Into the Nowhere - Speed Metal Comebacks and the Crystal Canyon

On the wings of a mighty steel hydra did the 80's come and go. It was decade that saw the birth of speed metal, the unholy proginator of power metal. Many bands fell by the wayside, the victims of morbid douchery, of unrelenting mediocrity, and of smothering song obesity. But, alas, near the end of the wretched decade known as the 1990's, a few worthy masters of riffcraft arose from the mire to do battle once more. So, my leather clad friends, did we undertake the quest of late 90's Speed Metal comebacks.

 Agent Steel's Omega Conspiracy tore threw the Jenakbala airwaves like a mighty wind. Sleeker, downtuned, but armed with with the same worthy songcraft and weirdness that made their 80's output such a pleasure. Out is original vocalist John Cyriis, he of the shrillness, and in comes John Hall, a vocalist of similar air raid qualities, though more polished. There are some forgettable songs, some of the riffs reek of 90's grunge and nu metal, and the new line up would not completely gel until the Order of The Illuminati, but this is a worthy comeback. 

 

Adventure In Samur Part 16.1 - Awaken The Swarm

On raven pass, high in the black mountains of Dantor, there is a small camp for the few travelers that wander here. Just a stone fireplace and a small piece of flat ground, but for aeons it had served as a temporary home for the occasional wanderers that pass this way. On this night there was a fire in the hearth and Bloodmace, along with Crowbastard, Jarkon, Lars and I had camped here, hoping to find the lair of Vecton the Bard, but it appears that he has found us. He stands before us in his billowing pinstriped suit, wings flexing slightly as he chuckles at our state of alarm. Having introduced himself,

he walks toward us from the rocky precipice where he landed out of the darkness. "You seek the crystal canyon?" A smile crosses his face and I answer him from my place near the fire. "We were sent here by Rangar, he says you can show us the way to Headron's fortress." Vecton now throws back his head with hearty laughter. "I bet he did! That old scoundrel. He finally found someone to carry out the mission he cannot. Well, good for him and good for you for helping an old man's dream come true. We shall embark in the morning." One by one, the others filtered off to bed until I was once alone with the long armed stranger. He says to me, in a low voice, "You are the one who was made by Headron to destroy your friends, are you not?" I feel my eyes tense into slits, "I am. What is that to you?" He reaches into his coat pocket, "I must give this to you, it's from Rangar." He hands me an embroidered patch that sparkles in the bright moonlight. I recognize the lettering from the walls of Keep Trawston and the tree prison of the T'chah Karnac. It is a Mournful Congregation patch, one of the infamous lost works by the Huiskitel masters of long ago. He puts his hand upon my shoulder. "Tomorrow, my friend, all will be explained." He turns, stretches out his wings and gracefully leaps over the side of the mountain, flying into the mysterious darkness.

Hirax's New Age of Terror is a bit of a disappointment, in that the punkified power violence guys have polished up a bit, and the glorious thrash cheesiness has settled into a more power metal vein, but there is still lots to like about this album. Vocalist Katon W. De Pena balls seem to have dropped, and the nasally tone is gone. But, this is a thrashy riff beast, and quite satisfying in it no apologies old schoolness. Highlight of the album is Hostile Territory, a speedster that demonstrates that this band operates best at high velocities. Alas, I do pine for the days of yore with the one minute songs about Satan. And Katon was always the best yodeler in metal.
 

Adventure In Samur Part 16.2 - Shadow Thief
The morning air was thick with fog as we set out along the yellow rimmed path. It was hard to imagine as we were walking among the clouds that we would soon be fighting for our very lives in the valley below. Up here everything was silent, frozen in time like a painting. Mistress Crowbastard was walking on her own today, recovering from her near death experience at the hands of the Vorm when we arrived in Dantor. We followed Vecton up a steep climb up an almost sheer rock face and

hoisted ourselves up into a cavern. When our eyes became accustomed to the dim light, we realized that the same moss carpet we saw in the lair of Rangar and the Sectaurians also covered the walls and floor of this very passageway, except there were no brave he heroes depicted on this living tapestry. Here, scenes of their gods and demons battling for souls and bloody scenes of torture glared out at us from every side. Our stretch-armed, winged host motions us on, "Hurry, this is no place to tarry. I always say 'don't mess with the Sectaurian curse.' It's not far now, come on." we hurried down the cursed rock throughway until we came to a large gallery, with tunnels leading in every direction. Across the eerie chamber we skittered to another, smaller cave, then through a labyrinthine series of twists and turns that left us feeling disoriented and lost, but on we went into the darkness, following our strange guide. We finally end up at a small chamber with a pool in the middle . in the center of the pool is a statue of Parthon with an obscure inscription on it's base. Vecton turns and speaks to the group, "We must dive in. When you get under, swim to the light and we will enter the crystal canyon. Quickly, we dive in to the pool, swimming past the sculpture of our friend from Narn and toward the bright spot beyond him and on the floor of the spring. I swim down and into the aperture where I see Vecton going, but as soon as I swam into the lightI started falling as if what was once below me was now above me. With a thud my body slams into the hard ground, then one by one, my comrades fall through the same hole in the ceiling. Shaking my head I peer out of our landing spot and, with the others gasp. Looking down into the canyon, we could see that it truly was made of crystals. Shining, faceted stones that concentrated the light into a glittering beam. Suddenly, Vecton flaps up from below the egress that looks out on the canyon. Be careful here kids, the plaza of errors is almost finished."

Jag Panzer's -Age of Mastery was the Winner of the Night. I have to admit, I never was fan of this band, especially their much lauded 1st album, 1984's Ample Destruction. I never cared for 'The Tyrant's' hoarse, slightly atonal caterwaul. But that dude was long gone by 1998, replaced by the confident power metal wail of Harry Conklin. Oh wait, same dude. Well, I guess his balls dropped. This is simply a great heavy metal album, full of majesty, meat and potatoes riffery(though there are some symphonic tinges here and there), and inspiring melodies. It kicked our asses, dude. 

 

Words of the Elders

Tears of gods fall upon the barren dirt in this wasteland of fate. There, above, do you hear it? The call of the wyvern, the smell of sourwood! The power of Centon shall rise! Stay tuned next week to learn the secrets of the crystal canyon!

Until next week sodden hordes,

Horns