LORDS OF THE TRIDENT is a Heavy Metal band based out Madison, Wisconsin in the United States. It was formed back in 2008 and had 6 previous releases (full albums and EPs), before the release of this album entitled "Shadows from the Past", which came out on August 24^th, 2018 on the Junko Johnson Records label.

The opener, "Death Dealer", musically is reminiscent of AMON AMARTH; it is dirty in its delivery, yet heavily melodic. The instant influence of JUDAS PRIEST is strongly present and the band knows how to use that inspiration very well. We have a great use of vocal harmonies here as well. The half-time riffs add an interesting dynamic amongst some shredding solos.

We then have the song "Zero Hour" that follows a similar pattern, but it takes a bit more time before transitioning into a more pure Metal powerhouse, amidst some cool bass lines. The strongest aspect of the band I have noticed so far are the vocals, which have some adjacent qualities to those of SEVENTH WONDER. The chorus shows off a lot of emotion that you can find in the band mentioned before, which is always a key in having memorable pieces of a song.

"Tormentor" feeds off a slower pace, but serves a nice dish of Hard Rock with a groove.  It has the qualities I have always appreciated in the slower tempo of some PRIMAL FEAR songs. Speed is not essential in getting the listener to pay attention and this song is a perfect example of that. It is a gritty number and shows off some very high pitch notes in the process.

"Burn It Down (With Fire)" has a punchier approach and has a SYMPHONY X side to it (minus the more progressive side). It's extremely energetic and should get your blood pumping. We also get an added touch with the female vocals of Brittney Slayes that blend into the song flawlessly with the vocals of Fang VonWrathenstein.

"Figaro" seems like the type of track you would find at the end of the album, it has that feeling that the journey has come to an end. As you may have guessed, it is a slower song more along the lines of a ballad. Again, changing the pace of an album that has already gone balls deep into a more aggressive tone is always a good approach. Nothing out of the ordinary here but the song serves its purpose.

Next we have "The Party Has Arrived" that uses strings and orchestral parts, essentially a short instrumental to lead us into a very German Power Metal piece, "Brothers of Cain", that uses a nice dose of humor (if you have heard ALESTORM you will understand what I mean here) and goes into a chorus that is quite reminiscent of FALCONER. The song does not take itself too seriously, which is always a nice touch.

"Reaper's Hourglass" has one of the better choruses I find here, the vocals do not go too overboard, which makes it very easy to remember. Yes it follows a pattern that we can relate to, but it in its delivery, it is straight on point. This is by far my favorite song on the album.

The final track "Gatekeeper" is another noteworthy song, it is the album closer that starts off slow and builds perfectly (just like one of my all-time favorite bands, if you did not know by now, FATES WARNING). The band chose a song that has just the right tempo to finish off this Power Metal adventure.

Overall, the band does not break any new ground in the genre but the elements found on this album all blend together perfectly and should appeal to fans of true metal, pure metal, traditional power metal or however you wish to label that genre.<