Power Paladin is a power metal band from Iceland formed in 2017, releasing their debut album ‘With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel’ in 2022. The band is influenced by modern-day power metal bands such as Edguy, Rhapsody, and HammerFall, but also traditional heavy metal bands from the eighties such as Iron Maiden, Dio, and Helloween…
…and boy does it show! The band’s debut is fifty-one minutes and nine songs of galloping metal to get your head nodding, adrenaline pumping, and heart racing.
‘With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel’ opens with the first single released, ‘Kraven The Hunter’ – a barnstorming and fast-paced belter that is so quickly into its stride you just may be taken by surprise. The energy, the oomph, the sheer pace is just phenomenal. What a way to introduce yourselves to the world!
With a touch of folk metal getting ‘Righteous Fury’ underway, the pace picks up and fairly rockets forth, echoing the early days of speed metal-inspired Helloween. The pace is incredible, with the headbang ability off the fucking charts. Iceland has never been a hotbed for power metal, but Power Paladin is certainly gonna put them on the map for it now – the band defiantly breaking the norm for the country’s musical direction. And suddenly all pace and power are dropped in favor of a more mellow keyboard intro – and then boom, ‘Evermore’ takes on the mantle of old school metal blended with power metal. Heavier than the opening double, ‘Evermore’ is head bang-able, infectious, and oozing with energy.
And without losing any energy, Power Paladin err, power on with ‘Way Of Kings’ – a fast-paced and infectious headbanger. There are certain ways to turn heads and get noticed, and I have to say, Power Paladin is doing many of them! The first four songs have certainly captured my attention, the sound of European power metal oozing out my speakers is a wonderful sound. The album hits the halfway mark with the scorching ‘Dark Crystal’, moving so quickly across the land, it’s leaving burn marks in its wake! And the vocal performance is more aggressive than heard so far. Only a little, but fairly noticeable. The blistering pace continues to light up the album – this time in the shape of the mighty ‘Ride The Distant Storm’. All the album so far has been immensely infectious, massively melodic, and decidedly delightful, with ears everywhere receiving the most pleasurable experience in quite some time!
And oh my God no… Surely not a cover of ‘Creatures Of The Night’ by Kiss! Phew, thankfully not – ‘Creatures Of The Night’ is an original (by Power Paladin) and rocks fucking hard…and even has a party feel about it – the band expanding their musical horizons to include other styles.
With just two songs left to go, Power Paladin are impressive greatly with their debut release. It’s been full throttle since it began, the energy simply oozing from each and every song. Just how I like my metal! Clocking in at seven and a half minutes in length, ‘Into The Forbidden Forest’ is the longest song on offer, and shows no sign of the band slowing down either, fairly cracking the whip as it motors on at high speed. To say this is good would be an understatement of the highest order, the band delivering a display of power metal that is infectious and highly memorable. And in what seems like no time at all, we arrive at the final song and the return of mellow keyboards. ‘There Can Be Only One’ opening with the serenity of an impending power ballad – only to be proven wrong at the one minute mark when an NWOBHM sounding guitar riff cuts through the airways and a mid-tempo, traditional metal gallop comes to the fore – Power Paladin ending their debut in a much more “heavy metal” style than heard anywhere else on the album.
Overall, an all-out power metal rampage, Power Paladin combines pace, energy, and oomph to deliver a cracking debut.
TRACKLIST
Kraven The Hunter
Righteous Fury
Evermore
Way Of Kings
Dark Crystal
Ride The Distant Storm
Creatures Of The Night
Into The Forbidden Forest
There Can Be Only One
Power Paladin: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Category: Album
Country: Iceland
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire, Metal Gods TV, and Metal-Roos.
