Band:	Stormwarrior
Album:	Heading Northe
Style:	Power metal, Speed metal
Release date:	February 22, 2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. And The Horde Calleth For Oden
02. Heading Northe
03. Metal Legacy
04. The Holy Cross
05. Iron Gods
06. Ragnarök
07. The Revenge Of Asa Lande
08. Remember The Oathe
09. Lion Of The Northe
10. Into The Battle
11. And The Valkyries Ride
+ Heading Northe [video] [bonus]

"Heading North" is already the third album of Stormwarrior, a German combo that plays European Power Metal (German Power should even be a better name), so of course if you're into bands like Running Wild I think that you should try this release. The fact that the band is influenced by Viking mythologies and "music" is also a good thing but don't expect anything outstanding either... That's Power Metal a la European sauce and it's not so amazing unfortunately.

For sure in it's genre, Heading North is not a bad album of Power Metal. We have good catchy choruses and really fast tempo, the general level of the musicians is not bad too! But let's be honest you must be into this kind of music to enjoy it. I mean that "Heading North" is full of clichés and even if it's not a bad release it can become quickly boring if you cannot stand German Power. By luck, the Viking Metal influences that we can find in this CD, plus some melodies a la Blind Guardian are here to save the album. At least we have some original parts in this release but it's only a CD for the fans of this kind of Metal. In brief, if you like to listen to European Power, this is a must but you hate it in general Heading North will not change your opinion...

The Viking ambiances of the CD are not so bad, but apart from the intro don't expect any real kind of Viking Metal melodies on this release. We have some Viking melodies yes, but Stormwarrior is not the Power Metal version of Amon Amarth. This album, which is really well produced by the way, is just an album of classic really fast Power Metal which talks about Viking myths but doesn't really use the influences of this so called musical genre. It's just a matter of taste really, in general it's hard for me to be convinced by such bands but I must admit that it's not bad even if I think that the "Viking" influences are not really well used.

Stormwarrior is a good Power Metal band, I just think that they should try to be a bit more original. They have good ideas but that's not enough to be really convincing. Though if you use to listen to really fast Power Metal and like Nordic legends, I really recommend you to buy this album, you shouldn't be disappointed.