Twilight Of The Gods were formed as an all-star Bathory tribute act featuring the likes of Mayhem’s Blasphemer, Primordial’s Alan Averill and blast legend Nick Barker. In 2013 they took the plunge and released their own album of irony-free epic metal Fire On The Mountain.
It’s a treat to hear a black metal veteran take on the chest-beating, anthemic style of Manowar, Manilla Road, Omen and the like but it’s all a bit too sincere. There’s a pervading doom-laden vibe that works well on the moodier tracks like the Primordial-like Children Of Cain and the apocalyptic Sword Of Damocles, but the more anthemic efforts like Preacher Man and Destiny Forged In Blood prove a bit too stiff for comfort.
Alan Averill’s unique voice adds much-needed charisma, his lyrics are a lot of fun (“Van Stahrenberg stands with the Holy See of the Roman Empire”) and the band does a sterling job of launching into Maiden-style instrumental jousts, most notably on the rousing title track.
Fire On The Mountain places pretty low in the pantheon when stacked up against the classic bands that inspired it but there are enough great moments here to make it disappointing that they haven’t followed it up with a second album. It’s a solid effort for fans of the main players and for anyone that likes their metal with a bit of hair on its chest.
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
Metal with Hair on the Chest? You mean Paul Stanley right?
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I think his chest hair totally transcends mere metal!
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His chest hair is like a Capet! KISS Carpet haha
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That’s chest hair??? I thought he was wearing a sweater!! 🙂
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haha
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I know! I said “a bit” of hair. Paul Stanley has waaaay more than that!
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I like this.
Shocker!
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Is pretty trad metal stuff, hard not to like… just not brilliant. The song I posted is one of the best. Title track is great too.
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I’ll hit it up this week. Given my limited knowledge of that stuff, there’s perhaps a chance I’ll like it a good bit!
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I’m sure you’d like it. I’d recommend Primordial highly if you like the guys voice.
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I’ll check them out, too. Any particular album(s)?
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‘To The Nameless Dead’ is a good one to start off with. Different style to this band but same singer.
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Righto! I’ll get that on later. Thank you, Dark Lord.
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Yesssss! \m/ \m/
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I like that description – not perfection, but there’s enough quality that it’s too bad there hasn’t been a follow-up!
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Yeah, it’s solid but there’s potential in it. Sadly unrealised so far!
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