Year : 1985 (High Roller Records 40th Anniversary Edition 2025)
Style : Heavy Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 64 mb
Bio:
The band Glacier was formed in 1979 by guitarist Sam Easley, with the name, suggested by fellow guitarist Patrick Goebel, derived from a street name at Black Butte Ranch in Oregon.The band released a three song demo, Ready for Battle, in 1984 with the lineup consisting of Easley and Goebel on guitars, Tim Proctor on bass, Loren Bates on drums, and vocalist Michael Podrybau.The following year, Glacier released their first five song, self-titled EP, Glacier, on AxeKiller Records, which featured the original band members, along with guest vocalists Rex McNew and Keith Flax.Then, in 1988 Glacier released a second demo that presented a significant lineup change, as it only included band-members Goebel and Bates from the original demo. The remaining band was comprised of Troy Ketsdever on bass, Mehdi Farjami on guitars, and session vocalist Tim Lachman. Two years later, in 1990, Glacier disbanded and became a distant legend in the chronicles of heavy metal...or so it seemed.More than 30 years passed before Glacier began to rise again. In 2015, on Christmas Day, three digital singles were released, to include "Sands of Time," an instrumental rehearsal from 1985, "Vendetta," a re-release of the original 1985 recording, and also a remastered version of "Vendetta" as well. Sadly, 9 months later Sam Easley passed away.In November of 2016, organizers of the Keep It True metal festival in Germany announced that the band Devil in Disguise, a Glacier tribute band led by former vocalist Michael Podrybau, and consisting of Alfonso Polo "Poncho" Cuevas on bass (and touring bassist Greg Bruchert), Michael Mendoza and Michael Maselbas on guitars, and drummer Adam Kopecky, would perform live at the sold out Keep It True XX in the spring of 2017. Podrybau, backed by Bruchert, Mendoza, Maselbas, and Kopecky, played a full set of Glacier songs that had not been performed live in almost 32 years.Receiving an abundance of positive accolades, Devil in Disguise continued to perform throughout 2017, playing Chicago's Legions of Metal festival in May, and opening for Doro in mid-September. At this point in time, Devil in Disguise was comprised of Michael Maselbas, Michael Mendoza, Alfonso Cuevas, Adam Kopecky, and Michael Podrybau.On January 8, 2018, with the approval of Glacier's surviving original band members, Devil in Disguise announced that they would recommence under the name Glacier. The lineup again changed with the departure of guitarist Michael Mendoza, who was replaced by Ryan Bruchert, and bassist Alfonso Cuevas, who was succeeded by Marco Martell.In May of 2018, former original band member Tim Proctor, joining Maselbas, Martell, Bruchert, Kopecky, and Podrybau, made a guest appearance on stage during Glacier's set at Seattle's NW Metal Fest. Later that month, Glacier traveled to Athens, Greece to perform at Up the Hammers XII, and in October the band visited fans in South America for the first time, playing at Jaguar Fest in Bogotá, Colombia. While Maselbas, Martell, Bruchert, Kopecky, and Podrybau made a phenomenal team, upon returning to the United States, Ryan Bruchert announced his departure from Glacier, and Marco Martell made a shift from bass to guitar.In August of 2019, Glacier played Germany's Trveheim Festival, and they performed in the Netherlands at the Heavy Metal Maniacs Festival in mid September. Later in October, the band headlined a mini tour of the Pacific Northwest with support from Riot City, Gatekeeper, Road Rash, Silver Talon, and Sölicitör. Other shows are currently in the planning stages. The band has also finished recording a new full length album, The Passing of Time, scheduled for an October 2020 release, so prepare yourself for the next onslaught from Glacier.
Album:
High Roller Records 40th Anniversary Edition.SVARTSOT return in September with their sixth - and probably last traditional - album, celebrating 20 years of folk metal. After "Kumbl" (2022), drummer/producer Frederik Uglebjerg left the band and returned only in 2024 for some major festival shows before being replaced by Rune Frisch. The new album "Peregrinus" tells the story of a young man who went on a crusade after an unwanted pregnancy . When he witnesses brutality in the Holy Land, he loses faith in all religions and eventually dies disillusioned at home. Peregrinus, named after the Latin word for "Wanderer," explores themes using tracks inspired by the seven crusader virtues, medieval melodies and original compositions by Cris J.S. Frederiksen, with texts by Thor Bager. Recorded in January 2025 with producer Tue Madsen, the album includes artwork by Frederik Jensen (Thus) and photographs by former metal drummer and present-day photographer Lars Roed.It's been about half a year since I discovered this short lived group and I gotta say, they really don't age at all. I find myself going back to this EP and their follow up demo fairly often. Glacier are yet another one of those obscure gems that clearly should've been more popular than they were, I like to throw them up there with Dark Age (US) typically even though their styles are pretty different, the emissive quality is easily there in both. I think if you took Omen and smashed them together with Heir Apparent, you might get a good idea for what Glacier sounds like here for the most part. You could probably compare this to Attacker's Battle at Helm's Deep also.The first track When Heaven's At Hand although pretty awesome and catchy, doesn't really give off that epic vibe that the rest of the EP does. It's a little more straightfoward, mid paced, with a lot of simpler catchy elements. You'll notice on the album page this short EP has three different vocalists which I'm sure is a fact. Keith Flax sings on the first track here and he somehow reminds me a little bit of Ozzy, though a bit thinner and melodic. Vendetta gallops away really kicking this EP off with some majestic leads which I truly believe is one thing this band excelled at, they've got some amazing leads, melodies, and harmonies aboud that are all very original. Rex Macnew does vocals on this track and I easily believe he was their best vocalist, he's the most crystal clear and melodic with some great aggression and screams. He fit their style perfectly, kind of a shame he only appeared on this one. Mike Podrybaou does the vocals for the rest of the tracks, honestly he's certainly not a bad vocalist himself. He sounds quite a bit like Heir Apparent's Paul Davidson, still very melodic and clean. This track pretty much continues the formula of the previous one proudly marching away - unfortunately the mix suffers a bit on this one, the solo's always seem to come out of nowhere and are insanely high pitched overpowering everything else, just gotta quickly turn the volume down for a bit but it's kind of a shame. Devil In Disguise still keeps things up to speed though it's not quite as trampling as the previous two, regardless it's still an incredible song with some definite NWOBHM influences and reminds me a bit of early Liege Lord. The bass really stands out on this one as well and there's tons of epic leads flying around throughout a good chunk of the track. Speak No Evil comes exploding out of nowhere and bleeds pure "classic USPM", sounds like something you could've heard off of Griffin's debut. An incredible finisher.With the comparisons thrown around here I think it should be pretty obvious who's going to enjoy this. Classic US power metal fans should put this on their 'must hear' list if you haven't heard them already. Although the mix has its faults here and there, the production overall is really impressive for an EP. Excellent classic stuff here and like I said above, I find myself going back to this one pretty often.
Line Up:
Michael Podrybau - Vocals
Patrick Goebel - Guitars
Sam Easley (R.I.P. 2016) - Guitars
Tim Proctor - Bass
Loren Bates - Drums
Tracklist:
01. When Heaven's at Hand 04:01
02. Vendetta 06:08
03. Ready for Battle 04:48
04. Devil in Disguise 03:27
05. Speak No Evil 05:04
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