Recently, (former) tralala label Underground Symphony hat a lot of really promising releases. After STORMRIDER, ADRAMELCH and ALL SOUL’S DAY come MARTIRIA, which completely blow me away! Those who love Metal in the vein of old WARLORD/LORDIAN GUARD stuff will worship MARTIRIA, too!

Founded already in 1987 in Italy, they were able to get no less than Rick Anderson (Damien King III, ex WARLORD) for their musical visions. It is exactly this conjuring voice and the adding of all manners of classical instruments/choirs constitute a lot of MARTIRIA’s appeal. Epic arrangements and progressive song structures and many acoustic passages are able to captivate you throughout the playing time. If this gem would have been released in the eighties, you would bow down with awe and praise this as a timeless classic. The disc is greatly old-fashioned and actually more Hard Rock than Metal as far as the heaviness goes.

You can get the self-willed album, which is graced by a magnificent cover, for the usual €15,50 at www.hellionrecords.de. In return a true gem, which will probably go down in Metal history as a cult album, will shine in your collection. Though it is only for absolute freaks and fans of the mentioned bands. The rest probably could not care less. O Lord, forgive them… (Online December 19, 2005)