Definitely give it a listen, there is no standout here like Holy Wars or Tornado of Souls but it's a very solid album start to finish, and Chris Broderick brings some great lead playing to the table.
Very few people use the term heavy metal to refer to those old bands anymore though anyhow, the term applies to the throwback bands these days but also to the genre as a whole. It's definitely interesting how the genre become much more extreme and much more expansive, with the rise of thrash and the first roots of death and black metal in the 80s, the explosion of melodeath in the 90s, the rise of all the hardcore influenced bands and the explosion of progressive and avante garde stuff in the 00s.
Very few people use the term heavy metal to refer to those old bands anymore though anyhow, the term applies to the throwback bands these days but also to the genre as a whole. It's definitely interesting how the genre become much more extreme and much more expansive, with the rise of thrash and the first roots of death and black metal in the 80s, the explosion of melodeath in the 90s, the rise of all the hardcore influenced bands and the explosion of progressive and avante garde stuff in the 00s.