Sacred Metal-Board

US heavy metal from Bay Area, paying homage to classic metal masters such as Savatage, Omen, Armored Saint, Iced Earth, just to name a few.

Features Joe Liszt (Shadow Killer, D-train, Rocka Rollas) and Steve Pelletier (Hellhound, Rapid Fire, Forgotten Disciple, Rellik, Ikki Crane, Tyton)

Audio samples here: http://stormspell.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-empire

From the snippets of info available it transpires that Ancient Empire is the brainchild of Shadowkiller's Joe Liszt, who wrote the material and handled all the instruments (except for the drums, played by HellHound's Steve Pelletier). Liszt has talent in spades, not to mention a voice made for metal. HH's Rich Pelletier collaborated on the lyrics, it seems, so no worries about Dungeons & Dragons cheerfulness there.
Anyway, I just took in the three preview tracks. There's definitely some early Sava in there, as well as a bit of vintage Armored Saint. 'Ghost soldiers' is such a great track. It's got that magical combination of fine old fashioned songwriting and drive that, I find, is missing from so many releases these days.
Yes, this one goes on the To Buy list.

Sounds great! I am going to get that one as well.