With a lot of the focus of the music industry shifting away from actually making albums, a band releasing high-quality albums at the pace Greece’s Triumpher does is quite the impressive feat. Their third album ‘Piercing the Heart of the World’ releases two days before Triumpher’s debut album ‘Storming the Walls’ turns three years old. Writing so much music in such a short span of time could result in the songs sounding similar, but it is worthy of praise what an evolution Triumpher’s surprisingly aggressive epic heavy metal sound has shown over the course of their three albums.

Manowar is the clear reference point for what Triumpher sounds like, not in the least because it’s fairly easy to mistake singer Mars Triumph for Eric Adams in his prime. To be fair, Triumpher’s sound is not too far removed from Manowar at its most aggressive – think ‘The Triumph of Steel’ – but the Greek quintet has always added enough of their own flavor to their sound to make them more than just another retro throwback band. There are clear influences from extreme metal – black metal most prominently – and on ‘Piercing the Heart of the World’, occasional subtle traditional Greek elements pop up.

Also, Mars Triumph is a far more consistent songwriter than Joey De Maio. Instead of a few obvious high points – if they even exist at all – Triumpher albums take the listener on a journey, employing elements of bombast whenever the story they are telling calls for it, though the main focus is always on the excellent riffs and vocal lines. These have clearly been crafted with care, which helps every song stand out rather than turning into a blur of samey ideas. In fact, ‘Piercing the Heart of the World’ is surprisingly rich on ideas for a 45-minute album.

Though Triumpher was never afraid to experiment, ‘Piercing the Heart of the World’ feels just a tad more adventurous in scope than their earlier works. The way ‘The Mountain Throne’ develops from a fairly typical epic heavy metal song towards the intense black metal drama of its climax, or how brilliantly the epic closing track ‘Naus Apidalia’ just keeps building in its strong riffs and melodic guitar themes, hints at an ambition that deserves admiration. On the other hand, more straightforward tracks like the relentlessly aggressive ‘Erinyes’ or the powerful march of ‘The Flaming Sword’ make just as much of an impact.

Greece is truly a treasure trove of talented heavy and power metal bands. But even within that scene, Triumpher’s work ethic and dedication to quality songwriting and arrangements stands out in the best way possible. The songwriting is slightly better across the board than on late 2024’s ‘Spirit Invictus‘, and except for the somewhat overlong, vaguely Primordial-esque semi-ballad ‘Ithaca (Return of the Eternal King)’, every song on ‘Piercing the Heart of the World’ hits exactly as it should. Releasing three quality in albums in less than three years is no small feat, but Triumpher makes it sound very easy.

Recommended tracks: ‘Erinyes’, ‘Naus Apidalia’, ‘The Flaming Sword’