LAST PHARAOH – The Mantle Of Spiders

LAST PHARAOH - The Mantle Of Spiders
  • 8/10
    LAST PHARAOH - The Mantle Of Spiders - 8/10
8/10

Summary

Pure Steel Records
Release date: September 21, 2018

Sending
User Review
0/10 (0 votes)

The Mantle Of Spiders is the solid debut release from America’s Last Pharaoh. Hailing from the Hudson Valley region of New York, and not to be confused with Philadelphia’s Pharaoh, whose stellar 2003 debut After The Fire is getting an August vinyl alternative mix release, the four members of Last Pharaoh deliver a nine song slab faithful to the elders of old school Heavy Metal. With elements of Judas Priest and the Scorpions, and at times sounding like early Iron Maiden if Iron Maiden had grown up in Westchester county instead of East London, the subject matter of the songs rarely strays from suitably Maiden-esque themes: killers in “Slave To The Kill (Son of Sam), literary horrors such as “Jekyll And Hyde” and “The Headless Horseman”, nightmares and nightmarish situations as in “Deadly Dreams” and the appropriate lead-off track “Into The Darkness”, and madness with “Psychohouse”.

A quartet rather than the classic five-piece, Last Pharaoh must get by with only one guitarist, but axman Ron Toth gets along just fine on his own, shredding it up on showcase instrumental “Desert Dreams” and delivering blistering solos on nearly every track. The guitars, and Tommy Santangelo’s excellent vocals which occasionally soar into air-raid pitches, are layered on the album to help round the sound out. The title track sees the elements blend beautifully, anchored by the rock-solid rhythm section of Ed Shelinsky on drums and Michael James on bass. The Mantle Of Spiders is certain to please headbanging fans of throwback Heavy Metal.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!

Author

  • Daniel Waters

    Daniel was a reviewer here at Metal Express Radio. Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind wasn’t the first Metal album he owned, but it was the one that lifted the lid off his soul when he received the record as a gift on his 15th birthday. He's been a Metal fan ever since. He's probably best known as the author of various Young Adult novels such as the Generation Dead series and the ghost story Break My Heart 1,000 Times, now also a major motion picture entitled I Still See You, starring Bella Thorne. Writing and music, especially Heavy Metal music, has always been inextricably linked in his mind and career. His first paid gig doing any type of writing was for Cemetery Dance, where he wrote a horror-themed music column called Dead Beats, and when he was writing the first Generation Dead novel he had a ritual where he started his writing day with a Metal playlist that kicked off with “Crushing Belial” by Shadows Fall.

    View all posts

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.