It is no surprise. Whenever a Heavy Metal band comes from the oracle No Remorse Records, you know it is a top-level band. And MACE’N’CHAIN is not the exception. This band, which emerged from the bowels of the Viking lands of Skellefteå, Sweden, in 2020, came with a clear conviction: to worship Epic Heavy Metal. Period. In 2021 they released their first demo called “Upon The Anvil Formed”, a demo of only three songs and almost 15 minutes long, but which already showed the steel of this great chain. Then, in 2023, they released their first full-length titled “Among Ancient Pillars”, an eight-song album that was the natural “evolution” of the band towards a strictly Epic sound. It was with “Among Ancient Pillars” the first time that MACE’N’CHAIN took me a bit to ETERNAL CHAMPION. I found a sword striking hard on the anvil calling to Sweden. I found a horn echoing from afar and responding to the sound of forged steel. But MACE’N’CHAIN makes their own Heavy Metal, authentic and powerful, extremely powerful. There is strength. There is a fighting spirit. There is symbolism. There is the strength of Metal in their sound. Guitars leading the marches. A voice ready for battle, a bass that rumbles deep in the earth. In short, MACE’N’CHAIN takes up the influences of classic Heavy Metal and expresses them in every riff and every, every solo, every chord, every drum beat. And conceptually, “Crowned In Grey Skies” is, in simple words, a ship station in a distant land. Cold. Dark. Mythological. ‘Through Blood Red Veils’ was my favorite song. And ‘Through Blood Red Veils’, ‘The Spine Of Night’ and ‘Risen Above The Light’ are to be highlighted because they structure the coherence with which the band was conceived. You already know what the journey will be like and from my point of view, that is fine because there are no jumps of inconsistency with anything originally proposed by the band. I have always said that this is a key aspect for me. And the “chromatic circle” of the album’s songs sustains what MACE’N’CHAIN has been since day one. This Viking duo is (by far) one of the best Heavy Metal bands born in the last decade and is already among my favorites. I recommend taking a tour through the band’s history and discography. More information here: www.facebook.com/macenchain, www.facebook.com/noremorserecordsgreece