STORMWARRIOR

Power Metal • Germany

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The band Stormwarrior, hailing from Northern Germany, was founded in 1998 by Lars Ramcke (Vocals/ Guitar) and Andrè Schumann (Drums) and in the same year added Scott Bölter (Guitar) and Tim Zienert (Bass). Greatly inspired by the 80’s metal scene, especially from the Hamburg Metal godfathers like Helloween and Running Wild, Stormwarrior were able to lay down their first songs to tape in 1999. Until 2002 two other tapes followed and in the same year they released their first and selfentitled album "StormWarrior", produced by Kai Hansen. 2003 they sold a smaller album named "Heavy Metal fire" including 7 tracks and 2004 the album "Northern Rage" followed. After having a lot of gigs in the year 2005, Stormwarrior moved into an own studio called "Thunderhall Studios", where their Live-Album "At foreign Shores" was produced. It was released in 2006

At the early 2008 their third album "Heading Northe" stormed read more...

Thanks to progshine, adg211288 for the updates

STORMWARRIOR Steelcrusader Pre-Listening ( True Heavy Metal ) online metal music video by STORMWARRIOR

STORMWARRIOR Steelcrusader Pre-Listening ( True Heavy Metal )
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STORMWARRIOR Discography

STORMWARRIOR albums / top albums

4.00 | 7 ratings

Stormwarrior
Power Metal 2002

4.00 | 6 ratings

Northern Rage
Power Metal 2004

4.33 | 9 ratings

Heading Northe
Power Metal 2008

STORMWARRIOR Heathen Warrior album cover

3.64 | 7 ratings

Heathen Warrior
Power Metal 2011

STORMWARRIOR Thunder & Steele album cover

4.47 | 6 ratings

Thunder & Steele
Power Metal 2014

4.25 | 2 ratings

Norsemen
Power Metal 2019

STORMWARRIOR EPs & splits

STORMWARRIOR Spikes And Leather album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Spikes And Leather
Power Metal 2002

STORMWARRIOR Heavy Metal Fire album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Heavy Metal Fire
Power Metal 2003

0.00 | 0 ratings

Odens Krigare
Power Metal 2004

STORMWARRIOR Wolfsnaechte 2012 Tour EP album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Wolfsnaechte 2012 Tour EP
Power Metal 2011

STORMWARRIOR live albums

STORMWARRIOR At Foreign Shores - Live In Japan album cover

5.00 | 1 ratings

At Foreign Shores - Live In Japan
Power Metal 2006

STORMWARRIOR demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Metal Victory
Power Metal 1998

0.00 | 0 ratings

Barbaric Steel
Power Metal 1999

STORMWARRIOR re-issues & compilations

STORMWARRIOR singles (1)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Possessed By Metal
Power Metal 2001

STORMWARRIOR movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

STORMWARRIOR Reviews

STORMWARRIOR Thunder & Steele

Album · 2014 · Power Metal

adg211288

Thunder & Steele (2014) is the fifth full-length album by German power metal act Stormwarrior. It is the first album to feature new drummer Jörg Uken who replaces Hendrik Thiesbrummel who drummed on the band's previous album Heathen Warrior (2011). Some versions of the album include a cover of Warrant's The Enforcer as a bonus track.

There's a certain brand of power metal that is undeniably recognisable as German power metal and that's exact the sort of thing that Stormwarrior have delivered on Thunder & Steele. The sound of the album admittedly comes across as being imitative rather than innovative, sounding very much in the same vein as early power metal that still had some crossover with its parent genre, speed metal. Think of early Blind Guardian with a dash of early Helloween (when Kai Hansen sang for them) and its pretty easy to arrive at what Thunder & Steele sounds like. It's delivered very convincingly though, which is what matters most at the end of the day, resulting in a fun and catchy guitar driven power metal record with plenty of speed and energy. The band get straight down to business and don't waste time with any cliché features such as ballads, narration or intro/interlude type tracks. The opening title track is definite one of the best songs on the album, a perfect way of getting the album going.

If there's a negative point to be made about Thunder & Steele, the lyrics do come across as being rather cheesy. They display what can only be described as a true metal mentality by including songs with metal in the title (Metal Avenger, Servants of Metal) and the instance of spelling words their way, like the extra e's in the album title and other song titles, and spelling words like fire as fyre (Fyres in the Nighte, Child of Fyre). This is how it's always been with Stormwarrior though so is hardly anything new. For those of us who don't really care about lyrical themes it won't be an issue, but it may be going too far for other kinds of listener, despite the abundant quality heard in the music itself.

Cheesy or not, the end result is a pretty epic experience in my view and as my first experience with Stormwarrior's music it's definitely made me a fan of the band and I have already started to look into their previous releases. They play the kind of power metal that I love the most and they do it the right way. I think that maybe their earlier album Heading Northe (2008) had a little more depth to it though, but that doesn't make Thunder & Steele an any less enjoyable release to my ears. Their approach will undoubtedly be too much by the book for some listeners, but for fans of classic German style power/speed metal Thunder & Steele comes highly recommended.

90/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/stormwarrior-thunder-steele-t3519.html)

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STORMWARRIOR Heathen Warrior

Album · 2011 · Power Metal

Time Signature

Og metallen hæves til slag...

Genre: power metal

Imagine if Helloween and Running Wild fell in love and mated, and had a love child, and their offspring would convert to Nordic Ásatrú, then the result might well be Stormwarrior.

Stormwarrior's style is German power metal with very clear influences from German metal legends Running Wild and Helloween, combining the formers more traditional metal-inspired power metal style with the latter's epic-sounding power metal style. And if you, like me, have a weakness for 80s Helloween and Running Wild, then this combination of influences ain't bad at all.

Stylistically, Stormwarrior combine the epic choruses and the uplifting energy of European power metal (prevalent in tracks like "Heathen Warrior", "Bloode to Bloode" og "Ravenhearte") with more traditional metal riffage and galloping basslines (prevalent in tracks like "Ride of Asgard", den Iron Maiden-inspirerede "Heirs to the Fighte" og "Fyre & Ice"), and then there are guitar harmonies galore, which is something I have always been a fan of.

Stormwarrior appear to be very fascinated with viking lore and Norse Mythology, many of their songs focusing on vikings, the glory of battle, Nordic gods and other Norse mythical and mythological creatures - and, needless to say, this goes well with the whole atmosphere of power metal.

With the lyrical content and the pseudo-Middle-English spelling in song titles, this is larger-than-life power metal, and that is how it should be appreciated. And, what is more, it is very well done larger-than-life power metal, which has all the elements that make brilliant German power metal (even the singer's German accent adds a sense of authenticity). Maybe it takes some listens to get used to his voice, which sounds a bit like a mix of Kai Hansen, Biff Byford and Mark Shelton - but, I really like the strange quality his voice has.

If you like German power metal with lots of energy and a relatively low degree of cheesiness but a high dose of larger-than-lifeness, then I think you will enjoy this album immensely.

(review originally posted on progfreak.com)