Band: Holy Martyr
Album title: Invincible
Label: Dragonheart Records
Distributor: Metal Blade Records
Release date: 27/05/2011
Release: CD

Holy Martyr goes back in the first months of 1994 and was the initiative of the singer/ guitarplayer Ivano Spiga. They first started under the name Hell Forge, but in 1997 they changed into Holy Martyr, inspired from a song of the cult band Omen. In 2001, after some problematic changes in the line-up, the band became a solid and united combo with the former Ivano Spiga at the guitar, Carlo Olla (lead guitar), Alex Mereu (Vocals), Andrea Mucelli (bass), Giacomo Macis (drums & percussions).

After hearing the album I can say that Invincible has become a surprising album. It starts of quite well with it’s intro song that successfully creates a certain mood and creates high expectations. But the bizarre thing is, this is kind of a Power Metal band but seem to use various Folk elements but still don’t sound like a folk band (witch in my eyes is a good thing). As soon as the band bursts out, you’ll find yourself head banging, tapping with your feet or something similar. A very nice surprise from a unknown band to me. The only thing that does bother me are the vocals. The singer tries to hard that at some points to sing as epic as he can that it actually made me laugh, due to the fact he sometimes then sounds ridiculous.

Other than that the album is of good quality, on the other hand, they have been around (in the underground) for quite a while.

80/100

Jeroen.