Kingdom of the Knights

Gothic Knights - Kingdom Of The Knights
Sentinel Steel Records 1999


I was introduced to the Gothic Knights CD "Kingdom Of The Knights" through a fellow 80's metal generation rocker. From the first moment this melodic power metal sound sang out of my speakers I was hooked. From the sound qualities of the over all mix to the ability and boldness of the vocals of their lead singer Bryan Avatar. Gothic Knights' steel package took me by storm. The opener At Dawn You Die had me hooked instantly. The killer guitar work in this song is of the finest metal, very original and catchy as well. One of my favorites is Ring Of Souls. The opening riff just pulled me right in to the Lord Of The Rings style epic. The sound of Bryan Avatar's voice in this song just sends adrenalin pumping through my veins unlike any other power metal singer has ever done! Keeper of the Gate is an original classic! Once again I was totally blown away with the vocal prowess of Bryan Avatar. The groovy catchy guitar riffs set the stage for Avatar to just soar up to his high registers and deliver an unbelievable performance. This song is so melodic and powerful if I didn't hear it with my own ears I really wouldn't believe it. The guitars in this song are just awesome, solos and all just fit right in and make this epic a complete feast to the ears. That Evil Wizard starts off a bit unorthodox but if you keep listening you will be captivated with the energetic guitar riffs, bass, drums and vocals. War in the Sky is very powerful, melodic and once again as with the rest of the CD I found myself pulled into the song. Song of Roland has a great intro and great guitar riffs throughout the whole song along with very catchy vocals.

Demons Buried Within was not in tune with the rest of the CD. The angry sound of this song left a lot to be desired. From the instrumentation to Bryan Avatar's performance. I detected a recourse of displeasure as one could sense within his voice, it just wasn't pleasing to my ear. The cover of The Ripper was by far the best version I've heard since Tim "Ripper" Owens did it himself. All in all this is one CD that can be played over and over with out growing tired of the Gothic Knights sound, topped with the class act vocals of Bryan Avatar. Sad to say that the follow up CD "Up From The Ashes" was a total melodic power melt down. Totally lacked the style and power of the preceding CD. Another thing is that there is a different singer Rick Sanchez who just doesn't convince me that he should have replaced Bryan Avatar. That is a whole different review in it self. Kingdom Of The Knights in my opinion is a 9.5 out of 10. Find it and get it.

There's really one incredibly good song on here, one decent cover, and the rest is pretty freaking boring. We start out on a really great, promising note with "At Dawn You Die." This is power metal at its finest. Some great thrashy riffs, and very cool vocals, and the fact that it's 6 minutes long and stays interesting due to the fact that there are three or four major parts to the song, all pretty different, makes this song worth hearing.

As for the rest, there is just something not quite right here. The songs lack punch and memorability - they kinda bounce right off, and I can't remember any of them. It's like they took all the good riffs and put them into one song. There really isn't all that much worth mentioning about the rest of the album. A cover of "The Ripper" closes it off. It's decent, but the only person I've ever heard nail that scream correctly is Rob Halford. Not even Tim Owens does it quite right, and certainly not these guys.

They try to sound like 80s power metal, for example Ample Destruction, but they just come up short. They're not fast enough or furious enough, or have enough quality riffs. A forgettable album.