Descent to the Underworld

Raven Lord is a new, multinational band plying the Traditional Heavy Metal seas on their debut Descent to the Underworld. Greece, Italy, Serbia, the United Kingdom and the United States are all represented. The music is, as I said, Traditional Metal, mostly mid-paced, in the vein of Jon Oliva's Pain or Iced Earth. The riffs are heavy but melodic and the keyboards support but don't overwhelm. The vocals are a mix of gruff mid-range and high-pitched screams and singer Csaba Zvekan has a powerful voice, but he needs lay off the screams. He relies on them heavily on songs like "Attila the Hun" and "Metal Knights" and since they aren't particularly varied, they get monotonous. I like his mid-range much better, and he uses it to great effect, especially on the simmering, vaguely Middle-eastern sounding closer "Sun God." But the star of the show is clearly guitarist Joe Stump. This guy can flat out play. His leads are of the neo-classical school and, like Yngwie Malmsteen's solos from his prime, they are things of beauty.

Descent to the Underworld isn't groundbreaking but it is very well played, the songwriting is excellent and the leads are amazing. All Traditional Metal fans will want to check out Raven Lord.