Band:	Victorius
Album:	Space Ninjas From Hell
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	January 2020

01. Tale Of The Sunbladers
02. Ninjas Unite
03. Supersonic Samurai
04. Evil Wizard Wushu Master
05. Nippon Knights
06. Shuriken Showdown
07. Wasabi Warmachine
08. Wrath Of The Dragongod
09. Astral Assassin Shark Attack
10. Space Ninjas From Hell
11. Cosmic Space Commando Base
12. Shinobi Strike 3000

I do like my fair share of cheesy power metal, but for the love of God, Victorius, I didn't need to be reminded in 2020 that Annoying Orange was a thing.

If anyone from Victorius reads this review, I'm sorry if I make a good enough chunk of this review more about my own experiences with power metal rather than your album in particular. We'll get to that too, but after you decided to include an Annoying Orange skit in "Wasabi Warmachine", you're not making it very easy. I'm not generally into power metal, or at least not that keen to check out new power metal. I like Blind Guardian and Helloween enough, but not to the same enthusiasm that most others do and I certainly can't say I ever get excited for a new power metal album, not even from those big names whose tried and tested formulas I enjoy. Which makes it even harder for newer bands to enter my graces. I was surprised to like that Thornbridge album so much last year, so I'm hoping I find at least one thing power metal this year that works for me and is from a band I haven't heard before.

One trend that I noticed and I was fairly fond of in regards to power metal last decade was the juvenilisation (I know that's not an actual word) of power metal. Basically power metal that doesn't really take itself too seriously and takes the cheesy aspect of it to the maximum. I mean, if power metal is to be cheesy regardless, why go for moderate levels of cheese instead of obscene quattro formaggi power metal like Gloryhammer, Twilight Force and to some degree even DragonForce. I feel like me and others tend to be fonder of this type of over-the-top power metal due to an internalized need to "show" power metal. If normal power metal is something we can't take seriously, we'll show it by only liking power metal that isn't meant to be taken seriously. Is it just power metal's fault by not really evolving much in the past few decades or are we actually internalizing disapproval? Which leads us to Space Ninjas From Hell.

Germany's Victorius have released some more normal power metal before but it seems they jumped on the overly cheesy bandwagon with their previous and equally juvenile EP, Dinosaur Warfare - Legend Of The Power Saurus. Now with Space Ninjas From Hell it seems like they wanted to create the power metal version of an anime version of Kung Fury. Even just one look at the cover art should be enough to know what you're getting into. Taking away the goofy themes and the ... ugh ... Annoying Orange sample ... it's perfectly fine power metal. Soaring vocals, fast guitars and keyboards, barely audible bass, a shitload of adrenaline; you know the drill. I don't know how much better I can describe it since I can't really pinpoint anything too different from the sea of power metal out there other than the surface level stuff I already discussed. I just know that it's pretty well executed and for what it's worth, if I can enjoy it with or without the goof, it's worthwhile for anyone into power metal.

So it's fast, like really fast. And it's cheesy, like really cheesy. Please, David Sandberg, direct a movie adaptation of this album's plot.