Fans Seem to Have Found the Best Power Metal Album of 2023

Fans are absolutely smitten with Towers of Gold, the new album by Sacred Outcry, and there seems to be a consensus that we've already been blessed with the best power metal album of 2023.

Let's dive in!

Who Are Sacred Outcry?

The band hails from Greece, originally formed by bassist George Apalodimas in 1998. Before dissolving in 2004, the power metal group cut two demos — The Temple of Power (1999) and Damned For All Time (2003).

Upon reforming in 2015, Damned For All Time... (a re-recording of the demo that took place between 2015 and 2019) was released in 2020, garnering critical acclaim.

Apalodimas is the only member who remains from that album's lineup, overhauling personnel and recruiting Steve Lado (guitar), Defkalion Dimos (drums) as well as iconic power metal singer Daniel Heiman, best known for his work with Lost Horizon on their pair of early 2000s albums.

Towers of Gold was released on May 19 through No Remorse Records.

Sacred Outcry, Towers of Gold Artwork + Track Listing

No Remorse Records

01. "Through Lands Forgotten (At the Crossroads of Fate)"
02. "The Flame Rekindled (Lurid Lights and Drunken Revelry)"
03. "The Voyage (Towards Immortality)"
04. "Into the Storm (Beyond the Lost Horizon)"
05. "Symphony of the Night (The Curse of the Blind)"
06. "A Midnight Reverie (Whispers in the Wind)"
07. "The Sweet Wine of Betrayal (The Perennial Sin)"
08. "The City of Stone (The Burden of the Crownless Kings)"
09. "Towers of Gold (Tempus Edax Rerum)"
10. "Where Crimson Shadows Dwell (And Ouroboros Dreamt)"

What Fans Are Saying About Sacred Outcry's Towers of Gold

On YouTube

"The Flame Rekindled":

"Finally, a band using Daniel's voice properly. Awesome!!" —@jeromelevy3044

"This is the pinnacle of epic power metal. Daniel's finest moment, backed by fantastic songwriting. AOTY hardly does this thing any justice." —@paulgrier222

"We can only reach the moon SACRED OUTCRY reach the stars absolutly magical vocals music is a mindblowing masterpiece FANTASTIC POWERMETAL" —@ivanottesen7588

Sacred Outcry, "The Flame Rekindled"

"The Voyage"

"Omg.. this is ridiculously good. Daniel Heiman’s delivery is 11/10, how is it possible that he sings as if he was at the top of his career for like +20 years straight? Insane, truly impressive… Can’t wait for the whole album!!" —@powermetalmaniac2775

"This song is amazing!!! Great work brothers! The album is going to be the best for 2023." —@charonsclaw6321

"I think Daniel Heiman needs to sing on every CD ever, the dude is just incredible! I will be pre-ordering this right now." —@weird_cds8206

Sacred Outcry, "The Voyage"

On Metal-Archives (Encyclopaedia Metallum)

At the time of publication (June 22, 2023), Towers of Gold has received three reviews on the heavy metal database Metal-Archives (also known as Encyclopaedia Metallum), each awarding a perfect score of 100.

This is quite the rarity as the site tends to be a hub for metal elitism and gatekeeping, notoriously once having hosted Between the Buried and Me's discography before reversing the decision and deeming them not metal enough to be cataloged among the thousands upon thousands of bands on there. There's even a whole Reddit thread about it, as well as a thread on the site's forum.

Anyway, here are some select quotes from the three album reviews that paint a reasonable picture of the brilliance of Towers of Gold.

Reviewer dtmetal titles their review, "A FLAWLESS MASTERPIECE!" Supporting that notion, they explain, "The guitar work is multilayered and powerful, full of fantastic solos and melodies, and the thunderous drums are very technical, often coloring outside the lines and it's apparent that the changes in the line-up contributed greatly to the creation of this epic."

Noting comparisons to other acts, dtmetal describes Sacred Outcry's sound as an amalgamation of "Kamelot's dakrest moments and Angra's speedy virtuosity" with "Rhapsody (Of Fire's) orchestrail arrangements and flair paired with Blind Guardian's melodic aggression," while also drawing similarities to "mid-early Domine's juggling between epic and power metal, with the ever-present melancholy and melody of Warlord/Lordian Guard" with traces of Manowar also present.

"Behold the best album of 2023," dtmetal concludes.

Metal Nuova, another review, calls Towers of Gold an epic metal album that's an instant classic. "There is a great variety and a lot to absorb since every composition is widely different, but the album sounds very coherent and continuously builds towards the climax, without ever slowing down or letting us catch our breath," they write, stating at the end that the album is so good that it has been difficult to want to listen to anything else.

Also quite high on the record, Brexaul (on behalf of MetalBite) says in their review, "[Sacred Outcry] have a rare way of channeling and conveying that larger-than-life glorious feeling that was prevalent in the golden age of the genre, and at the same time their signature grim atmosphere of sorrow and sadness is so palpable that it transcends all the power metal clichés, adding that, "Towers Of Gold is a touchstone of excellence, a flawless fantasy concept album that never fails to deliver in any aspect, not for a single moment."

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