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Metal Perspective Review
Martiria - "The Eternal Soul"
[Hellion Records, 2004]
Martiria - The Eternal Soul
Tracklist:

01. Memories
02. The Ancient Lord
03. The Most Part of the Men
04. Arthur
05. Celtic Lands
06. Babylon Fire
07. The Gray Outside
08. Romans and Celts
09. The Soldier of the Sky
10. Fairiel
11. Winter

Since the early 90's our neighbor Italy has created a good tradition in heavy/power/epic and progressive metal, exporting bands such as Rhapsody, Domine, Time Machine and Doomsword, all of them being famous and qualitative, something important and at the same time, hard to achieve. The aforementioned outfits are still delivering excellent records and they are giving their best to keep the tradition alive. But can they go on like this forever? The answer is obvious, of course not. And the reason for this is even more obvious. Because everything that goes up comes down. This is an inevitable natural law for everyone and everything. So fresh blood is needed here and this is where Martiria comes in.

Actually Martiria isn't on the whole a new band but it's only been a few months since they finally managed to release their first album entitled "The Eternal Soul". It didn't take me long to understand what I had to deal with and from my prologue you must have also realized it already. This is pure epic-heavy metal that inclines to the style of the mighty Warlord, but there are other influences also present, not to difficult to trace, such as Manowar, Iron Maiden, Hammerfall and even Running Wild!!! I know that all of you, familiar with "The Eternal Soul" already, must be surprised with the last group I mention, but pay a little attention to track 8 (Romans and Celts) and you'll find some Running Wild filings and riffs, played a little bit slower! But Martiria's main influence remains Warlord. "Celtic Land" with the introductive characteristic Warlord-ish riff gives them away. The same goes for "The Gray Outside" with its emotional opening riff, which again brings out to me memories of old Warlord.

To tell you the truth I really like this cd. It reminded me of the good old days of my childhood. It's an honest effort to deliver good old heavy metal the way it used to be. This is a mid to fast tempo album with 2-3 slow moments (I'm talking about some introductions and the ballad "Winter"), with a large variety of sounds and rhythms, with many powerful, sharp and furious riffs but at the same time melodic moments, fast inspiring but yet again emotional solos, with a constant rhythm section, the necessary keyboard fillings enhanced with piano and accordion that usually produce a Celtic atmosphere and the proper clear and dynamic vocals. My personal picks are "The Ancient Lords", "Babylon Fire" "The Gray Outside" and "Winter".

All in all this is a very good and I dare to tell promising first step. The only thing that's left is to create their own personality and a characteristic sound, even though this is a very difficult task for an epic metal band, since the genre was saturated long ago. But fans of Epic Metal and especially Warlord don't miss the chance to discover a new Italian band that will certainly travel you back in time.

Rating: 7/10 Reviewer: Alekos Tagmatarhis Rating Guide
Band info

Genre:
Epic Metal

Country:
Italy

Official Website(s):
www.martiria.com

Label's Website(s):
www.undergroundsymphony.com

Current Line-up
Andy Menario Menarini (Guitars, Keyboards)
Rick Anderson (Vocals)
Maurizio Capitini (Drums)
Derek Maniscalco (Bass)
Discography
The Eternal Soul [2004]
The Age of the Return [2005]
 
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