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đź’ż Release Details
Artist: Glory of Kings
Title: Roots of the Past
Label: Roxx Records
Format: CD / Jewel Case
Booklet: 12-Page Lyric Booklet
Pressing: Limited to 500 CDs
Tracks: 11
Special Edition: Exclusive North American Cover Art
Release Date: August 28, 2026
⚔️ Key Collector Details
- Debut full-length album from Glory of Kings
- North American Roxx Records edition limited to only 500 CDs
- Features exclusive cover artwork for the North American edition
- Jewel-case edition with a substantial 12-page lyric booklet
- Founded by former Sacred Warrior guitarist Jonathan Johnson
- Features former Sacred Warrior vocalist Erik Schilling on lead vocals
- Features Sacred Warrior bassist Steve Watkins
- Features legendary Whitecross drummer Michael Feighan
- Several compositions originated as material Jonathan Johnson wrote with hopes of using them for a Sacred Warrior album
- Classic progressive/power metal foundations combined with modern production and a darker, atmospheric edge
- Includes the singles “The Mystery” and “Mindwar”
- 11 tracks exploring faith, struggle, history, identity, spiritual conflict, and the continuing influence of the past
- For Fans Of: Sacred Warrior, QueensrĂżche, Crimson Glory, Savatage, Deliverance, Recon, Deny The Fallen, and classic progressive/power metal
⚔️ Glory of Kings – Roots of the Past
The roots run directly through one of Christian metal's most respected progressive metal bands – but Glory of Kings is writing a new chapter of its own.
Glory of Kings is a progressive metal band combining the power, melody, and musicianship of classic heavy metal with a modern production and approach. The band's debut album, Roots of the Past, brings together musicians whose histories reach deep into the Christian metal scene, including current and former members of Sacred Warrior, Whitecross, Deny The Fallen, and Thee Final Chaptre.
At the center of Glory of Kings is guitarist and songwriter Jonathan Johnson, whose history with Sacred Warrior gives the title Roots of the Past an especially appropriate meaning.
This isn't simply a new band attempting to recreate the Sacred Warrior sound. Several songs on Roots of the Past actually began as compositions Johnson wrote during his time with Sacred Warrior, with hopes that they might become part of a future album. Those ideas never received their intended release at the time, but they didn't disappear.
Years later, those musical roots have become part of something new.
And the Sacred Warrior connection goes well beyond Johnson. Erik Schilling, who previously fronted Sacred Warrior, returns to the microphone as the lead vocalist for Glory of Kings. Steve Watkins, another Sacred Warrior veteran, contributes bass, bringing three musicians connected to the band's history together again on this new recording.
Behind the kit is another musician Christian hard rock and metal fans will immediately recognize: Michael Feighan of Whitecross. His powerful drumming completes a lineup with decades of collective experience in melodic, progressive, and traditional heavy metal.
The result is an album firmly rooted in the tradition of classic progressive and power metal while refusing to sound like a simple exercise in nostalgia. Roots of the Past combines driving riffs, melodic guitar work, dramatic vocals, progressive arrangements, and atmospheric passages with a contemporary production.
The title also reflects the album's larger themes. Roots of the Past looks backward in order to wrestle with the present – exploring history, identity, faith, conflict, and the ways our past continues to shape who we become.
Early single “The Mystery” introduced listeners to the band's more atmospheric and melodic side, while “Mindwar” brings the internal struggle to the forefront with a heavier progressive-metal attack. Across the album, Glory of Kings moves between muscular riffs, melodic passages, instrumental textures, and the dramatic songwriting associated with the classic progressive-metal tradition.
Songs including “Fairy Tales,” “Gods and Men,” “Occam's Razor,” “Roots of the Past,” and “The Waiting Game” give the album a strong thematic identity while allowing Johnson, Schilling, Watkins, and Feighan to draw upon their musical histories without simply repeating them.
For longtime Sacred Warrior fans, there is something particularly compelling here: musical ideas originally connected to an unrealized chapter of that band's story have finally found a home, performed by musicians who share genuine connections to that legacy.
But Roots of the Past is ultimately the beginning of Glory of Kings, not a lost Sacred Warrior album. The past provides the roots; this band determines where they grow.
The Roxx Records North American CD edition is manufactured in a strictly limited pressing of only 500 copies and features exclusive North American cover artwork along with a 12-page lyric booklet.
Classic Christian progressive metal with genuine roots in Sacred Warrior – powerful vocals, skilled musicianship, melodic guitar work, thoughtful themes, and a new band carrying its history forward. Roots of the Past is essential listening for fans of Sacred Warrior and the classic progressive/power metal tradition.
🎵 Track Listing
1. Gathering Storm
2. Mindwar
3. Fairy Tales
4. The Mystery
5. See You In Paradise
6. Foreshadows
7. Gods and Men
8. Transcendent
9. Occam's Razor
10. Roots of the Past
11. The Waiting Game
🎸 Song Titles
Gathering Storm / Mindwar / Fairy Tales / The Mystery / See You In Paradise / Foreshadows / Gods and Men / Transcendent / Occam's Razor / Roots of the Past / The Waiting Game
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