Bring out your battleaxes, mead, armor, dragon and prepare to set a journey into the most magical, adventurous, symphonic driven power metal albums of 2022 because Power Paladin have not only won me as a fan but this is their debut full-length recording under a new record Atomic Fire Records. This band from Iceland not only amazed me on how articulated, catchy and melodic their music really became but rest assure this is some of the best power metal music I’ve heard in years coming from someone who has always appreciated and respected the genre for a very longtime now.
Stylistically, this is a power metal driven record but also showcases the band’s influences in borrowing mid to late 80’s well as early 90’s style of heavy metal whether it Helloween, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica and others to more of today’s modern era such as Twilight Force, Gloryhammer, Pathfinder and Dragonforce, Power Paladin’s ability to create and establish such amazing musical wonders and brilliantly crafted signatures of fascinating music is concerned, it really made me appreciate the songwriting, craftsmanship and consistency to know these Icelandic musicians are on their way to make power metal not only cheesy but reconfiguring the genre to how it came to.
I love the diversity of the vocals since it brings spark, imagination, impact, character, strength and determination as well as the amazing contributions from every member displaying the finest efforts and resources in which they’ve given every counterpart balancing the heavy metal timed signatures, the symphonic metal classical arrangements and the progressiveness of these tracks are just packed with ambition and bravery which I give these musicians all the credit and talent because rest assure I can’t remember being sucked into a world of joy, heroism and left a huge positive sign on how fascinated I was listening to this record beginning to end. I have to say the songs Into the Forbidden Forest, Evermore, Ride the Distant Storm and There Can Be Only One to be favorites on here not because how dynamic these structures are, but allowing to provide the production and listener strapped into a fantasy universe where dreams can be a living reality. With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel captures the essence and have restored my faith in hearing the most beautifully crafted and astonishing pieces of power metal I’ve heard in a very longtime and this is definitely gonna be in my album of the year list for best records of 2022.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
