Wrath of the Gods is the third album from Germany's Sceptor and is full of the band's style of mid-paced heavy metal. I felt like the vocals were a glaring weakness of their last album (2021's Rise to the Light) but that has largely been addressed on this new one, with Florian Reimann replacing Bob Mitchell, making for a more enjoyable listening experience. The singing, a deep, clear bellow, has shifted the band's overall sound from purely US-style metal to one that has some NWOBHM elements similar to bands like Samson, Tank and Rogue Male. The songwriting is workmanlike, with no particular high points but no lows, either, just nine tracks of straight-up heavy metal. Sceptor remains an unremarkable face in an expansive crowd of metal bands, but Wrath of the Gods is a definite improvement for them, so they are heading in the right direction.