Japanese power metal maestros, Lovebites dropped their latest album, Outstanding Power and certain AMG staffers decided it merited a double review. Let the love nibbles commence.
Sunburst
![Dragon Skull – Chaos Fire Vengeance [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cover-1.jpg.webp)
Dragon Skull – Chaos Fire Vengeance [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]
“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.
GardensTale’s Top Ten(ish) Album Art of 2024
It’s time for art appreciation, you bunch of uncultured dolts! Join us as we run down the best (and worst) album art of 2024 and learn to appreciate the finer things in strife.
Kenstrosity’s Top Ten(ish) of 2024
Kenstrosity gets his turn to impress the masses with his Top Ten(ish) of 2024. Be impressed!
Clowns, Fools, and Buffoons: The AMG Staff Pick Their Top Ten(ish) Records o’ 2024
Welcome to Listurnalia! First to shock and offend the fickle masses are the AMG Staff lists for 2024. Brace for provocations and prepare for bitter disappointments. We warned you.
Contrite Metal Guy: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Wrongness, Volume the First
The holidays bring sober reflection, and so we are revisiting suspect scores and asking for your understanding. We are Contrite Metal Guys.
Athena XIX – Everflow Part 1: Frames of Humanity Review
“Before Fabio Lione rose to prominence with [(Luca) Turilli(/Lione)’s] Rhapsody [of Fire] and Angra, Athena—stylized now as Athena XIX—served as another potential vehicle into the growing European prog/power landscape. Wielding an of-the-time histrionic Dream Theater guitar-driven drama alongside the lightness of chorus-driven power metal, the low-fanfare Italian outfit never quite topped any charts despite respectable musicianship and Lione’s formative pipes on 1998’s A New Religion?. And after another swing at success, sans the Rhapsody-snatched Lione, with 2001’s equally unreceived Twilight of Days, Athena hung up its spurs to ride another day. And now, twenty-six years after Lione had debuted his only full-length recording with Athena, that same line-up has returned.” Lione in winter.
Sunburst – Manifesto Review
“AMG’s excellent review of Greek progressive power metal quartet Sunburst’s debut Fragments of Creation was among my first finds here. I fell immediately in love with the band’s music, and Fragments rapidly became one of my staples for quite some time. Then, Sunburst seemingly dropped off the face of the planet as far as I could see. Suddenly, I discover a little painterly face with Sunburst’s logo splashed over top in my email. I lost my fucking mind. A new Sunburst‽” Suns and expectations bursting.
Angra – ØMNI Review
“Angra’s Secret Garden was a surprise for me. It captured my heart by being extraordinary in its execution, not its novelty. The record was a solid group of songs that were well-written, well-performed, and fun to listen to. But let’s not kid ourselves, aside from having a spunky new 23 year-old drummer and slightly used 41 year-old singer, Angra wasn’t really doing anything unexpected. The record was graced by Jens Bogren’s Industry Standard Power Metal Production™, a guest appearance by scene matron Doro Pesch, and it was a straight forward affair. Secret Garden’s directness was charming in its lack of pretense, and I’ve come back to it a lot since then. So, three years later, 2018 starts off with Angra’s newest record entitled ØMNI. And this time, they’ve gone and written an orchestral, progressive metal concept album about the future. So, how’d that work out for them?” AMG and Angra together again.
Kobra and the Lotus – Prevail I Review
“Kobra and the Lotus is a Canadian melodic power band that first came onto my radar in 2012 with their self-titled debut. Fronted by the actually-legally-named Kobra Paige, the band’s third LP, Prevail I, is on Napalm Records, after releasing the debut on Spinefarm, and 2014’s High Priestess on Titan Music. Prevail I is, apparently, the first of two albums which will be released in quick succession, and it’s being marketed as produced by the guy who produced Amaranthe’s records, with a debut single squarely marketed at people who like Delain. Since the band’s debut was a solid power metal album, this strategy raises a question for me: three full-lengths (and three labels) into this whole experiment of being named Kobra, how’s the whole thing going?” That’s a very personal question.
