STRAY GODS is the brainchild of the highly acclaimed Greek heavy metal musician and producer Bob Katisonis, who is known for his work with bands such as FIREWIND, OUTLOUD, SERIOUS BLACK, his various solo albums, as guest songwriter for KAMELOT and his participation in numerous acts both in the country's metal scene and worldwide. Since Katsionis is steeped in NWOBHM lore, Katsionis is a perfect spearhead for a project such as this. In Katsionis' own words, "It all happened completely by accident: in order to make a test song for a newly purchased bass, I started jamming on an IRON MAIDEN-esque bass line. Six days later, I had written a whole album's worth of material! Being not only an IRON MAIDEN fan but also a producer, it was easy enough for me to step in the shoes of any band member and take the role of any musician. What Steve [Harris] should play here, what drum fill would Nicko [McBrain] use, what kind of solo would fit here? Also, back in May 2021, there were no talks of a new IM album yet, so it felt like I was filling a gap. I didn't try to make a cheap IM mimicking album, instead, I started writing music the way that those British Gods of Metal taught me since 1988 when I first encountered their music."

With the music written, the task came to find musicians to fill various roles to record the parts and possibly tour with the material. Katsionis continues, "Dan Baune of MONUMENT -except for playing a couple of great solos on the album- introduced me to singer Artur Almeida that I already knew from his work with ATTICK DEMONS. Then, Gus Macricostas on bass was a very obvious choice for me from the days we played together back in 2002, same goes for SCAR OF THE SUN and OUTLOUD bandmate, Thanos Pappas, who also drums for URIZEN, the only Greek Bruce Dickinson tribute band! Having all these guys also playing for other bands of ROAR Records, it also looked like a sign that this album would be released by them. I'm really happy for this collaboration and can't wait to jam these songs live with these great guys!"

So close to the sound and style do STRAY GODS stick I had to do a double take and make sure I wasn't hearing an IRON MAIDEN side project or even a mysteriously released new album on "Storm the Walls". It's got the raw breakout sound of the 80's "Number of the Beast" combined with a later era modern MAIDEN sound ala "Brave New World" with vocals ably provided by Almeida that does a near perfect Bruce Dickinson impression - no wonder he's in an IM cover band! Many bands try to copy the band's specific NWOBHM style with most simply imitating it, making it sound stale. Instead, Katsionis is able to seemingly create something fresh and new with this record with catchy tracks such as the title track "Storm the Walls", "Naked in the Fire" and "Love in the Dark". The beginning of the opening track starts with a riff that sounds like a modernized and updated riff from the opening of "The Trooper" and you're bound to make many comparisons to other MAIDEN songs as the album plays on. It was especially enjoyable and should be a must buy for any MAIDEN fan.