavy Load mould, along with Warrior from a Future World’, the appreciated upbeat nature comes with another track called ‘The Traveller’ which has a cool fist pump feel to coincide with the music during the verse. A character I have noticed with Konquest is to start refined and pick up the pace. However, you could be blindsided by the almost neo-classical guitar heroics. ‘Enter the Warrior’ has a major guitar synth intro; I am drawn to Maiden’s ‘Caught Somewhere In Time’ track for comparable qualities and sounds.
You may think that I have referenced a certain Swedish band quite a lot, but I will stress that Konquest is not a tribute, they have more in their arsenal to make the songs their own, but the influence cannot be denied. Rossi has enhanced the sound and style whilst remaining true to himself taking great inspiration from a sound that is very much popular nowadays, than it ever was back in the day.
‘Time and Tyranny’ is a special traditional metal release. It’s perfect for the Keep It True contingent (and they played their recently too). The flame burns bright and as long as there are artists out there who add their own make up to a classic sound, then the scene continues to breathe. This album IS life for any traditional metal warrior from this present world.
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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