Review by Jack on November 7, 2001.

Human Fortress before “Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir” was a band I’d never even heard of before, let alone listened to. I’m certainly glad Limb Music Productions gave me the pleasure to listen to this excellent album. This group of six fellows from Germany play boisterous and overblown power metal that fits in with the lyrical topics of Rhapsody or Blind Guardian, by that I mean fantasy songs about dragons and high lore in faraway lands is the norm for Human Fortress. What is different about “Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir” that makes it stand out apart from the other fantasy metal bands is the way they go about their metal.

Did anyone like Bon Jovi or bands like Warrant or Deep Purple from the 80’s? If you are like me and love the occasional retro album, then Human Fortress surprisingly fit that bill well and provide a good trip back to the retro days with still retaining the power metal edge. Whether this was intentional or not, I do not know, but they should work with that uniqueness for further albums as it would keep them above the rest of the pack. Human Fortress states on their web page they “are an epic- true- metal- band which saves the spirit of the glorious heavy- metal- bands into the 21st century and establishes a genius musical output.” Whether this is means retro or not is not for me to decide, but whatever it is; its bloody good! While some maybe cynical and suspicious of the cheesy-ness that may come with this hybrid formula, I am one such person that is extremely skeptical of cheesy-ness and find Human Fortress to walk the fine line without any hiccups.

Jioti Parcharidis doesn’t possess an overly unique voice but has a perfect voice for this sort of metal, Dirk Marquardt is probably what keeps Human Fortress in the retro styling as it seems that “Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir” is geared around the synthesizer work of this keyboard wonder. Laki Zaios does a wonderful job of keeping the drum kit interesting with his powerful rhythms and consistency. There isn’t much more to say about Human Fortress; suffice to say that in a world that fraught with silly power metal; Human Fortress are able to stay on the sensible side of the genre and “Lord of Earth and Heavens Heir” is an excellent demonstration of this.

Bottom Line: This is really good metal, it has it all; wicked guitars, solid vocals, inspirational drumming and creative synthesizers. And to top it off, if that wasn’t enough Human Fortress they have a seriously good retro streak embedded in them.

Rating: 8 out of 10