Band:	Lords Of Black
Album:	Icons Of The New Days
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	May 11, 2018
Guest review by:	The_Hellion

Disc I
01. World Gone Mad
    1 - History Of Gods
    2 - The Slaughter Of Innocence
    3 - World Gone Mad
02. Icons Of The New Days
03. Not In A Place Like This
04. When A Hero Takes A Fall
05. Forevermore
06. The Way I'll Remember
07. Fallin'
08. King's Reborn
09. Long Way To Go
10. The Edge Of Darkness
11. Wait No Prayers For The Dying
12. All I Have Left

Disc II [Deluxe/Digital Bonus]
01. Innuendo [Queen cover]
02. Only [Anthrax cover]
03. Tears Of The Dragon [Bruce Dickinson cover]
04. Edge Of The Blade [Journey cover]
05. The Maker And The Storm
06. When Nothing Was Wrong

When a band puts a lot of effort into their music, any singer will suffice, but if the music is outstanding as well, then you've found a band you can listen to constantly without getting bored. This is the kind of band Lords Of Black is. I know for many (including myself) instruments are more important than vocals, but every now and then you run into bands whose singers are exceptional, like Ronnie Romero, Claudio Sanchez, Russell Allen, and others (I'm referring only to clean vocalists). Ronnie Romero does a perfect job on each and every song. I sense a resemblance to Arjen Anthony Lucassen, who is also a great singer.

As I said before, [band]Lords Of Black[/] have it all: the instrumentation is greatly executed and they're not afraid to experiment and get into different territories outside heavy metal. I'm a little bit afraid of saying this, but I'll say it anyway: for the first 50 seconds, this album sounds like melodic death metal; it reminded me of "Achilles Heel" from Kataklysm. This is not a death metal band (clearly), but in my opinion, it is not a heavy metal band either (at least not classic heavy metal). They use progressive elements in parts of their songs. Take for instance "World Gone Mad"; the second part of the solo could easily be played in one of those Tom Cruise sci-fi movies. I also sense a Dream Theater influence and I will elaborate a little bit further on. They really did a good job adding those synth sounds, and this is another element not commonly used in heavy metal. Some of the solos (most) sound like they are from progressive metal or neoclassical songs.

Someone do me a favor and listen to "Forevermore" after listening to "Prophets Of War" by Dream Theater and tell me they don't have a resemblance; another example is "King's Reborn" compared to "Finally Free". I'm not saying they copied them; I actually think this band is original (as original as it's possible to be). I'm saying, musically speaking, these songs aren't too separated from each other (how often can you compare heavy metal to progressive metal?).

"Not In A Place Like This" and "Fallin'" will touch the soft spot of your heart. These are not exactly romantic songs, but rather some kind of post-apocalyptic tragedies (or at least that's what I think). It would be nicer if the lyrics where a little bit more elaborate, though.

So what else could you possibly ask for? This is a heavy-progressive band with a great singer (so great he's now singing for Ritchie Blackmore) and the right influences. Good album.