Ancient Greece has provided tons of ideas/concepts/source for Metal artworks, songs or whole album. HOLY MARTYR - Italian epic metallers - decided to honor the ancient city of Sparta in their new album, Hellenic Warrior Spirit, mostly dealing with the city-state of ancient Greece and its era of so-called military/society-function heyday.
Since there are tons of different opinions on whether Sparta and its ideals provided food for thought to current generations/risky trends or just epitomized a flowing purity of dynamic/disciplined souls, let's just focus on the music:
HOLY MARTYR - true at will, no question - derive influence from the 'saga' wells of IRON MAIDEN, OMEN, (specific parts of) MANOWAR, (Dio-era) BLACK SABBATH and some of the 'heroic' side of N.W.O.B.H.M./80s US Metal, briefly said. Not a core fan of the band, while conscious fan of the genre, I kinda considered the band having the dynamics but rather finally focusing on (mainly) the 'export' attitude and not the 'music' means that much. Truth is Hellenic Warrior Spirit sees the band delivering their most well-crafted CD so far (they have dealt with Greece in nearly all their discography, including also cover takes of Greek songs), with tons of hard work and an obvious essence in preserving the true Metal ideals. Of course, for such warriors tales from 'war spirit' themes would not fit better; hence, the narrative epic Metal of HOLY MARTYR up-grows due to the concept, too. Intermezzos providing sounds of battles, the warlord vocals of Alex Mereu, the endless (dual or not) leads, the acoustic intros...all of them contributing equally to the CD's desired effect.
If someone finds the music kinda naive or 'makeshift' it'd not be out of the question. The 'draft' production may throw in such impressions, too. HOLY MARTYR is an honest band, Hellenic Warrior Spirit truly is their most well-organized album so far, and - most of all - the band preserves its identity while gaining points in experience/aftermath. I just think it needs more to get them to the major League of epic Metal bands. Thankfully, they have the time to act in accordance.
P.S.: Tracks No.4/6/8/11 are Greek phrases, deriving form/dealing with the legends of ancient Sparta. The last one, in specific, has Greek lyrics...