Adamantis – Far Flung Realm (Cruz Del Sur Music)

Adamantis is a relatively new young American power metal/New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal band which was formed in 2016 by drummer Evgeny Gromovoy and guitarist Javier Estrada after they moved to Boston for work purposes where they met guitarist Jeff Taft, bassist Liz Cleary and singer Ashley Caval and formed Adamantis. They released the EP Thundermark in 2018 but then both Cleary and Caval left leaving the band as a trio as they worked on the material for what would become Far Flung Realm. Eventually, new bassist Cody Pelchat and singer Jeff Stark joined the band and the album was completed and self-released to little fanfare. Luckily, the album soon came to the attention of Cruz Del Sur Music and they have promptly arranged a re-release across all markets and territories as this is an album that deserves to be heard by as wise an audience as possible.

Although American, Adamantis has a very European sound and the band has taken a number of influences from, mainly, Diamond Head which has led to them falling under the NWOTHM banner which is a more than fair reflection of their sound. There is power metal here too perhaps more in Running Wild and Edguy territory so their appeal is very broad based and they have all the necessary attributes to carve out a very successful career.

Jeff Stark has a commanding voice somewhere between Paul Di’Anno and Sean Harris and he demands and gets your attention at all times. As with all great power metal bands, they have a twin pronged guitar attack which continually bombards with riffs and great leads and you have to commend the level of dexterity and maturity shown on this hard hitting and vey accessible metal album. The songs are perfectly crafted with great vocals harmonies and delicious hooks and all with a subject matter to please be it sci-fi or historical fact but all very worthy and enjoyable. Watch out for the guest vocals of former Dark Moor singer Elisa C Martin on The Oracle’s Prophecy but each track is also very special and praise needs to be showered on every song here as they all have that special epic sound which is reinforced by the fantasy themes involved.

This is timeless, fantasy themed power metal born out of the ’80s but still with so much to offer today.