KING WRAITH bring the thunder on their debut for Underground Symphony, the adventurous and swaggering "Of Secrets And Lore." The band's tight instrumental attack guides the listener through tales of myth and fantasy throughout this solid release.

Where gunslingers are known only to deal in lead, KING WRAITH are the sort of band that deal primarily in steel; that is, they waste no time on orchestral/synth-backed arrangements or extraneous elements, powering full-speed ahead with rock-solid riffs complemented by a tumbling, pummeling rhythm attack. Vocalist Daniele Genugu has a powerful, melodic delivery with a guitar playing style to match. When the band are going good, they spring forth with admirable energy on songs like the driving "Poseidon" and "Roll 'N Ride," which are unabashedly old-school in a way that's hard not to enjoy. The band's passion translates well to songs like the freewheeling "Jaws Of Death" and "Flag Of A Black Ship," which remind a bit of ALESTORM but without the inherent silliness. Indeed, most of the album is imbued with this sense of nautical reverie, but these ones definitely stick out in their execution, as does the mellow title track, which closes out the album with decidedly less fanfare by comparison.

While the band have the good sense to mix up the pacing from time to time, there isn't a whole lot of variety after the first few songs that really grab onto the listener the way you'd hope. There are points where, with the song's momentum building up, you think that Genugu might go into full gear and start hitting high notes or something, but he just maintains roughly the same vocal register for the duration. That's not meant to be a dig; the guy is clearly very talented, and has a wonderful voice. However, as far as melodic, guitar-driven Metal of this sort goes, it's hard not to hear him and hope for just a little more, especially because it sounds like he has it in him. It's the sort of thing that makes songs like the classic Rock-flavored "Iliad" and "Evil And Skulls" a little harder to sit through. Without the breakneck pace set by some of the other songs, they feel a little bit lacking by comparison, though each song is written strongly enough that it never really feels like the band is dragging along.

All in all, "Of Secrets And Lore" is a fun and overall enthusiastic album that should please fans of Power Metal as well as traditional Heavy Metal.