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Review: Knights of Tethys - Demo Crusades
Knights of Tethys
Demo Crusades

Label: Independent
Year released: 2002
Duration: 13:51
Tracks: 3
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
3.5/5


Review online: November 27, 2002
Reviewed by: Michel Renaud
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Review

Colorado-based Knights of Tethys describe themselves as "Traditional/Epic Power Metal", and that's not too far off, although the "power metal" moniker applies more to the lyrical content than to the music itself, which is much more of a Maiden-influenced heavy metal. There is very little of what we call power metal nowadays in the music. The name of the band and the lyrics, however, can easily be associated with that genre.

This being a demo, the sound quality is passable, but good enough for the job. The singer mainly sings either in a deep clean voice, but sometimes goes into very high-pitched vocals that strike me as a mix between King Diamond and Bob Mitchell. There is what seems to be a decent attempt at being very King Diamond-esque on the second song - there's still room for improvement though. :) Good vocals overall, but a better mastery of his capabilities will be necessary for a full-length effort.

Musically, as mentioned earlier, this is pretty much heavy metal in the vein of early Iron Maiden, a very raw sound that's no doubt partly a result of the demo production. Pretty much mid to fast-paced, lots of headbanging moments unfortunately cut short by the small duration of the demo. Lots of good aggressive riffs, sometimes bordering on speed metal. Just as for the vocals, there is room for improvement in the playing, but this is a very good first effort and I think if these guys keep at it, we'll be hearing again from them soon. I'd say it would be a good move to concentrate on the heavy metal part of things - which they do very well, and divert a bit from the power metal "cape and sword"-type of lyrical theme which I think is set to fade away soon, with way too many bands overdoing it in that department - the difference here being that the band is US-based rather than from Europe where that stuff has been strong for a good 2-3 years now.

More about Knights of Tethys...
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