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Myth, Magic & Steel is the third full-length from Savage Master, one of the young new bands from the U.S. going for an early '80s, traditional metal sound. I liked their last album (With Whips and Chains) with its quirkiness and much of that is still present on this new release. There are straight up US metal tunes like "Flyer in the Night" and "Crystal Gazer" as well as slower, doomier songs like "The Owl" and "Warrior vs. Dragon." The songs are centered around the riffs and there is nothing extraneous about the songwriting, hearkening back to a simpler time before the proliferation of genres and subgenres and, for that, I applaud Savage Master. I must admit I liked singer Stacey Savage's wild and occasionally erratic delivery on the last album, but she's ratcheted it up a couple of notches, so much so that on Myth, Magic & Steel, I find it quite distracting. If there were a couple of real killer songs here, I wouldn't mind her overly emotional and sometimes flat singing but while they are all good, none are truly great.

I was hoping the band would take a step forward from With Whips and Chains, but this is more like treading water. Myth, Magic & Steel is a solid metal album but one I like less than I wanted to. Savage Master can do better.