October 11, 2020
Reviews

Beneath The Ruins was released at the end on 2019 so this is a rather belated review for the latest EP from the United States Maryland-based power metal outfit, Burning Shadows. The group has been together since 2000 and there have been a great deal of coming and going by band members so that they now only have Tim Regan (guitar/bass/vocals) left out of the original team.

Burning Shadows is very much a power metal band with elements of thrash especially with the speed of the drums and guitar. They have released three full albums and Beneath The Ruin’ is now the fifth EP which clocks in with a most healthy running time of 32-minutes spread across seven splendid screaming power metal tracks. The current line-up see Tom Davy on lead vocals, Tim Regan on rhythm guitar/vocals, David Spencer on drums/vocals, Christopher Malerich on lead guitar and Aaron El-Zeftawy on bass. This is very much fantasy inspired rock and there is a running theme throughout all of the band’s song writing as they mainly use 20th century science fiction/horror as their muse with tracks on this EP being inspired by the works of H P Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien and Robert E. Howard.

The band takes musical inspiration from the usual suspects in Blind Guardian, Jag Panzer, Primal Fear and some Iron Maiden too as they deliver power metal with a definite US slant. The album sees the expected furious drumming with the bass keeping up perfectly, screaming guitars and a glorious over the top vocal from Tom Davy making Burning Shadows a loud and adept addition to the power metal ranks. This is a great value EP from an intense and extremely hard hitting band that combines old school metal, thrash and power metal perfectly. Two of the seven tracks on the EP are live these perfectly show the raw power of the band.

Beneath The Ruins shows a fine band with great songs and perfectly themed lyrics with a 100mph delivery and attitude to match. Beneath The Ruins is the band’s first release on the German Rafchild Records and you can also check out or purchase their other material on the Bandcamp website.

Beneath The Ruins track list

  1. Blacken The Sky (4:19)
  2. The Grey Company (Paths Of The Dead) (4:20)
  3. Monuments Of Rust (3:48)
  4. The Red Key (3:41)
  5. The Shadow From The Steeple (5:44)
  6. The Last One To Fall (live) (5:31)
  7. Oathbreaker (live) (4:20)
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Author: Terry Craven

A former reviewer and member of the Classic Rock Society having been involved since its early days. .Enjoys virtually all forms of music but first real love is Progressive Rock. Top three band, in no particular order, are Pink Floyd, Rush and the mighty Judas Priest.