IGNITOR – The Spider Queen

Sit down and hear the story about banishing evil. Well is that a cliché, how ordinary could this story be? As you probably noticed from the artwork, this tale deals with The Spider Queen that plays the horrific monster and the commissioner of evil. The issue of The Spider Queen album is the result of the brainstorming of the US Heavy / Power Metal band, Ignitor, that landed yet another medieval-like fictional legend of vengeance , blood and tears. Overall, this is a rather commonplace story of a hero who avenges and slays his enemy, however, the written lyrics help maintain the tale as a quite nice classic.

The story of the Spider Queen mainly concentrates on four different characters: Helmut, the young hero who took an oath to avenge his parent’s death. Herzig, the mad vagabond who spends most of his time wandering in the alleys of the kingdom. Necretia, the grandmother of the young Helmut, the one who raised him since the death of his parents. The attractive Queen Illia, the suspected Spider Queen, the one that Helmut believes to be the murderer of his parents. As the plot thickens and carries on, it is up to young Helmut to obliterate evil and take revenge for his parents while, later on, indulging the consequences of his actions for reckoning.

Stopping at this point, it is time to know the creators of this fantasy concept. The US Ignitor started out back in 2003 in Austin, Texas. Between 2004-2007, the band released two studio albums that were in the vein of US Heavy Metal and slight Hard Rock such as Manowar, early Metallica and Kiss united with EU Heavy and Power Metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Accept, Grave Digger and Primal Fear. At their start (the first two albums) , the band was fronted by vocalist Erika Tandy, who did quite a good job. However, more than one year after the Road Of Bones release, Ignitor brought a masterful force to their crew, this force was Jason McMaster, who replaced Tandy as lead vocalist. For all who do not know McMaster, here is a short bio about the guy: His first major band was the Technical Thrash Metal group, Watchtower, with which he released its debut and recognizable album, Energetic Disassembly. After leaving Watchtower, McMaster moved on to Glam Metal by forming the famous Glam Metal / Hard Rock band Dangerous Toys and he is still on its roster as lead singer. In late 2008, Ignitor recruited McMaster as lead singer and after months of work, they presented their debut with a powerful, theatrical, gifted and artistic front man in the vein of Rob Halford, King Diamond, Ralph Scheepers, UDO and Ripper Owens. If you crave for a wild screamer, and not just a banshee but also an actor, this is your man. If it’s Watchtower, which he reunited with, Dangerous Toys or Ignitor – if it’s McMaster on the lead, it’s a good deal to follow through.

Galloping back to the ancient fantasy of The Spider Queen, one would see that there is something connecting all the dots and that something is mostly McMaster as he carries out the lyrics. Nevertheless, the music itself, in its punching traditional riffage and utterly simplistic lead and solo sections, attempts to do so as well, however without a 100 percent success as some of the songs’ music does not seem to fit the spirit of this conception. Cool tracks such as “The Games Begin” and “Angels Descend” in the course of the lyrics fit the story, yet their music is something else, especially the latter that sounds as if it was a Dangerous Toys/ Hard Rock theme. Moreover, some of the riffs keep on repeating themselves in a manner that however enjoyable Old Schoolers they are, it’s time to give them a rest every now and then. On the other hand, a fact that helps this album out has to do with the addition of Jason McMaster. With his talents, this ride is a total theatrical arena and he is pulling all the strings. Similar to King Diamond, McMaster capitalizes on all the characters, making this experience a good visit to the Metal opera house.

The Spider Queen is Ignitor’s third album and summed up as being an impressive traditional Heavy Metal story of good and evil. With its production of mere 80s sound, the message is delivered with ease, however, for the next album, some of this stuff should be a bit more diverse, because if the vocalist is varied the music should follow as well.

Highlights: “The Games Begin” , “The Spider Queen” , “Construct Of Destruction” , “Dynasty Of Darkness” and “What Love Denies”.