Marauder-Elegy of blood

Pitch Black
2012

Hailing from Greece Marauder formed over two decades ago. After several demos they finally released their debut "Sense of metal" in 1997. Since then they have put out an album every three or four years with their latest effort coming four years after "Face the mirror". This album is a pure assault of classic metal with some European power metal mixed in. The title track is a short intro that leads on to the Great War which is full out slap in the face with a metal glove. "Alexander" begins slowly before stepping up to a steady pace with huge melodies. "Warriors" is a medium slow anthem with a marching beat. "Roman Empire" lurches on and glides on  repetitive rhythms  and never quite opens up like I was expecting. "Hiroshima" is an instrumental that has some decent heavy bits, but not really enough ideas to make the whole song interesting. "Mother" is a winding ballad that rides on some powerful vocals. "Crusader" goes from being crunchy to depending on semi-soaring melodies. "Black Gold" slips into a mid-tempo grind and although it's rather basic it still moves along well enough. "World War 2" follows a simple riff and relies strongly on the vocals. The bonus track "In memory" is a rather average track that manages to includes some alright melodies but takes it's time getting there. Marauder remind me some of Grave Digger and Running Wild only more melodic. This is a mostly decent album for fans classic metal.