NEWS: Full On Dungeons & Dragons Metal With GYGAX Who Release Third Album “High Fantasy”
GYGAX have released the first single, “The Eyes Have It” from their impending third LP, High Fantasy, which was let loose on the world on 21 June! Out on Creator-Destructor Records
Orders have also been launched for the new album, including 3 variants of colored vinyl, a digital CD, and some exclusive new merch items as well. Get your copy secured now by heading over to our online store!
Just over a year after the release of their acclaimed “2nd Edition” LP, GYGAX returns with their third, and most triumphant album to date, High Fantasy. The band’s fantastic storylines come blazing to life in the nine brand new tracks on the new LP, which surges with powerful riffs, killer harmonization, and unavoidable hooks from beginning to end.
High Fantasy was recorded live in GYGAX’s hometown of Ventura, California, with former guitar player Armand Tambouris at the helm. As with their prior album, the High Fantasy artwork was completed by Fares Maese.
The album is an absolute Natural 20 of a Critical Hit as each and every song has a high powered edge to it. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, High Fantasy has it all. From the first song “Light Bender” to the ninth “High Fantasy” this is a 2019 polished nostalgia trip into the fantasy infused power metal of the Seventies/Eighties with fantastic riffs and thundering choruses. If you love your Roleplaying a la Dungeons & Dragons, this is a great band to check out, If you love your metal, this is a great band to check out. If you love both, then you will feel you get an absolute headbanging, dice rolling buzz from GYGAX.
The Album was mixed, mastered and engineered by Armand John Anthony at The Captain’s Quarters in Ventura, Ca. All songs written and recorded by GYGAX
GYGAX is a no-frills, classic rock/heavy metal hybrid, heavily steeped in the imagery of fantasy literature and role playing games, and rooted in the musical stylings of metallic ‘70s rockers Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple, with equal parts metal and boogie-inducing groove. Though their name is attributed to the creator of Dungeons & Dragons, the band has described themselves more simply as “a beacon and an anthem for anyone who’s interests lie in creativity and the powers of imagination.”
Hailing from Ventura, California, GYGAX was born out of the ashes of vocalist/bassist Eric Harris’ previous heavy-metal brainchild, Gypsyhawk, whose Patience & Perseverance 2xLP also saw release through Creator-Destructor in 2009. Bryant Throckmorton, who played second guitar in Gypsyhawk also joins Harris in GYGAX on guitar. When Gypsyhawk decided to disband, Harris and Throckmorton took some time alongside friend and fellow guitarist Armand John Lizzy to begin demoing new material, then solidifying their lineup with Justin Dempsey on drums.
The debut from GYGAX , Critical Hits boasts nine feverishly triumphant burners backed by huge solos and even more massive choral melodies which come alive with a fuzzed-out and hazy attitude but immortalized with crystal clear production values on Critical Hits, an LP that could accidentally get sucked into your ragin’ uncle Bob’s dust-encrusted classic rock platters and your older brother’s equally grimy classic metal/early doom collection and blend right into either. The first public listen to the GYGAX sounds can be heard in an exclusive premiere of the album’s third fist-pumpin’ number, “Draw Breath,” which now thrives exclusively through a premiere at Decibel Magazine.
