Primitai: Night Brings Insanity (Self Released)
Well they're back folks, the Sandhurst based classic metal warriors Primitai return with their fourth full length album. Night Brings Insanity was released in conjunction with PledgeMusic and saw the band smash their target within a very short period of time. Night Brings Insanity brings together all that's come before it running the gamut of 80's metal with a joyous celebration of that era's most influential bands and sounds. From the NWOBHM, through the sleaze of the Sunset Strip, to Bay Area thrash fury everything is catered for on the bands most ambitious and accomplished record yet. The dual guitar assault of Srdjan Bilic and Tom Draper is in full effect throughout with riffs galore infecting each an every moment with flashes of brilliance, the widdling on Night Hunter would make Dokken gawk at it's neon fluorescence, while My Last Escape has more heavyweight groove managing to sound like Pantera but with huge hook of a chorus.
This last element has always been one of Primitai's major plus points, they know how to write a shout along chorus that always go down a treat on the stage, much of this is due to the brawny gruff vocal delivery of Guy Miller who has a voice similar to Avenged's M Shadows but is a far stronger prospect; giving the music some muscle is the rhythm section of Chris Chilcott and Jamie Lordcastle who are the devastating boiler room. The music featured here is grin inducing, denim clad opulence full of razor sharp metal riffage and fist-in-the-air anthems but the band do slow the pace with Conclusion Forgone which is a massive metal ballad that shows Guy's more emotive side and features a thrilling guitar solo from Srdjan that was surely played atop of mountain (i.e November Rain) such is it's pomp. With touches of Priest, Maiden, Guns N Roses and a decided modern influence too Night Brings Insanity is the album Primitai have been threatening to make since their debut. Where they go from now is in their hands as Night Brings Insanity is the perfect album to capitalise on demonstrating what Primitai do when they are at their very best. 9/10
Wings Of Destiny: Kings Of Terror (Power Prog)
Wings Of Destiny started their career as Destiny and released their debut album Time in 2014, since then they have adopted the moniker Wings Of Destiny and re-released the debut album in 2015, now they have moved onto their second record that is more of the same the band are a proper power metal band taking their cues from Angra, Stratovarius and Helloween so expect blast beat drumming, speedy guitar playing, sing along choruses and solos galore. With all these influences and the particular style they play in you'd expect WOD to hail from Germany but no the band are from the sunnier climes of Costa Rica but they definitely have a Teutonic sound mixed with fellow South Americans Angra mainly due to Anton Darusso having a vocal similar to Andre Matos going from a rougher lower range to a soaring higher range. The album has two heavyweight metal songs to start it off but they add some synth laced symphonic metal on Kings Of Terror which has some popping keys behind it the symphonic style continues through the dramatic Eye Of The Storm and the operatic Siren's Song which has a female soprano adding to the dramatic song. WOD don't add anything new to the overcrowded power metal genre but if you are big power metal fan then Kings Of Terror is worth picking up as it has elements of all the bands mentioned as well as touches of Savatage meaning that for genre heads it will more than satisfy your appetite, however there are a lot of bands doing this kind of thing better. 6/10
Scarblade: The Cosmic Wrath (No Remorse)
Scarblade once again are a band that began their career with another name, they were called Ruthless Steel in Athens Greece after just one EP and two compilation appearances frontwoman Aliki and bassist Nikos relocated to Gothenburg Sweden and shed the rest of the band members, however they then recruited Kalle on drums, Jonatan on guitar on Stefan on keys and changed the bands name to Scarblade. The Cosmic Wrath is their debut record and is honest true metal with nods to speed metal and classic bands such as Judas Priest, opener Die In The Night does sound an awful lot like Electric Eye as well as bands such as Firewind, Mystic Prophecy and Silent Force who add the keys and synths to their classic metal sound. What Scarblade have that these bands don't is a female vocalist in the shape of Aliki who snarls and screams on the tracks, showing that not every single female vocalist has to be a classically trained, however maybe some training would be good as Aliki does have a tendency to go a bit flat, quite a lot actually. Point Of No Return is a glaring example and this does detract a little from the albums overall impact. There is really not much more I can say about Scarblade, they are a good band but it's just I wish the vocals could be a bit better as it would just enhance the album that little bit more. 4/10
Well they're back folks, the Sandhurst based classic metal warriors Primitai return with their fourth full length album. Night Brings Insanity was released in conjunction with PledgeMusic and saw the band smash their target within a very short period of time. Night Brings Insanity brings together all that's come before it running the gamut of 80's metal with a joyous celebration of that era's most influential bands and sounds. From the NWOBHM, through the sleaze of the Sunset Strip, to Bay Area thrash fury everything is catered for on the bands most ambitious and accomplished record yet. The dual guitar assault of Srdjan Bilic and Tom Draper is in full effect throughout with riffs galore infecting each an every moment with flashes of brilliance, the widdling on Night Hunter would make Dokken gawk at it's neon fluorescence, while My Last Escape has more heavyweight groove managing to sound like Pantera but with huge hook of a chorus.
