Ancient Cross – 3 Song Demo (Self-Release)
By Michael Ballue
January 14, 2006

Attention all 80's metal heads: here's a very promising new band out of Texas that you need to check out. Right from the gate "The Queen is Dead" comes blasting out, all full metal riffing (multiple riffs working well in the context of a song) and great solos bursting out everywhere. It's topped off with those killer sometimes clear, often rough and raw (but fully decipherable) vocals and bottomed out by by solid bass and drums. A full "head bang while singing along" inducer here. The only complaint on this song is the under four minute length.

Next up (I think, the track list doesn't seem to match the order) is "The Hourglass" which continues a spot on presentation of the 80's metal spirit, this time showing that light and shade can be used for dramatic effect without resorting to power balladry. Last but certainly not least is "Forsaken", another very solid song that shows an iron hard consistency in songwriting and an ability to introduce some blues based swagger without sacrificing an ounce of metal.

For some reason this reminds me just a tad of Destiny's Atomic Winter LP (not at all a bad thing, I consider that an underrated gem). All in all this has me eagerly anticipating a full length later this year. If all the songs on the full length are of this caliber, it's going to blow some minds.

Visit the Ancient Cross website at www.ancientcross.com