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Underground legend Daniel Corchado gets a lot of attention for his flagship band The Chasm, but he's also been involved in a litany of other projects in a career that spans over three decades. Acerus is one of those projects, formed some time in 2012 and among the few that still get a good amount of attention. I'm not familiar with their earlier works, but now having listened to their third full-length, I'm willing to bet that attention is well deserved.

Daniel has always had serious Traditional sensibilities to his music, so it's not too surprising that this project is where he gets to explore those to the fullest. The Tertiary Rite is 46 minutes of old-school NWOBHM-inspired U.S. Metal similar to past luminaries like Griffin (U.S.), Memento Mori, and even early Iced Earth. The compositions are excellent, as to be expected from an experienced talent like Daniel, and they're all filled with hooky, Maiden-esque melodies, galloping riffs, and the impassioned vocals of Esteban Julian Pena, whose dramatic performance nearly steals the show. I'd pick highlights, but really, every song is an excellent example of the U.S. style that proves anything worth doing once is worth doing a thousand times, especially when it's done this well. If you slept on this band like I did, get this album and change that immediately.