As soon as the intro “Overture to Elysian” starts, you can imagine yourself standing on a rock with your sword in the air. The slowly increasing sound of a horse coming and the eerie background noise remind me of a battle field just after the fight. When TRIUMPHER starts pounding their instruments on the opening track “Arrival Of The Avenger” you know that this is Epic Power Metal with a twist. I immediately thought this was a Thrash Metal rendition of the MANOWAR song “Blood Of My Enemies”. It is fast, furious and undoubtedly celebrating the victory the band shows us as listeners that they mean business on “Spirit Invictus”. TRIUMPHER are from Athens in Greece, and were founded in 2019. March 2023 saw them releasing their debut album “Storming The Walls”, and just over a year and a half later, October 2024, it is time to welcome “Spirit Invictus”.

After the first full track, the sound dies down a bit, and there is a very clear comparison to be made between TRIUMPHER and early MANOWAR, before they got sounding too pompous and felt they were too big for their boots. Especially the “Into Glory Ride” and “Hail To England” era seems to have inspired the band to write their music. That in itself is quite commendable, but what is even more impressive is the fact that the songs they have written are all of a very decent to good quality, with good rhythms, impressive sounds and most of all convincing atmosphere. You can really feel yourself standing with TRIUMPHER and heading into battle.

It also helps when the vocals sound as if they are sincere, as if the man delivering the lines really means what he says. That is exactly what is being done on “Spirit Invictus”. What does help is that TRIUMPHER singer Mars Triumph (what’s in a name!) does have the ability to sound like Eric Adams when he sings at full force. But let me dampen your sky-high expectations just a little bit, as of course the album is not perfect. I would have liked the band to dispense the fade outs on some of the songs, plus when they really slow down or are rather quiet, my pet hate pops up. Yes, the pronunciation of the English language. I have to admit that because of the good music on “Spirit Invictus” I am willing to forgive TRIUMPHER on this occasion. Now I have become so interested in these Greeks that I just need to listen to their debut.