Brooklyn, New York City, 1996; Grunge, Rap and Hip
Hop dominate the American charts. One day ex-Gothic Knight’s singer
George Tsalikis made a decision: he wanted to get Heavy Metal back
to the position it once had in the Eighties: At the top.
Well George has not reached his goal yet, but after
releasing two demos with his band Zandelle they got signed to the
Limb Music Products label in 2002 and released the “Twilight on
Humanity” album the same year. Zandelle have also played with killer
bands such as Helstar, Fates Warning, Savatage, Saxon and Pain of
Salvation.
Now George and Zandelle are back with a new album
called “Vengeance Rising” and it kicks off right where “Twilight on
Humanity” left us, with a great mix of US Power Metal (Helstar, Jag
Panzer and Warlord) and Euro Metal (Iron Maiden, Hammerfall and
older Blind Guardian).
One thing that sets Zandelle apart from the countless
other bands in the same genre is their ability to write catchy and
epic tunes. Just take a listen to tunes such as “Queen Anne’s
Revenge”, “Ancient Tale of Valor” or the last track on the album,
the incredible “Necromancer” over nine minutes of killer metal.
The only weak point is the cheesy cover artwork it
looks like something from a cheap private pressing limited to 81
copies.
Recommended tracks: The entire album.
