High Warden - 'The Morn is Wiser Than the Eve' (Astral Iron 2024)

Battered and worn, clad in cold steel
Waiting for the night that sends ahead fear
No time to lose but eternity
Bracing ourselves afore our destiny

Will we go down
Not to be seen again
Or will we survive
To finally break the chain

Ere the sun
Will set
Hear, the morn is wiser than the eve
Ere the stars
Illume
See, the night is out there to deceive

A darkness so strong, how shall we withstand
Incertitude dazes our will to defend
If we get through the night and still resist
At fifth day's dawn we shall look to the east

Where's our strength,
Where our confidence?
A hope beyond hope
Is our last defence
Ere the stars
Illume
See, the night is out there to deceive
Ere the sun
Will set
Hear, the morn is wiser than the eve

High Warden: τριμελές (Alex Mock - φωνητικά και κιθάρα, Lord Parish - μπάσο, Sadistic Hammer - τύμπανα) doom metal συγκρότημα εκ Γερμανίας. Η μπάντα αυτοχαρακτηρίζεται ως «Slow Heavy Metal». Πρόπερσι (το 2022) κυκλοφόρησαν ψηφιακά το ντεμπούτο τους (το τεσσάρων τραγουδιών demo "Land of Stone"), το οποίο "έβγαλε" πέρυσι και η Dying Victims Productions σε κασέτα.

"Astral Iron" τιτλοφορείται το επίσημο ντεμπούτο τους, το οποίο αναμένεται στα τελειώματα του φθινοπώρου (22 Νοεμβρίου 2024) σε cd, βινύλιο και ψηφιακή μορφή, με την δισκογραφική τους εταιρεία (Dying Victims Productions) να κάνει λόγο για επιρροές από Reverend Bizarre, Doomsword, Bathory, Manilla Road, Pagan Altar, Trouble και Mercyful Fate!

Δελτίο τύπου: «Hailing from Münster, Germany’s High Warden was founded by vocalist / guitarist Alastair van Morgue-Gûl and drummer Sadistic Hammer in 2022. The first sign of life from this self-proclaimed “Morgul Doom Commando” was the demo Land of Stone, released in early 2023 by Dying Victims.

Initially hired as a live bassist, Lord Perish joined the band as a full-time member that year. With their lineup thus set, High Warden prepare to ride into battle with their full-length debut, Astral Iron.

The title serves as an aesthetic springboard for their idiosyncratic sound. Granted, High Warden are influenced by legendary bands like Reverend Bizarre, Doomsword, Bathory, Manilla Road, Pagan Altar, Trouble, and Mercyful Fate, but their version of epic heavy / doom metal is as foreign as it is familiar: Slow Heavy Metal, as they accurately refer to it.

Recorded live, Astral Iron pounds and pulses vibrantly, deploying riffs coursing and crushing barbarically before leaving wide-open spaces in anticipation of that next addicting slash of ancient steel.

High Warden's tones match their execution - earthen and mossy, grit encasing clarity - and each of the album’s five primary tracks (“Burgfrieden” is a hauntingly serene synth interlude that gives way to feedback) lumber forward with epic aplomb and high adventure.

The vocals of A. v. Morgue-Gûl are plaintive and poignant, illustrating tales mainly based on individual thoughts but suitably packaged as analogies to various fantasy works (like those of J.R.R. Tolkien), historical events, and legends & myths. Unbelievers only need to hear Astral Iron’s closing epic “We Shall Burn at Foreign Shores (The Choice of Achilles)” to witness the blanching power of High Warden!»