Looking for straight-up kick-ass American power metal? Look no further than Texas' Ignitor, residing on the spotless Cruz del Sur roster. This band has everything that made the likes of Helstar, Attacker, Omen and Seven Witches so great, only with a little twist: the singer is a woman, a leather-lunged valkyrie by the name of Erika. Don't expect some leggy chanteuse in an evening gown ala Cristina Scabbia here...Erika has the look of a gal that heads into the battlefield to fight orcs, much like Eowyn in "Lord of the Rings". She got a great ballsy voice with plenty of melody and not only that, she writes lyrics and works on the art layout here as well, so she's fully a part of Ignitor and not just a piece of tail.

The band also features a welcome name from the past: Stuart Laurence, formerly known as "Bat Lord" in the cult Texas hell-raisers Agony Column. Those guys were favorites of mine, but Ignitor is a much more "serious" metal band than the boozy, Southern-tinged Agony Column. This is stirring swords-and-shields stuff, with plenty of speed and fire, but just short of thrash. The guitar sound is crisp and crunchy and peppered with stinging solos from Laurence and fellow six-stringer Annah Moore (yes, another woman). It's not terribly original, but there's not a duff track on show. I loved the aggressive title track, the punchy "Phoenix" with its cool melodies and choppy riffs and the epic, album-ending duo of "Gods of Vengeance" and "Reinheitzgebot". The shadows of Manowar and Omen lay heavily on these two tracks and I dare say they have more thrust than anything on the last few overblown Manowar discs. Erika in particular shines on these tracks and her mastery of the German lyrics on "Reinheitzgebot" is phenomenal.

Don't travel the "Road of Bones" if you're looking for the avant-garde or trendy...walk this bloody path if you are only true to the purest of metal!