This last element has always been one of Primitai's major plus points, they know how to write a shout along chorus that always go down a treat on the stage, much of this is due to the brawny gruff vocal delivery of Guy Miller who has a voice similar to Avenged's M Shadows but is a far stronger prospect; giving the music some muscle is the rhythm section of Chris Chilcott and Jamie Lordcastle who are the devastating boiler room. The music featured here is grin inducing, denim clad opulence full of razor sharp metal riffage and fist-in-the-air anthems but the band do slow the pace with Conclusion Forgone which is a massive metal ballad that shows Guy's more emotive side and features a thrilling guitar solo from Srdjan that was surely played atop of mountain (i.e November Rain) such is it's pomp. With touches of Priest, Maiden, Guns N Roses and a decided modern influence too Night Brings Insanity is the album Primitai have been threatening to make since their debut. Where they go from now is in their hands as Night Brings Insanity is the perfect album to capitalise on demonstrating what Primitai do when they are at their very best. 9/10
Wings Of Destiny: Kings Of Terror (Power Prog)
Wings Of Destiny started their career as Destiny and released their debut album Time in 2014, since then they have adopted the moniker Wings Of Destiny and re-released the debut album in 2015, now they have moved onto their second record that is more of the same the band are a proper power metal band taking their cues from Angra, Stratovarius and Helloween so expect blast beat drumming, speedy guitar playing, sing along choruses and solos galore. With all these influences and the particular style they play in you'd expect WOD to hail from Germany but no the band are from the sunnier climes of Costa Rica but they definitely have a Teutonic sound mixed with fellow South Americans Angra mainly due to Anton Darusso having a vocal similar to Andre Matos going from a rougher lower range to a soaring higher range. The album has two heavyweight metal songs to start it off but they add some synth laced symphonic metal on Kings Of Terror which has some popping keys behind it the symphonic style continues through the dramatic Eye Of The Storm and the operatic Siren's Song which has a female soprano adding to the dramatic song. WOD don't add anything new to the overcrowded power metal genre but if you are big power metal fan then Kings Of Terror is worth picking up as it has elements of all the bands mentioned as well as touches of Savatage meaning that for genre heads it will more than satisfy your appetite, however there are a lot of bands doing this kind of thing better. 6/10
Scarblade: The Cosmic Wrath (No Remorse)
Scarblade once again are a band that began their career with another name, they were called Ruthless Steel in Athens Greece after just one EP and two compilation appearances frontwoman Aliki and bassist Nikos relocated to Gothenburg Sweden and shed the rest of the band members, however they then recruited Kalle on drums, Jonatan on guitar on Stefan on keys and changed the bands name to Scarblade. The Cosmic Wrath is their debut record and is honest true metal with nods to speed metal and classic bands such as Judas Priest, opener Die In The Night does sound an awful lot like Electric Eye as well as bands such as Firewind, Mystic Prophecy and Silent Force who add the keys and synths to their classic metal sound. What Scarblade have that these bands don't is a female vocalist in the shape of Aliki who snarls and screams on the tracks, showing that not every single female vocalist has to be a classically trained, however maybe some training would be good as Aliki does have a tendency to go a bit flat, quite a lot actually. Point Of No Return is a glaring example and this does detract a little from the albums overall impact. There is really not much more I can say about Scarblade, they are a good band but it's just I wish the vocals could be a bit better as it would just enhance the album that little bit more. 4/10