On its first full length effort Deviate, American quartet Fate Breaks Dawn strays away from its traditional heavy metal roots witnessed on its self-titled extended play five years earlier. Only some of the melodic lead guitar work and the clean vocals still recall bands such as Judas Priest. 

Overall however, the rhythm guitar work has become more aggressive and often faster as well, recalling American power metal and thrash metal bands such as Iced Earth. 

The rhythm section has become more complex, dynamic and playful as well. 

The vocals meander in a balanced way between raw growls and liberated clean efforts while the predecessor focused much more on the melodic side. 

The song writing also became more daring. The different songs might not be as catchy as the material on the predecessor but offer much replay value since there are numerous changes, details and ideas to discover.

Highlights include the balanced, complex and intense ''The Burning (Dragon's Rage)'' that exemplifies the band's new style best, the fast ''As Enemies Fall'' with its thunderous drum work and unchained vocal efforts, the melodic but not mellow ''Heartless (The Key)'' with beautiful guest vocals by Stephen Murphy and closing epic ''Become'' featuring Mike LePond and Michael J. Romeo of Symphony X fame.

In the end, fans of American power metal with a daring and diversified approach should give Fate Breaks Dawn's Deviate a chance. Especially fans of Iced Earth and Symphony X should appreciate this output. This album grows with every spin and one should certainly keep an eye on these talented youngsters that deserve more attention than they have got so far.

Final rating: 80%

Rotting Kingdom is an American quintet that combines doom metal soundscapes with death metal vocals. On its first full length effort A Deeper Shade of Sorrow, the five young men focus on gloomy, mysterious and oppressive atmosphere from start to finish. The diversified song writing from ninety-four second long instrumental interludes over compact four-minute tracks to sluggish epics close to the nine-minute mark keeps the release entertaining from start to finish. The bleak cover artwork exemplifies the soundscapes on the six songs with a running time of thirty-eight minutes perfectly.

The sinister guitar work between gripping riffs and fragile melodies stands out in particular throughout the album while the thunderous rhythm section particularly shines in the more elaborate and almost progressive tunes.

The vocal performances sound particularly emotional in the opening epic ''Sculpted into Life by the Hand of Death'' that can be described as the album's strongest tune. The lethargic album closer and title track ''A Deeper Shade of Sorrow'' convinces in its second half in particular and ends the output on a strong note. Some tracks in the middle section however only include generic growls without much diversity, emotions or ideas.

The production of the album sounds great. Every instrument is perfectly audible. The strong guitar work truly shines here. The bass guitar is the grimly pumping backbone of the album. The drums and percussion add lots of dynamics to the mastering. Only the vocals are perhaps a little bit too loud in the mix and bury the outstanding instrumental work at times.

In the end, Rotting Kingdom's A Deeper Shade of Sorrow is highly recommended to fans of gloomy doom and death metal. It's a truly promising first strike for a new band that genre fans should keep their eyes on. The album can be considered an early genre highlight of the year.

Final rating: 79%

Ambush is one of numerous heavy metal revival bands that honours traditional genre trademarks inspired by the golden era of the mid-eighties. If compared to similar bands such as Stallion, Enforcer and Axxion, Ambush stands out with its particularly melodic guitar play in tunes like the energetic highlight ''Yperite'' and the catchy ''Hellbiter'' that has lots of commercial potential.

The rest of the band has fewer occasions to shine. The vibrant bass guitar only stands out in the particularly gripping opening of the faster ''The Demon Within''. The melodic lead vocals sound somewhat exchangeable but blend in nicely with the melodic guitar work in mid-paced tracks like the soaring ''A Silent Killer''. The drums are rather disappointing and mostly play safe, repetitive and predictable patterns except for the more dynamic closer ''Lust for Blood''.

While it's great to see a genre that had almost been gone and forgotten rise to new heights, one has to admit that Ambush barely stands out among its numerous colleagues. The band's clever song writing with catchy choruses and infectious melodies is noteworthy and the rhythm and lead guitars are technically impressive. However, the band could do better if it broke out of its own genre boundaries from time to time. The singer has passion and talent but fails to vary his vocal style and offer some surprising elements. The band should also focus more on its rhythm section as especially the drum play is quite generic while the bass guitar is underused.

