Nothing is better than writing music and lyrical themes involving ancient myths and legends, fantasy tales, just letting the imagination spark on its own, create illusions or base upon a known book fixtures that has been quite relevant or writers such as R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan. I won't discuss the suitability or the near perfect integration of these kinds of stories with Metal music, and I am sure that this won't be your first time tuning to a Heavy Metal album saturated with that shining epic vibe. SHADOWKILLER, hailing from the US, a band that I have never heard of till the first time I set my eyes on the artwork of their new album, unknown if it is a debut or not, "Slaves Of Egypt", via Stormspell Records. Other than showing off with an artwork that is a feast to the eyes, this album turned out to be closer to the immaculate diverse platter of 80s inflicted melodic Heavy Metal, crossed with various notations of Progressive (early FATES WARNING), US Power (early ICED EARTH, METAL CHURCH) and of course British oriented Heavy Metal (IRON MAIDEN, SAXON). What made it more striking was the fact that its overall engineering sound work led to the late 80s and the crunchiness of older amps, back to the glorious days, even with the bit of polish in place.

"Slaves Of Egypt"'s main fuel is the epic material, interpretations and stories perfected by the band to later become Metal anthems. Somewhat like the current German Heavy Metal act, ATLANTEAN KODEX. Regarding anthems, that was the first thing I liked about SHADOWKILLER. Their songs are riff based no doubt, conversely diverse as these came to be, yet several of the choruses lived up to become big time catchy sing along phrases, always victorious, emphasising tremendous valour, coming from a mouth of a warrior like storyteller. But of course that catchiness is only a part of the issue. The SHADOWKILLER crew is quite talented with its playing skill set. "Slaves Of Egypt" is a melodic 80s chugger, yet other than being heavy, it is twisting and turning, an example of Metal in progression but without too much importance to high level technical skills of either instrumentalist. It measures to the point where the longer songs inhibit reprises of entire sections, occasionally tiring, like on "Visions In The Eclipse", which wasn't half bad just lackluster from time to time. Fortunately, the majority of the riffs presented on this album sounded addictive enough to substation for more than just a single or duo runs.

I took pleasure with the enchanting tales and great tunes of "Seven Kingdoms", "The Human Project", "On the Other Side" and "Seconds From Salvation", embracing me with the notion that Progressive Metal, enhanced by epic proportions along with a few other ingredients, can serve as a marvelous example of both memorable segments and instrumental diligence. SHADOWKILLER mustered the 80s art of making great Metal with both bombastic deliveries of heavy riffing and assaulting rhythm section, conveying harmonics and providing the needed spice to keep the peak of interest running. "Slaves Of Egypt" is a crispy 80s Metal, showing the lost impeccable force of what was once called US Metal, an assorted piece relying on classical standards.