Charred Walls Of The Damned - s/t (2010)

This is probably one of the best modern metal album's ever released. Featuring the unbelievable talents of Tim 'Ripper' Owens and ex Sadus, Death bassist Steve DiGorgio, this was always going to be a fantastic album, but upon settling into this behemoth one can only applaud at such a technical monstrosity, that somehow manages to combine the dungeons and dragons potency of Dio, the pure steel of Priest and Accept and yet the ferocity of later Death and Chuck's Control Denied project. This a masterclass in modern metal an album so epic that it almost defies belief, in every department it dazzles, although this could only be expected with such formidable musicians, but hats off to Christy's astounding drums that tumble, rattle and soar as a backbone to this enigmatic beast of a sound. People can waffle all they want about the guitar talents of people like Brian May etc, but when you hear a band like Charred Walls Of The Damned one is left speechless by the intricacy yet also the downright epic nature of it all, as the band effortlessly flit between technical death metal with the immense 'Ghost Town' to a more progressive expression with the likes of 'Creating Our Machine.' I'd happily sit this alongside Savatage's 'The Dungeons Are calling' as being the two most epic power metal albums I've heard, but to describe it simply as power metal would be wrong, it's so much more, so if you can, think progressive death metal circa Death's 'Human' and somehow melt it with all that's great about '80s metal, and you may have a slight inkling as to how massive sounding it is, alternatively, just buy it and wonder how Slipknot even have a career based on gimmicks and teenage angst. 9/10