Lords of the Crimson Alliance - Lords of the Crimson Alliance (Full Length) (192)

line-up :

Far Cry - Vocals, Guitars
Cutterjon - Guitars
Grom - Bass
Zan Zan - Drums

Review :

Long have I wondered why this epic Metal gem have been so ignored by fans and collectors, and lately I've come to a rather cynical conclusion: While the album is no rarity to speak of, the average Metal fan/buyer might not run into it too often to take notice, and the "serious collectors" might just find it too common to take serious. It's one of those pieces that keep falling between the cracks. You occasionally see it on fairs and lists, often a cutout and/or still sealed, usually with no specific comments from the seller, which isn't surprising considering the very sparse info on the sleeve. It's about time someone gives this record the attention and praise it deserves! And who else to do it but Mighty Metalprofessor Me? Right then...
This album is just chock-full of amazing Metal SONGS (remember "songs"? that most essential ingredient in any Metal-record, before flashy fantasy-covers, slick production and good looks became more important), like "Sword Of Zeus" for instance. Superb vocal harmonies, great original riffing and a very intense, wailing chorus. 4 minutes of sheer beauty. Just about every song is built upon the 3 most fundamental parts of Classic Metal songwriting: heavy riffing, vocal melodies and guitar harmonies. And how rare is it not to hear a slower, melodic Metal-piece with keyboards that doesn't suck cock in schmallad-hell? "The Sorcerer" is just soaring with power, intensity and soul. The organ and the solo-guitar carries the song beautifully from start to finish and the chorus really makes you wanna do some nifty warrior-poses in the moonlight, with your little brother's plastic sword in one hand and a mug of hot chocolate in the other ...And on it goes: "The Dungeon" - aaarrrgh! more killer riffing! "In the arms of Morpheus" - aaah, another awesome, mysterious chorus! "Clone of the Wolf" - Shit! Almost Thrash-velocity on this one... What? The end? Already!?! Damn... To stay in the same mood and keep those ethereal vibrations on more or less the same wavelength, Swami recommends you follow this album with some SACRED BLADE, a bit of BROCAS HELM and perhaps even a few seconds of the mighty US COVEN and their "Worship New Gods". Who cares if it has the strangest vocal-effect EVER on a record, if the drums are the nastiest kind of digital/triggered crap, if the guitars sound like C-3PO burping and the overall production is just weird, Weird, WEIRD! It is still a great album, and that says alot considering the circumstances.
I could be wrong (now there's a first..;-), but this album has "studio-project" written all over it. Perhaps even a one-man project, considering the corny "artist-names", the fair level of originality and it's "one-man's-madness" vibe. Corrections are more than welcome. It is however a fact that the Grudge label were one of the most notorious Metalploitation-labels in the US (ORIGINAL SIN, CONVICT and CRACK THE SKY are other suspects), but this time they hit it right.

1.	Firedancer	05:46
2.	Dragonslayer	04:16
3.	Swords of Zeus	03:32
4.	Death Crusade	03:53
5.	The Sorcerer	06:10
6.	The Dungeon	04:22
7.	In the Arms of Morpheus	03:40
8.	Clone of the Wolf	03:38
Total playing time		35:17

Download Link

Pass : http://demo-series.blogspot.com/