Band:	Holy Grail
Album:	Times Of Pride And Peril
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	February 2016

01. Crystal King
02. Waste Them All Away
03. Sudden Death
04. Those Who Will Remain
05. Descent Into The Maelstrom
06. Apotheosis
07. Psychomachia
08. No More Heroes
09. Pro Patria Mori
10. Black Lotus

Holy Grail crashed through the stained glass walls of modern power metal on a mighty dragon back in 2010, loosing in a wave of molten fire one of the best albums of the century thus far. Ride The Void unfortunately failed to capitalize on that success, neglecting to recapture the dominating spirit and infectious songwriting of its predecessor. Album #3 often serves as a "make-or-break" indicator, and with Times Of Pride And Peril, Holy Grail have viciously stamped their hopes for longevity on the throats and soft underbellies of any who would doubt them.

Holy Grail first stuck in my mind six years ago because they, like Battlecross, 3 Inches Of Blood, Huntress, Exmortus, and other bands of their ilk, skip across the borders of genres with a very modern sense of cohesion. Old school heavy metal and bombastic modern power metal meet head-on, with elements of thrash, metalcore, and heavier genres congealing around the edges. The reasons behind this are more obvious in 2016, when Holy Grail makes up half of Huntress and the former lead-neon-yellow-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-shirt-wearing-and-bright-ass-blue-guitar-shredding dude of Bonded By Blood finally has some strong Grail material on which to debut his skills.

All that is to say that Holy Grail brings together versatile musicians who can deafen the golden power metal halls with darkness and speed, while at the same time maintaining high standards of catchiness and karaoke-ability. Times Of Pride And Peril sees the band climbing back onto the rails and utilizing their aforesaid talents. The detour through the sour malaise of Ride The Void has changed them, and Crisis In Utopia remains far off, but the energy Holy Grail have reclaimed could power an atomic football stadium the size of Britain's Royal Navy.

"Crystal King" opens with sufficient promise, but the album begins in earnest at "Waste Them All Away" - a somber but electrifying piece that steals back from Exmortus the thunder and inspiration Holy Grail lost to them a few years ago. "Psychomachia" follows the same thread, boasting limber guitar work and a serious energy that builds nicely into the ripping, thrashy "No More Heroes." "Black Lotus" caps off the album beautifully - nine-and-a-half minutes of Holy Grail stretching out their chops and going increasingly wild. We're even treated to a (tasteful) breakdown towards the end.

I loved Holy Grail when they first stormed the fronts of the power metal scene, but I sort of fell off with them around their sophomore slump. I'm positively chuffed to see that these guys have retained the magnificent sound that made them great before. I take Times Of Pride And Peril as a sure sign that Holy Grail will be splattering molten riffs of empowered thrash across the battlefields of metal for many years to come.