CRESCENT. F*CKING. SHIELD.

Are you guys hip to Crescent Shield? The band started as a side project for Onward vocalist Michael Grant and Destiny’s End guitarist (and frequent MetalSucks commenter!) Dan DeLucie, but eventually became their full-time gig; the band’s 2006 album, the aptly titled The Last of My Kind, was released to rave reviews, and rightfully so. This band should be opening for Iron Maiden; it’s difficult for me to imagine any Maiden fan (or fan of other bands like Maiden) not digging the everlovin’ shit outta Crescent Shield. The band even made the complete album avail for free download (with voiceovers – I mean, they gotta make a living somehow) on their website, and if you haven’t heard it, now’s the time to go download it.

The band has a new album, The Stars of Never Seen, coming out on May 8 in Germany and Europe, May 11 in the UK and June 2 in the USA and Canada (artwork above). Like I said, as a Maiden fan, I can’t help but eat this shit up; hopefully the new album will bring some of the same metallic goodness as The Last of My Kind.

After the jump, check out The Last of My Kind‘s opening track, “Above Mere Mortals.” There’s a crappy-quality bootleg of the band performing a new song floating around the net, but I don’t think it tells us very much about how the new album might sound; hopefully we’ll get something more official soon.

-AR