Founded in 1990, "PALACE" make their return harder and heavier than ever than ever this year with their 7^th studio album "The 7^th Steel". PALACE are the true definition of what German heavy metal should sound like, their music sits nicely among other notable German acts of the 1980's including "ACCEPT" and "GAMMA RAY", particularly in the vocal performances; Harald (HP) Pillers vocals bear a strong resemblance to Udo Dirkschneider, Mark Tornillo, Kai Hansen and even Marcel Schirmer of "DESTRUCTION" at times. If you have a love for all metal that is Teutonic then you are bound to enjoy this album and this band!

Now, as much as I think that this album possesses some really great music, after listening to it several times I still can't seem to differentiate song from song since they are all almost the same length (most of them being about 4 and a half minutes) and each song is at a fairly mid-tempo pace. That being said, I do enjoy the music on this album though, it just all feels a little too familiar and similar. "Rot in Hell" is the opener on this album and PALACE don't waste time kicking this release off as this song grabs you by the throat instantly and gets your heart pumping and head banging. Other stand out tracks here for me would be "Metal Company", "Teutonic Hearts", "Iron Horde" and "Under New Flag".

Despite the way in which this album can sometimes feel very samey, I do recommend you pick it up for your collection because there are some great moments on this album with awesome guitar melodies and strong vocal performances bound to make you fall in love with PALACE.