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Unbroken marks the third foray into battle for Serbian troopers Claymorean, who present a polished and thoroughly entertaining romp through Power Metal conventions, bringing many elements of the genre together to form a cohesive whole. What begins as a brass-led call to arms in "Heldenhammer", a hulking epic with a morose but unforgettable chorus, quickly becomes a blistering exercise in fist-pumping metal madness. I suspect Battle Beast are the band that has steered Claymorean away from the symphonic metal sound of yore into something catchy and concise, as tunes like "Gods of Chaos" would fit nicely on "Unholy Savior".

Using both male and female vocals, Unbroken flirts with epic fantasy soundscapes and pedal-to-the-metal cookers in equal measure, always keeping the momentum going with high tempos and energetic performances. Frontwoman Dejana Pavlovic steals the show with her clear, piercing wail, while the guitar work thugs away in the background, driven by pummeling double kick drums and charging gang chants. Everything about this release is quality, except for maybe the ill-advised cover of Manilla Road’s "Into The Courts of Chaos", which ends the album on a somewhat lackluster note. Aside from that, the first seven tunes are pure dynamite, especially the cascading "Ironhide". Most of the songs here are based on the stories of Warhammer, so any gamers reading this will probably want to track this down immediately. As for the rest of you, how does a hybrid of Ancient Bards and Battle Beast sound to you? Grab a copy of Unbroken and find out.