When you have been making Heavy Metal Music since 1982, you could call yourself a very mature and experienced band. Yes, even when you did take a break from 1989 until 2005. At least the band has been going for 20 years straight. Well, that is exactly what the Dutch band MARTYR is. After their very impressive 2022 album “Planet Metalhead” they have more inspiration and now are giving us “Dark Believer”, their sixth studio album in total. And if you have heard or do own any of their former albums, I can put your mind at ease, as MARTYR have taken off where they left it all last time.

But now there is a real duality within “Dark Believer”. On the one hand you have rather fast and often very various Heavy Metal songs that will remind you not only of MARTYR, but also of a band like JUDAS PRIEST. As far as I can tell “Insidious” is their own version of or if you will variation on “Painkiller”. On the other hand, you have the more epic songs, that are slower, but also will have you think of QUEENSRŸCHE at times. Let me put it this way; “Cemetery Symphony” is the MARTYR way of showing respect and honouring “Operation Mindcrime”, albeit with a very fast after some four and a half minutes. The harmony backing vocals will tell the tale for you, of that I’m sure. Plus, the fact that singer Rop van Haren can emulate the kind of intensity and atmosphere that Geoff Tate created on that album does help.

If I am honest, as a pure Heavy Metal enthusiast you just can’t go wrong with “Dark Believer” as an album. But I also have to mention that for me this one isn’t to be put on as high a pedestal as their “Planet Metalhead” album, which actually became Record Of The Year in some places. That is quite a legacy, some rather big shoes to fill. And MARTYR have obviously given their all. For me, I prefer the heavier stuff on “Dark Believer”, like the already mentioned “Insidious”. Another one worth mentioning is “Dark Believer”. Yes, the title track itself is bloody impressive. That is where I feel that MARTYR rises above themselves musically and in quality of songs. The epic songs are good to, but for me they miss that vital element of suspense, of pure intensity, which the faster songs do harbour.