![Suotana – Ounas II [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cover-2.jpg.webp)
“Remember the Finnish melodic death and power metal fusion of the late ’90s and early ’00s? Bands like Children of Bodom, Kalmah, and Norther were all the rage for a short while. You even had stuff like Ensiferum for a folkier interpretation, or Catamenia for the blackened side of things. The truth is that it never really left. Suotana is one of the bands keeping this sound alive and well, and they have more history than one might think.” Increasing your death power.
![Dragon Skull – Chaos Fire Vengeance [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cover-1.jpg.webp)
“Greece is a surprising hotbed for power metal-adjacent sounds, providing recent gems such as Sunburst last year and Sacred Outcry’s 2023 masterpiece. Dragon Skull is a newcomer to these fields of glory, introducing their burly heavy/power style on their promising self-titled EP as recently as 2022. Now, three years later, they were finally ready to unleash their debut Chaos Fire Vengeance on the world. And oh my, what an entrance it is.” Wengeance is best served on fire.
“I have such a soft spot in my heart for Frozen Land. After writing my first-ever review for Angry Metal Guy, I remember feeling shaky. It went through quite a few revisions. My second, Frozen Land’s eponymous debut, was, comparatively, simple. Their 1999 Euro power metal meets 2001 Euro power metal vision made for a catchy, delightfully fun album, and my enjoyment for it showed in my writing—still my favorite intro to any review I’ve written. So it is to my great astonishment that these Finns are now on album number three with Icemelter.” Metal melts the ice.
“Brothers, you need power metal in your life. No, you do. You need authentic positivity shot straight into your cynic-rotten hearts, now. Most fortunate for you, Greek power metallers Steel Arctus have graced this year of 2025 with their third album Dreamruler, marking the third entry into the chronicles of their titular hero Steel Arctus. 2020’s Fire and Blood detailed the origins of Steel Arctus and his girlfriend the Arcadian Lady, 2022’s Master of War saw him delve into the fires of Hades and now Dreamruler sees him challenge the titular Dreamruler in his evil world of dreams to rescue his bodacious muse.” Steel, love, and wizards.
“Bloodbound has always been a band with a confusing identity. These Swedes lit up a storm with debut Nosferatu in 2006, an underappreciated heavy/power gem fusing the best of Iron Maiden’s gallops with the hooks of Helloween and HammerFall. The golden pipes of Urban Breed (ex-Tad Morose) were the cherry on top. However, the curse of unstable lineups would strike. Urban Breed would leave for one album, rejoin for the odd-but-good, progpower-meets-Kalmah melodeath sound of Tabula Rasa, and promptly leave again. A decade of struggles followed.” Blood on the 20-sided dice.
“Choosing new music to review is an interesting process. Once you pick a thing, you’re pretty much locked into it. So I try to forecast: what will I be okay with listening to over and over again for the next week or two? Having just reviewed Lykke, I was very much in the mood for something more upbeat, and I didn’t have to read far past the band name Christiano Filippini’s Flames of Heaven to know Symphony of the Universe fit the bill. Indeed, when I requested the files for review, Dolphin Whisperer, overheard the request. “Is that Italian power metal?” he asked. “It sounds like Italian power metal.” “I didn’t check,” I answered. “But yes.” We were right.” Most don’t expect the Italian inquisition.
“The Polish metal scene is much better known around these parts for its bludgeoning death metal than for classic metal worship, and Aquilla is looking to change that. Formed in Warsaw in 2015, their debut Mankind’s Odyssey was unleashed on the masses in 2022, delivering NWoBHM with a dose of ”80s–’90s speed/power metal influence. Sophomore album Sentinels of New Dawn promises a similar but more epic brand of sci-fi thunder. With a couple EPs and a full-length already under their belt, how does Aquilla navigate this set of space war stories?” May cause Aquilla Lung.
“Has it really been 4 years since Horrors from the Void dropped? The third full-length from Greek trve metal/power unit Black Soul Horde was a rollicking, rowdy mash-up of 80s traditional metal, power, and all things trve. Old-timey Manilla Road influences coexisted alongside Agent Steel and Jag Panzer idioms, and newer retro acts like Visigoth and Eternal Champion. This was more than an olde head like Yours Steely could resist, and the fun factor and broad sword quotient got it stamped with a fat 4.0. Now we get the follow-up, which has some mighty big war booties to fill. The Horde haven’t changed their approach for Symphony of Chaos, so all the same elements are in place and ready to rake for our hearts, minds, and black souls.” Chaos is a horde ladder.
“Nils Patrik Johansson has sung in metal bands for almost as long as I’ve done anything on this Earth. Lending his gritty, commanding voice to acts like Astral Doors, Wuthering Heights, and Civil War since 2002, NPJ is someone with history behind him, as well as a man with history on the mind. War and Peace, the third album of his eponymous act Nils Patrik Johansson, offers forty minutes of epically inclined heavy/power metal, themed primarily on history. Topics range from the two World Wars and Gustav Vasa’s Rebellion to matters like environmentalism and his love for Hungarian rock music.” Sabaton killer or war filler?
August is but a warm, sunny memory and All Hallows Eve is upon us. Good thing we finally de-gunkified those August Filters to avoid tricks.
