PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
With a title like this, you tend to have an inkling as to what sort of genre you’ll be entertained by here. And, yep, you’re right! A thumping of classic 80’s thrash / metal. Early Iron Maiden / Metallica / Helloween flattened and rolled into one meaty pie. So, where do we start with this, the Belguim bruisers second full length album?? Let’s go from the beginning.
I love intro ‘ Inauguration Of Steele ‘. It’s just a short intro, but it’s the type that you know will be played at the start of every gig before the band run on stage. It sets the album up perfectly as it heads into ‘Iron Bitch ‘. Fierce drumming is joined by some heavy riffing and this track is a mirror image of Metallica‘s ‘Hit The Lights ‘. Reminds me of early Helloween too. Brilliant track and a great, classic ending.
‘45 RPM ‘ is more of the same. The mixing is clever here as it sounds purposely done in such a way that these tracks actually sound like they were recorded in the 80’s. There’s lots of similarities from teenage tunes here and ‘Metallstrom/Face The Butcher ‘ is no exception. It starts in very similar fashion to Diamond Head‘s ‘Am I Evil ‘ before firing in to a tornado of speed and riffs. Some great bass playing by AH Wrathchylde too.
‘Sentinels Of Death ‘ edges towards the Slayer spectrum of things. Speed metal played ferociously fast. The title tracks rolls in at just over a staggering nine minutes and starts off exactly as you would expect a staggering nine minute title track to start. It’s slow and atmospheric and straight away you get a sense that this is building up to something special. A burst of speed isn’t too far away, but the track manages to keep it’s atmospheric base line. As you would expect, a track as lengthy as this is made up from different sections with different speeds. But it works well with some nice guitar soloing on hand too.
‘Viking Funeral ‘ is probably the worst effort on offer here. I suppose it’s tricky following a nine minute epic. It does have a perfect riff midway through. Probably one of the best riffs I’ve ever heard to be honest. Maybe the title track should have been kept as the last track to finish the album just nicely. Instead though, we have ‘Brazen Serpent ‘, which gives us more of what we’ve experienced in, what has to be said, is a bloody good album. The track finishes with yet one of the best riffs I’ve ever heard. A totally outstanding riff.
If these guys came over to Britain I would definitely go and see them. Well, as long as it was Manchester or Liverpool, or even closer to where I live. They are well worth a listen and well worth a watch.
Track-Listing:
1 – Inauguration Of Steele 2 – Iron Bitch 3 – 45 RPM 4 – Metallstrom / Face The Butcher 5 – Sentinels Of Dethe
6 – 666 Goats Carry My Chariot 7 – Viking Funeral 8 – Brazen Serpent 9 – Exaltation Of Sulphur
Line-up:
R. Hellshrieker – Vocals / KK Ripper – Guitars / AH Wrathchylde – Bass / LV Speedhammer – Drums
Links:
- £8.91 (MP3)
