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Track Listing: The Eye Obscene To the Grave Possessed Fire of Old Earthen Dagger Crete'n Gods End Earth's Possession & Death's Procession Walk to the Light

Oakland-based heavy metal band Saviours are ready to release their fourth full-length album 'Death's Procession'. With each of their previous six releases which include two EPs and three full-length albums, the Austin Barber-led quartet has made hefty strides, pummeling the metal underground with a musical style that blends elements of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal with doom metal and a hardcore punk edge to it. With this particular album, they've decided to go back even further so to speak, deriving influence and inspiration from the likes of Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, and most notably, Iron Maiden. I absolutely worship all four of these bands, and upon listening to this album I could straightaway identify and reminisce the music of these legends. Because of the fact that Saviours have been able to give me something I'm familiar with while adding their own flavors to it, this is by far my favorite album of theirs.

I love the order in which they have presented the eight tracks that eventually made it on to the album, because it builds up quite beautifully in its early stages, and goes through various ebbs and flows while sounding extremely cohesive on the whole. "The Eye Obscene" begins with a slow, raw heavy doom sound which then slowly transcends into a more riff-based approach with guitarists Austin Barber and Sonny Reinhardt harmonizing to create a strong melody as the tune draws to a close. This approach continues in the next track "To The Grave Possessed", a relatively faster, more guitar-oriented song. The guitar melody that forms the intro of the next track "Fire Of Old" sounds very much inspired by Iron Maiden's Powerslave album, but other than that, it's largely doom-laden and mid-tempo. "Earthen Dagger" sounds exactly like its title would suggest, a gnarly and unabatedly raw tune which is dominated by Austin's vocals and the down-tuned rhythm guitars, but also boasts of a guitar harmony in its latter half that's perhaps one of the best pieces of music on the entire album.

The album rapidly shifts into top gear with the next two tracks "Crete'n" and "Gods End". While the tunes leading up to this segment of the album are certainly more Sabbath-esque than anything, this is where you'll really hear the Maiden, Motorhead and Lizzy influences. Gods End is definitely my favorite tune on the album, and I simply cannot wait to rock out to this when I see them on tour with Weedeater next month. Even though this is the song I enjoy most out of the eight songs here, I feel that the album gets better and better from track #1 through to #5, reaching a crescendo with track #6. The remaining songs "Earth's Procession & Death's Procession" and "Walk To The Light" are almost like an encore performance after the sheer perfection of Gods End. These final two tunes offer more of what the first half of the album presents, but with passages of varying rhythms and tempo, keeping the listener interested throughout.

The production brings the best out of the music, while keeping a raw and 'vintage' sort of feel to it all, which is in perfect accordance with the 'back to the roots' approach. Musically, there is plenty on offer here for fans of the older Saviours material, and fans of heavy metal in general. All in all, it's a strongly multi-faceted composition that should enhance the band's reputation further. Whether or not you get to catch the band perform in your area next month, you can take my word on this album as I suggest you to treat yourselves with these 45 minutes of pure awesomeness.

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