The Spotlight Kid German Thrash Metal icons Paradox have returned with a sequel to their 1990 classic Heresy. Released through AFM Records, Heresy II End of a Legend, brings the story of the original concept album forward and reaffirms the band's intention to remain one of the best Thrash Metal bands in the game. Frontman, guitarist and driving force of the band Charly Steinhauer has assembled a killer line up to tackle this material in the hopes of living up to the classic first installment. Coming back into the band after a one album layoff is guitar wizard Christian Munzner and long time bass player Olly Keller, as well as, Paradox founding member, drummer Alex Blaha who hadn’t played with the band since Heresy. Also included for the task of completing the story concept was the original lyricist from Heresy, Peter Vogt.

Musically the band is in electrifying form. The songs are vibrant, heavy, melodic and exciting. Taking equal parts Thrash, Melodic Thrash, Technicality, Classic Heavy Metal and Power Metal and even elements of Doom and molding them into a completely coherent mix that works to perfection. Lyrically “Heresy II End of a Legend” continues the story of the crusade of the Catholic Church against the schismatic Cathars in the 13th century. “Heresy II End of a Legend” begins somewhat doomy with “Escape From The Burning” and as the song builds up they unleash the Thrash and absolutely nail it. There are even some touches of groove metal in “The Great Denial''. The song also has fantastic vocal melodies from Charly and of course Christian showing once again, as he does throughout the album, why he is one of the best guitarists in metal these days. Songs like “The Visitor'' and “A Man Of Sorrow'' among others highlight the band's anthemic power while never getting anywhere near the cheesiness of some power metal. The guitar solo’s throughout “Heresy II End of a Legend” are the epitome of excellence, which is the hallmark of Christian’s playing on all the albums he’s done. Vocally Charly delivers a perfect hybrid of Thrash delivery and Power Metal melodicism. It always feels that it could all derail at any moment but it never does and so that gives the music a great tension and danger that makes it so compelling. Alex Blaha is a pummeling force to be reckoned with and drives the whole album forward with dynamic ferocity, and Olly Keller’s melodic bass lines are classy and enrich the whole album. Also the band has managed to achieve a modern production sound while also capturing the old school thrash sound as well. An Impressive feat.

The mission of this album was to live up to Heresy and they have succeeded in not only reaching that level but surpassing it. “Heresy II End of a Legend” is overflowing with amazing, hard hitting riffs, epic and uplifting melodies, in your face Thrash pummeling onslaughts, doomy escapades and top tier guitar playing. Most importantly each song on this album is a beast and even though I’m personally more of a fan of shorter run times for albums, and even with the 1hour and 16 minute runtime, in this case, there is zero filler and only killer. “Heresy II End of a Legend” is a masterclass in Melodic - Power Thrash.

[Originally published on Sea of Tranquility]