The band hails from Herenthout, a town in 'De Stille Kempen'. 'Stil' means 'Silent' but that's not really applicable to these guys. Their music is meant to be played loud and to bang your head to. When Sons Of Lioth formed in 2005, they were mainly singing about epic battles, steel hammers and dragons but gradually the whole thing became more serious, probably because they suddenly realized how talented they actually were. Now, after some demos and a a first ep, they return with 'Judge Hammer', a true tribute to heavy metal.
The ep opens with a strange intro which obviously turns into a fierce metal headbutt. From there, the Sons never let go and blasts some more uppercuts trough our speakers. 'Mad Trucking' is a classic metal anthem, fast, brutal and intense, just the way we like it it. 'Ramses The Anonymous' sounds as if Manowar and Motley Crue teamed up to write the best metal song of all time (or at least one of the best). 'Grand Inquisitor' also digs into the glorious sound of the eighties. Well, all of the songs do.
Now that the mythical themes have mostly disappeared, I think it's time to take these guys serious. If you like anything between Skid Row and Overkill, you have absolutely no excuse to ignore Sons Of Lioth. In my book, especially with a brilliant ep like this one, this quintet surpasses many Belgian metal bands, both in quality of songwriting and headbanging fun. So, Bliksem, Evil Invaders, Channel Zero and Diablo Blvd, you guys have got some ferocious competition...
Serge