Sacred Blood-Alexandros

Pitch Black Records
2012

Greek band Sacred Blood was formed in 2003. Originally called simply "Sacred" they released their demo, “Clash of the Titans”, later the same year. In 2008 the band released their debut album (“The Battle of Thermopylae: The Chronicle”) and now we have the group's sophomore release. If the title fails to clue you in about the narrative of this album then I'll let you in on a little secret-this is a concept album Alexander the Great. OK, that is not much of a secret as all you have to do is google this band and album and the record label lets you know as much. Anyway, epic power metal is the name of the game and Sacred Blood do it as well as any. With out skipping over anything (or minimising the talent on display here) the band sounds good and the music comes of as both classic and modern, technical and simple as well as melodic and heavy. The only down side is the lack of original ideas. There is not much here to separate Sacred Blood from the legions of similar sounding bands. Like I said they do it as well as any other band in the genre, but they don't really do enough to make themselves stand out. New vocalist Epeios Focaeus is more than capable on the mic as is Polydeykis (rhythm and lead guitars, acoustic and 12 string classic guitars, keyboards) and Jim “The Animal” (drums). Don't get me wrong as a cut like "Marching to War" is fantastic. The guitar solos alone are (pardon the pun) epic in nature. My only (minor) gripe is that Sacred Blood just don't do enough to push themselves over the top. Still, if your a fan of epic power metal you should give "Alexandros" a try.