Canada seems to be getting a big step on the metal scene recently, we've had records by Billy Talent, Cancer Bats and Alexisonfire that have done quite well with fans and critics alike. What about the bands that are only just starting out though, will they reach those heights as easily?

The first exhibit out of two recent releases I got sent from the island of Nova Scotia shows that there are some bands that are willing to try and reach the aforementioned heights set by Cancer Bats and their peers. Black Moor are a band that take their inspirations from bands such as Iron Maiden and Megadeth in fact name any New Wave of British Heavy Metal and 80's thrash metal and you can pretty much figure out and hear all of those inspirations!

As a first album, "The Conquering" is a very good effort that does well to recapture the sound of eighties metal with the thrash of songs like 'Warshark' and the 'Rust In Peace' era songs such as 'Fiend'. The solos are worthy to give a good listen to and Eric Hanlin's vocals do have a Mustaine style twang about them (as expected the guy is wearing a Megadeth shirt on the back cover!).

The best song on this album to me is 'Acid Biker' just because it's a very similar story to the Marvel comic character Ghost Rider (let's ignore the Nicholas Cage film ok?) so I do have some bias there!

If you enjoy 80's style metal of a thrash nature you will enjoy this album, a welcome debut by hopeful future stars.