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

Review by Alex on July 5, 2020.

For all the ridiculous adjectives we could apply to death metal, they never do take away from the fact that it has been done before many times over. This genre is ancient it seems yet bands come and go either trying something new or just like paying homage to the days old. Now that's out the way, it's fair enough to say that Inhalement lands somewhere between paying homage and doing their own thing without appearing overly experimental. For a categorization I guess you could say the band's upcoming EP Eternally Stoned flirts with brutal death metal, modern death metal and thrash metal. All these subgenres are relatively common knowledge to even the least of metal heads, however when merged, you could say that as a complete unit, the cosmetic result could be a bit of a debate for even the experienced.

Following traditional death metal opening, 'MJ Ultra' brings into effect an old school thrashing to steer the way of an effective introductory track. The vocals are convincing, the drumming is punchy and the riffing is fun. For what it appears to be thus far, the music is well within the line of traditional death metal. However, 'Unsmokeable' accepts the invitation and shows up to the party decked out in a slam-like, brutal form of death metal aesthetic, despite still having the elementary customs of traditional death metal activated conspicuously enough to notice. Riffing accentuations supplement the dual vocals that then take a downward plunge momentarily into slam territory, with the gutturals seemingly becoming more abdominal in connection with the breakdown chugging of the guitars. A seesaw-esque incorporation of these utilities, however balance remains a key ingredient of this entry's success. More of this is called into play on 'Drowning in Reclaim', yet still on the heel of the music's footing while the thrashing death attack assumes the driver seat with a few pinch harmonics to take a whack at the listener.

I'd have to give 'Drowning in Reclaim' the award for the favorite off this 13 minute carnage segment. It's all the best facets exhibited and put into overdrive and executed much better. Freight-train guitar chugging chords at select segments, an added layer of intensity via the uneasiness of the drumming diversity and the vocals toggle in war-like fashion between snarls and deep gutturals. Overall the album is ugly, the production is clear and helps to give Eternally Stoned a stomping sort of vibe that moshers would easily fall for. The artwork is as I would expect from an album as brutal and crushing as this is and holds up well in representing the instrumentation that sounds like spears being driven through wet sponge. Might want to look out for this one out one.

Rating: 7 out of 10