Triumpher are a Greek heavy metal band and this is their third album.
Piercing the Heart of the World brings 45 minutes of epic heavy metal into existence. Triumpher are a revelation in steel, a colossal fist in the face of mediocrity, and an exemplar of metallic might ascendant. Now, after that hyperbole, (well-deserved), let’s get to it.
The music is epic, stirring, and packed with charismatic presence. You can almost feel the songs in the room with you as they stride out of myth and into three-dimensional life. It’s striking and impactful. Triumpher are a band ripe with talent and skill.
The band members have extreme metal pedigree, and you can hear this in Triumpher’s music. An aggressive edge here, a soaring vocal descending into a growl there, blackened atmospheric nuance elsewhere – it all adds a darker flavour to a style that usually lacks bite. Piercing the Heart of the World is remarkable in that it’s exactly what it says it is – epic heavy metal – yet also so much more than this. Triumpher play epic heavy metal, underpinned by an extreme metal heart. It’s invigorating.
The well-written songs pack a huge amount of punches. Piercing the Heart of the World is ripe with the sort of riffcraft you just don’t hear as often as you should, and carries an abundance of hooks and melodies that get under your skin. All of the instruments are on fire, and this record offers a very well-rounded package to the listener. The album has the overall song structures, dynamics, layers, and choruses to bring it all together exceptionally well.
The vocals are frequently the weakest link in a band like this, but that’s not the case here. Triumpher’s vocalist manifests as sort of a mix of the singers of Atlantean Kodex and Primordial; he can reach piercing highs, abyssal lows, and boasts an enviable range and delivery between these. Awash with personality, his voice perfectly fits within the high quality delivery of the rest of the music.
This is the strongest, most interesting, and most enjoyable outbreak of heavy metal majesty that the world has witnessed in quite some time. Don’t miss out on this beast of a record.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 