Forgotten Gems-Matthias Steele-Haunting tales of a warrior's past

Rhode Island based trio Matthias Steele formed in 1985, knocked out a demo in 1987, but it would be four years until they put out a full length album. I downloaded this at some time and frankly I don't remember when or why. I was looking on my computer for something to listen to listen and saw this album sitting there. I knew I'd never listened to it and don't really remember putting it on there. So I cued it up, gave it a shot and was in shock with just how good this album was. It's a real blend sub-genre with American power metal, early thrash and even some almost prog-like arrangements tossed in. The vocals vary from mid range to slightly high. The music changes tempos and styles frequently. The influences include early King Diamond, Sanctuary, Tyrant, Metal Church early Overkill and even some Judas Priest style rhythms pop up form time to time too. These guys play a highly charged very-active style of metal with riffs and beats flying and crossing all over the place yet it's never out of control. They just have this multi-leveled feel about them and it's very natural. They make it sound very easy as the sounds just flow steadily. It's a shame this was on a small level had a time when metal was being shoved out of fashion. If this album had come out in 1987 on a larger independent metal label it could have created major ripples in the metal world. Seriously this album is so good that now I have to go back and re-do my best metal albums of 1991 list. What a great release.