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These days, the Greek scene is renowned for making some of the biggest epic metal around, but even far back near the beginning of the end of the Golden Age, it proved to be a hotbed of great acts that simply never got the chance they deserved. Ageless Wisdom are easily counted among them, producing a single demo in 1990 before vanishing without a trace for unknown reasons. Like all true lost relics, I didn't so much dig this one up as I did stumble across it, and like any good treasure hunter, I've come to cash in my underground credit as I excitedly proclaim that this is among the finest demos from the era.

The cornerstone of Ageless Wisdom's sound is that now all too familiar pounding Greek Metal popularized by such acts like Battlelore and Wrathblade, only this predates all of that and here pushes the related pieces through the filter of more American acts like Manilla Road and Oliver Magnum. However you identify their sound, it is one that can't lean on gimmicks and simply has to have great songs, and the two found here accomplish that with glory and honor. Opener "A Kingdom Without a Name" in particular is a lost masterwork, with colossal, pummeling riffs, blazing lead work, and a mood of legend and antiquity fit for the very gods themselves. "After the Gate" doesn't quite reach that same high, perhaps spending a little too much time with its quiet acoustic opening, but once it launches into the almighty riffs, few things can really compare in quality. The vocals will be a massive sticking point for some, as they are a high nasally warble akin to Patrick Walker doing a Mark Shelton impression, but while I'd be hard pressed to call them good, the odd delivery adds a lot to the magical underground charm in a way a more proficient singer simply couldn't.

Short and bittersweet, this demo represents what should have been the beginning of a powerful force in the scene, but instead serves the one shining star to let us know of a great band that could have been. Physical copies are pretty much impossible to find, so don't feel too bad about tracking down a download somewhere in order to beat your sword upon your shield as you sing the praises of Ageless Wisdom. An underground treasure.