By Andrew Bansal
Over the eight years of their existence, Holy Grail have developed into one of Los Angeles’ most prominent young group of metal flagbearers, but more than staying true to the so-called ‘old-school’ brand of metal that they started out perpetrating on the debut EP ‘Improper Burial’ (2009), Holy Grail have stayed true to their creative instincts and have broken new ground for themselves by venturing into a variety of musical territories through the two full-length albums ‘Crisis In Utopia’ (2010) and ‘Ride The Void’ (2013). Now, having solidified a five-member lineup that has stayed constant for the past five years, Holy Grail are ready to unveil their third full-length album ‘Times Of Pride And Peril’ on February 12th 2016 via Prosthetic Records.
Both previous full-length efforts witnessed the metamorphosis of Holy Grail from their Maiden/Priest/King Diamond worshipping initial incarnation, into a group of decidedly matured songwriters as they infused far greater degrees of melody, guitar shred pyrotechnics, rhythmic shifts and clean-singing vocal range into their tunes. ‘Times Of Pride And Peril’ presents an even stronger, catchier and adventurous version of Holy Grail, as evident straightaway from the instantly high-impact opening song ‘Crystal King’ and its most excellent follow-up ‘Waste Them All Away’. ‘Sudden Death’ picks up the pace and level of shred while still maintaining the melodic tendencies. These first three tracks get the album off to a tremendous start and establish the listener’s undivided attention before it delves into some of the band’s finest work till date.
The greatly progressive ‘Those Who Will Remain’ conquers new territories for the band with its stoner/doom style guitar work very much akin to bands like Orange Goblin whom Holy Grail toured with not too long ago, and with that at its core, the song is also decorated with delightfully dark and rich guitar-driven interludes. The band clearly goes from strength to strength as this album progresses, with tracks like ‘Descent Into The Maelstrom’, ‘Apotheosis’ and ‘Psychomachia’ coming across as the catchiest compositions of their career.
Deep down in the track listing but by no means a deep cut, the vocal-centric ‘No More Heroes’ has all it takes to become the fans’ favorite singalong from this album in the immediate future. There is no shortage of fist-raising, air-guitar inducing segments, as axemen Eli Santana and Alex Lee decorate the entire 48-minute duration of ‘Times Of Pride And Peril’ with their mastery and vocalist James Paul Luna holds the right notes at the right moments. The album comes to an end with its two longest tracks, the 6-minute ‘Pro Patria Mori’, and the daring 10-minute proggy endeavor ‘Black Lotus’, the rhythm section of Blake Mount on bass and Tyler Meahl on drums being highlighted on these two tunes in particular, as the duo dictates their band mates through wild tempo shifts and stylistic variations.
It takes quite some amount of natural creativity and skill to come up with a set of tunes that is ‘radio-friendly’ by heavy metal standards yet simultaneously presents supreme musicianship, and Holy Grail have done exactly that with ‘Times Of Pride And Peril’. Neither the album title nor a majority of song titles roll off the tongue nearly to the extent their past song and album titles do, but the music itself is far more accessible and catchier. Most notably and appreciably, the band has almost completely steered clear of one aspect they were most critcized for when ‘Crisis In Utopia’ and ‘Ride The Void’ were released, the usage of growling vocals. You don’t hear any of it until the very end, and fans of the clean-singing Holy Grail would certainly love the band for it.
With ‘Times Of Pride And Peril’, Holy Grail make a statement-and-a-half, and beckon the jaded and cynical metal world to wake up and take notice.
Rating: 9/10
Record Label: Prosthetic
Release Date: February 12th 2016
Track Listing:
01. Crystal King
02. Waste Them All Away
03. Sudden Death
04. Those Who Will Remain
05. Descent Into The Maelstrom
06. Apotheosis
07. Psychomachia
08. No More Heroes
09. Pro Patria Mori
10. Black Lotus
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