LORDS OF THE TRIDENT – V.G.E.P. (2024)

LORDS OF THE TRIDENT is an American heavy metal band from Madison, Wisconsin with almost 2 decades in the business. The five piece band is known for its mixture of classic, power, and modern progressive metal combining strong vocals, complex instrumentation, and an expansive fantasy backstory to create energetic live shows. They toured with varied metal-style acts from Helloween to Steel Panther.
It is perhaps one of the most obvious connections to make, but a pretty large contingent of metalheads are also gamers. LORDS OF THE TRIDENT know all about making things for the sake of sheer enjoyment, as their brand of metal feels tailor made to remembering that heavy rock music can and should be made to be enjoyed from time to time.
This upcoming release, ”V.G.E.P.”, finds them writing and recording songs that pay homage to a favorite video game, such as Final Fantasy, F-Zero, Road Rash – all 80s / early 90s arcade video games.
But apart for being a metal metal band, LORDS OF THE TRIDENT are well known for their love of ’80s culture and a lot of music outside metal. Supporters / Patreon of the band will receive as well cover songs from Stan Bush, Extreme, Scorpions, even Peter Cetera (!) and more.

‘To Kill a God’ is about Final Fantasy 6, one of the band’s favorite video game of all time. ”We like this game so much, this is not the first Lords of the Trident song to feature references to that game! It’s heavy, and fun.
‘Master of Speed’ originally started out as a demo for the band’s album The Offering, but was deemed “too happy”. Guitarist Helleshaar wrote this about his carefree days of childhood summer, but the frenetic speed of the riffs fit really well into a song about one of the coolest racing games out there, ”F-Zero”

”Jet Set City”: ”This song has a bit more of that 80s personality to it, so it’s no surprise that guitarist Akira wrote a lot of the original ideas for this one. That sort of in-your-face attitude that the music exudes was perfect for a song about spitting in the face of the man and making your mark on the city using whatever means necessary. A perfect corollary for the game Jet Grind Radio”.

Says vocalist Fang: “While not a video game song per se, the cover of Steve Winwood’s pop hit ”Valerie” ives off the vibe of walking through your local mall in the early 90s, music blaring through the tinny speakers on the ceiling of the mall, on your way to the local arcade. ”I recall always hearing this song outside of my local Aladdin’s Castle arcade, and it’s a favorite of mine and Aki’s”.

”The Ballad of Jon Milwaukee” was inspired while playing the game Road Rash. Fang says: “We have a local hard rock radio station that – for some reason or another – doesn’t really like to play our music very much. Guitarist Baron Taurean Helleshaar decided he was going to write a song SO PERFECT for that station – so oozing with “modern rock radio” – that they’d HAVE to play it.
He accidentally ended up making one of the most complex songs we’ve ever written. I was playing the game Road Rash on our regular Monday night Twitch stream at the time, and one of the racers was named “Jon Milwaukee”, so of COURSE we had to pick him (Milwaukee is a city in Wisconsin and very close to us). I wrote the lyrics based on fake “lore” that the chat came up with while we were playing!”.

Then there’s a fun cover of Stan Bush’s classic ‘The Touch’ (related to Transformers), ‘Los Angeles’ of synthwave masters The Midnight (it’s fun hearing a metal band performing this song), an acoustic version of Extreme’s hit ‘More Than Words’, and many more, showcasing other side from LORDS OF THE TRIDENT.
Highly Recommended

01 – To Kill a God
02 – Master of Speed
03 – Jet Set City
04 – Valerie (Steve Winwood cover)
05 – The Ballad of Jon Milwaukee
06 – Los Angeles (The Midnight cover)
07 – The Touch (Stan Bush cover)
08 – Glory of Love (Peter Cetera Cover)
09 – More Than Words (Extreme Cover)
10 – Wind of Change (Scorpions Cover)
11 – No Excuses (Alice in Chains Cover)
12 – Dust in the Wind (Kansas Cover)

Fang VonWrathenstein – vocals
Akira Metal – guitar
Baron Taurean Helleshaar – guitar
Pontifex Mortis – bass
Master “Herc” Schlagzeuger – drums

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lordsofthetrident.com/