{"id":21889,"date":"2014-09-26T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21889"},"modified":"2014-10-11T12:58:19","modified_gmt":"2014-10-11T12:58:19","slug":"album-review-palace-the-7th-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-palace-the-7th-steel\/","title":{"rendered":"PALACE – The 7th Steel (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALACE
The 7th Steel<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMassacre (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s time to strap on that armour and with sword in hand take to the promised land in search of lost treasure and dragons, and with Palace by your side I\u2019ve no doubt you\u2019ll find your quarry, because this is a high octane dose of driving power metal that\u2019ll have just about every scaled behemoth quaking in its boots.<\/p>\n

German metallers Palace are a force to be reckoned with, combining the leather-clad pomp of Manowar with more traditional elements of, say, Saxon with added grit and determination, especially in the vocal delivery of Harald \u201cHP\u201d Piller (ex-Saints Anger).<\/p>\n

This quartet is a well-oiled machine fed on nuts, bolts and flights of fantasy too, but before you start thinking that this is a cheese-ridden combo high on sword and sorcery then you\u2019d be wrong. If anything, Palace has more in common with fellow Germans Gravedigger and the likes in that the vocals have that extra snap, and the music sways with melancholy as the posse stirs its mighty cauldron of steely anthems.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe this skeleton crew formed back in 1990 and yet didn\u2019t release its debut opus \u2013 Toy Of Rage<\/em> \u2013 until six years later, but since then it\u2019s been a steady plod for this band of brothers and, as the title suggest, The 7th Steel<\/em> is the seventh studio instalment.<\/p>\n

To be honest, there\u2019s not really a lot to say about an album that does exactly what it says on the tin. As one would expect from such seasoned musicians, this is a rollicking good listen based upon a foundation of sterling solos, riotous vocal chants and shouts, and a steady steely riff tank that remains persistent throughout such tracks as the plodding \u2018Bloodshed Of Gods\u2019 and the fantastically ghoulish \u2018Blades Of Devil Hunter\u2019 with its atmospheric introduction of sneering vocals and dark majesty.<\/p>\n

The riffs remain heavy throughout each and every track, complemented by Harry Reiter\u2019s sturdy drum boom which isn\u2019t afraid of marching into an albeit formulaic metallic gallop. One senses that the band really believes in its style though, and while it\u2019s far from being groundbreaking, one cannot argue with bands which consistently churn out powerful, ball-busting metal laced with demonic overtones. Sure, there\u2019s a feeling of d\u00e9j\u00e0-vu when one becomes wrapped in the iron coils of the melodic slams of \u2018Metal Company\u2019 or the catchy trundle of \u2018Teutonic Hearts\u2019, but it\u2019s such a pure metal experience from start to finish that if you haven\u2019t sewn a Palace patch onto that tatty battle jacket of yours then you\u2019re clearly in the wrong game.<\/p>\n

The 7th Steel<\/em> is a fine lump of classic heavy metal that will continue barking orders long after you\u2019ve switched the stereo off, because it has that ability to rattle around the backstreets of your mind like all good metal albums should.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALACEThe 7th Steel Massacre (2014)Rating: 8\/10 It\u2019s time to strap on that armour and with sword in hand take to the promised land in search of lost treasure and dragons, and with Palace by your side I\u2019ve no doubt you\u2019ll find your quarry, because this is a high octane dose of driving power metal that\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1456],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-palace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21889"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21904,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21889\/revisions\/21904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}