Release date November 8/19 (Dying Victims Productions)

We go to the land of chocolate and banking for a five-track, 26-minute mini-album debut from Megaton Sword entitled Niralet. Opener 'Vulva of the Night' finds the Swiss unit settling into early Manowar territory with a strident, trad metal track that can best be described as a cross between Into Glory Ride and Hail To England material. Eyebrows raised, we then progress onto "Pristine War' where the overall tempos are raised and the vocalist's similarities to Biff Byford shine through. Very good epic metal indeed.

Two for two, we then move onto 'Born Beneath The Sword' for another glorious 'true metal' tune similar to the opener. Nothing wrong with that. 'For Glory' follows, again shifting up a gear, providing a sustained, satisfying gallop, enthusiastically talking of bloody sword victories. The epic tale of war 'Realms To Conquer', complete with sounds of sword battle and a spoken word section, finishes off this extremely strong outing. Hard to believe that this is the debut release of this youthful unit, the writing is mature and the performances confident in keeping with the glorious nature of the trad metal release. This is the type of stuff Manowar should be producing. Impressive!

(8.5)