There’s absolutely nothing new on this album. Nothing we all haven’t already heard and nothing that could surprise us. But for Crom’s sake, how bloody awesome this album is! The Canadians from THE SCEPTER balance between Heavy and Power Metal and they do that with so much charm and lightness, that when the album ends, you want to play it again. The band is around since 2018 and “Shadows In The Tower” is their debut album. They managed to recruit Jean-Pierre Abboud as their singer (underground Heavy Metal super hero known from TRAVELER, GATEKEEPER, or the sadly disbanded BORROWED TIME, which was an exceptional band) and that’s like having a joker up a sleeve, as that guy is simply amazing. “Shadows In The Tower” is super well produced, the mix is great and the songs are very well performed. And well, these songs are simply very, very good. While many of those so called “New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal” acts have a problem with solid songwriting (the intentions are good and the spirit is there, but the songs are usually not very memorable), every single song on this album here has own identity and simply makes sense. I truly hope THE SCEPTER will survive in those weird times, as they seem to be one of the best and most interesting young (traditional) Heavy Metal bands. All the Keep It True / Hells Heroes / underground Metal maniacs, who are into PRIEST, early BLIND GUARDIAN or the middle-era of RUNNING WILD, check this band out, or better already order their album, as you badly need to have it in your record collection. More information: www.facebook.com/thesceptermetal, www.facebook.com/noremorserecordsgreece