"Rise Of The Warlords" is the first full length release by Assedium; a band that hails from Italy. Four out of the ten tracks, (Cimmerian Steel, Sacred Vengeance, Under The Black Stars and Legions Of The Underworld), previously appeared on their self financed, six song demo. The band's line up consists of Damien (drums), Chicco (rhythm guitars), Fils (lead vocals), Guido (lead guitars/backing vocals) and Drake (bass/backing vocals).

After listening to "Rise Of The Warlords" several times, there were a few things that immediately stood out for me. I was able to arrive at some of the following conclusions:

The singing style of the vocalist sounds very similar to that of classic Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill), like he did on an album such as "Feel The Fire". However, Fils does not scream like Ellsworth. Fils has a very clear vocal presentation and uses excessive throttle and vibrato like Messiah Marcolin (ex-Candlemass). As for the guitars, their tone is very thin and not over layered or saturated distortion wise despite the band having two guitar players. If anything, I'd have to compare the guitar sound to that of their metal compatriots Doomsword or even "Death and Insanity" era Hallow's Eve. Chico and Guido incorporate plenty of the Iron Maiden like guitar harmony parts and the guitar solos and fills are very melodic but not flashy in technique.

Although Assedium classify themselves as Epic Heavy Metal, I only partly agree. To me, Epic is something that is very grandiose and bombastic in sound and style. I would tend to think Epic metal is characterized by big drums, loud guitars, soaring lead vocals, lots of layered background vocals with top notch production values and long songs that clock in over 6 minutes. Assedium only have two out of ten songs that are over six minutes in length but under seven. I'd say bands like Iron Maiden, Virgin Steele, Rhapsody of Fire or even Manowar fit these descriptions a bit better. The only thing I would consider Epic about Assedium are the song titles/lyrics, which seem to focus on warrior like themes regarding things that have to do with marching, steel, vengeance, etc. I'd say Assedium play more traditional sounding heavy metal with some NWOBHM influences. I'd even say that they can be compared to the sound and style of older 80's metal bands like Omen, Iron Maiden or even Manilla Road . The tempos Assedium use range from slow and driving, to mid paced and galloping, even speeding things up a bit.. Also, the production on this album seems watered down. As I mentioned earlier with regards to the guitars, the drums are also thin sounding and have no real punch or bottom end. As for the bass, it's nowhere to be found.

Overall, I feel Assedium have potential. There are still some areas they need to improve on so they can get to the next level. I do like their style of metal as I haven't heard many traditional heavy metal bands as of late that are doing what these guys play. This album does not blow me away but it does have its moments.