To keep it short, Ambush's Infidel is entertaining with its melodic song writing and excellent guitar play but ultimately only interesting for avid heavy metal revival genre fans. The band certainly sounds more energetic on stage than in the studio. After three studio outputs, the time might have come to release a live album that exploits the Swedish quintet's full potential.

Final rating: 70%

Fate Breaks Dawn is a young independent heavy metal quartet from New York. Some of its members have been involved with genre giants like Ross the Boss, Riot V and Mike LePond's Silent Assassins. The band's self-titled extended play offers five energetic heavy metal tracks inspired by genre veterans such as Judas Priest and its albums of the late eighties and early nineties.

The most remarkable thing about this release are the strong vocals. Versatile drummer and lead vocalist Mike Cotoia convinces both in the lower registers and in the high-pitched screams as he gives the songs charismatic energy. The backing vocals by bassist Michael J. Mahoney provide even more passion. Some fierce growls at the right moments further add atmosphere and diversity.

The song writing refers to traditional heavy metal standards with a few speed metal passages. Those who are referring to the group as power or thrash metal band are obviously entitled to their opinion but I would disagree. The band's style isn't catchy and melodic enough to qualify as European power metal or fierce and galloping enough to be described as American power metal. Their style isn't as fast and relentless as thrash metal either. What we get here is a convincing contemporary interpretation of classic heavy metal trademarks.

The band shows plenty of potential but the songwriting is a little bit generic. The songs are lacking infectious choruses, memorable melodies or surprising twists. This release is solid as first strike but the quartet has plenty of room for improvement.

In the end, Fate Breaks Dawn's self-titled debut extended play should please fans of traditional heavy metal. It should particularly appeal to those who are looking for traditional trademarks with a rough and juvenile side note. The contemporary interpretation with diversified vocals marks the quartet's greatest strength to stand out among so many other heavy metal revival bands.

Final rating: 70%

Ross the Boss' Born of Fire offers energetic heavy metal inspired by the genre's golden era between the early eighties and early nineties. The album convinces with concise song writing as the tracks are about three and a half minutes long on average. ''Glory to the Slain'' opens the hostilities like a wrecking ball without an unnecessary introduction and reminds of a mixture of the fiercest tunes released by Manowar and Judas Priest.

A first highlight is ''Denied by the Cross'', released as the record's lead single. It combines aggressive riffs, powerful vocals and relentless rhythm section in three and a half coherent minutes. The song was one of the few Ross the Boss tracks played during the band's last tour that focused on covering classic Manowar tunes and the song was able to fit in splendidly and compete with the retrospective material. Anyone who likes Manowar's early years but had been disappointed over the band's career in the past decade, should check out this excellent single.

The main problem persisting on the predecessor By Blood Sworn still exists on Born of Fire however. Singer Marc Lopes yells, screams and howls relentlessly. This works for songs like the aggressive heavy and speed metal anthem ''Fight the Fight''. It however sounds completely out of place on the more atmospheric mid-paced ''Maiden of Shadows''. His exaggerated performance actually contrasts the track's intriguing songwriting aspect. This problem accentuates as the album progresses as it makes many songs sound exchangeable, predictable and tiring.

I hate to say this but the songs on Born of Fire and also By Blood Sworn would sound so much better with a more balanced vocal performance. Marc Lopes' passion is impressive and works very well in concert. However, he should either learn how to slow things down for studio records or be replaced by a more versatile singer.

In the end, Born of Fire includes a few highlights but is overall hard to sit through due to the relentless vocal performances in every single tune. My advice for you would be to listen to the singles and verify whether you are able to stand the vocals or not. If they are alright with you, give Born of Fire a chance. If you agree with me who thinks that those vocals almost sound unintentionally amusing in their exaggerated execution, you should stay away from this output.

Final rating: 65%