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Ohio's Emerald Rage have been around since 2016, honing their sound with a series of singles, demos and EPs culminating in their debut, High King. The band name, album title and cover art of a knight triumphant with his menacing war dog by his side should leave no doubt as to the epic nature of Emerald Rage's music. Songs dealing with mythical beasts ("Dire Wolves", "White Stag"), royalty ("Empress", "High King") and mythology ("Goddess Freya") comprise the bulk of what these guys sing about. Speaking of the singing, it is Emerald Rage's Achille's heel. Vocalist (and guitarist) Jake Wherley has a decent voice for this kind of epic/power metal, clear and powerful, but his vocal lines are not great. Saddled with some heavy-handed lyrics, he gamely forces the lines into the songs and in a few spots it simply doesn't work. It's too bad because some of the guitar work is top-notch, like on "Goddess Freya" and "Empress" which have fist-pumping riffs sure to raise your blood pressure. To be fair, the vocals aren't the only problem with High King as there are some guitar parts that are equally clunky. I don't want to discourage Emerald Rage, there is some promise here, but they have a lot of work to do before they are going to be spoken of in the same company as bands like Glacier, Eternal Champion, etc.