BLACK CLAD RIDER

The brand of epic power metal that bands like Stone Dagger and Eternal Champion play is a largely vague field to me. The established older bands that would lend most influence to these younger groups would also be of a wholely unexplored variety. With the imminent release of the vinyl version of the Eternal Champion demo and now the issuing of this demo tape, "The Siege Of Jerusalem" from Boston's Stone Dagger, I'll have to admit that it's certainly a genre that I need pay more attention, because both of the aforementioned releases are strong examples of a finite and precise exercise in plain old Heavy Metal.
Stone Dagger consist of various members of the masterful Boston hardcore scene. Most notable amongst the rank to most would probably be that of the bands vocalist (and central writer) B. Radigan and his now almost completely identifiable vocal traits. I would assume that regular readers of this blog would be familiar with the guys multiples forms of output in bands like Rival Mob and Magic Circle. Following the latter, it probably shouldn't be of any surprise then that he would choose to front a band of such nature. Any doubts of his proper singing abilities would probably be squashed with these two tracks. Sold out in as little as three days, a vinyl version of this release approaches a release date in February.