UMUR
"Gothic Knights" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by US, Brooklyn, New York based heavy/power metal act Gothic Knights (formed in 1990). The album was released through Sentinel Steel Records in 1996. The original release was limited to 1700 copies.
The music on the album is traditional sounding heavy metal with occasional harder edged US power metal moments. Lead vocalist Rick "Warlock" Sanchez is a versatile singer and his delivery is convincing if not too original. The instrumental part of the music is pretty basic with a pounding rhythm section and guitarist John Tzantis as the most dominant player. The guitar production needs a mention in the same breath, as it´s really powerful and commanding. The rest of the instruments and the vocals feature a decent production but not a sound on the same level as the guitars. John Tzantis playing might be the highlight here, and he certainly is a decent guitarist, but it should be mentioned that I don´t think he´s on fire or anything on that level. Just really well playing.
The 8 tracks on the 37:58 minutes long album are all well written and catchy. Most of them are powerful mid- to fast paced heavy metal bashers with memorable choruses but there´s a power ballad in there too, which is good for the variation of the album. Some tracks stand out more than others (I´d like to mention the raw and powerful "Bridgekeeper"), but as mentioned above all tracks are well written.
Overall "Gothic Knights" is a great heavy metal album, that might lack in the originality department and that could have prospered from a slightly more powerful sound production, but those are actually minor issues, when taking into consideration all the good things featured on the album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.