The song-writing and musicianship throughout the album’s generous 54-minute duration are exemplary, from the uncanny infectiousness of the glorious, majestic, nine-minute opus ‘Unlock the Paths of Sorrow’ and the shredding, pummelling ferocity of ‘Scepter of Destiny’ to the mystical might of ‘Lidless Wells of Dreams’ and the galloping splendour of parting shot, ‘Taniec Run’ (this one performed in the artists’ native tongue).

As well as being musically impressive and granted a strong production, ‘Iron Age of Strife’ is packed with a vast range of powerful emotions, the overall impression it leaves being a decidedly upbeat one. While the threat of the initial Slavic invasion – when Hate Forest, Astrofaes, Drudkh, Sunwheel, Kataxu, Gontyna Kry and a host of others emerged from the east with fire in their bellies – is now consigned to the distant past, that ancient fire still burns as Sunwheel continue to resolutely embrace their ancestral heritage, culture and values whilst rejecting the modern world!

Black LP