Volture 'Shocking Its Prey' review

VOLTURE

'Shocking Its Prey'

(Heavy Artillery Records) 

Richmond, Virginia’s Volture is one of the many new bands around today that are valiantly keeping the classic sound of Traditional/New Wave of British Heavy Metal alive. Now, you never really know what these bands will have in store for you. Some are total flops, and others completely amaze me. Let’s just say that Volture, with their debut EP, 'Shocking Its Prey', have me very pleasantly surprised.

From the first listen of the opening title track, it’s apparent that, rather than the usual Maiden worship, there is definitely more Priest influence here, with the piercing vocals, upbeat rhythms, and of course, the truly magnificent solo. Dear readers, I am in love. The choruses catchy, the lyrics delightfully corny, Volture has me hooked from the first track.

And this doesn’t change as the album goes on. The following track “Heavy Metal Machine” is a masterpiece of classic metal, driving riffs and a soaring chorus lead to an incredible solo, and again, I’m completely and totally blown away. This whole whole EP is filled with anthems, and riffs any great band would kill for.

There’s really nothing on this album that can’t be loved if you’re a fan of classic metal music like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. With 6 tracks and only 22 minutes of music, Volture’s debut EP leaves me pumped, full of energy, and desperately wanting more. [9]

(Andrew Oliver)

Volture 

Manilla Road 'Playground Of The Damned' review

MANILLA ROAD

'Playground Of The Damned'

(High Roller Records - LP / Shadow Kingdom Records - CD)

Here’s an interesting scenario for ya, a new power metal album that actually sounds like a metal album, rather than a fan-made soundtrack to the 'Lord Of the Rings' movies. How refreshing!

Manilla Road definitely air on the much heavier side of power metal, often crossing over into mid-paced thrash territory, and indeed most of the music on this album is not very fast at all, but still brings many epic hooks, driving melodies, and blazing solos, as shown quite clearly on the opening track, “Jackhammer” and in excellent fashion in “Abattoir De La Mort.”

The second track, “Into the Maelstrom” is slow and heavy enough to make the best doom bands jealous. It’s quite a stretch to even put this one in the power metal category. The title track brings some speed back though, introducing some awesome riffs, and a fantastic, memorable chorus that really sticks. However, by the time I got to this track, it came to my attention that the vocals could be quite sub-par, and are best described as dull, with a very uninspired delivery, despite the powerful hooks and vocal melodies.

This continues throughout the album, with some songs definitely proving to be better than others vocally. “Grindhouse” begins with an amazing intro that really got me excited to hear more, but only managed to disappoint with some overly repetitious riffing and some unimaginative and lackadaisical vocals. Freakin amazing solo though.

Overall, 'Playground of the Damned' is decent, with many moment of strength and weakness alike. Lots of great melodies and solos make for an interesting listen (“Brethren of the Hammer”), but it can also be quite repetitive, and tends to drag along at times. All in all, I recommend checking it out, for I feel that this album is especially subjective. [7]

(Andrew Oliver)

Manilla Road MySpace

  

 

Rampart 'A Tale To Cold' review

RAMPART

'A Tale To Cold'

(Inferno Records)

After two years of silence Rampart at last made us happy with a new production, and namely the 4-song EP 'A Tale to Cold'. From the band that recorded the first album of the group 'Voice Of The Wilderness' is left only vocalist Maria, who however, turned out to be not only a text writer and a manager, but is as a whole the main power behind Rampart. With the new musicians comes the different sound. 

The song “Stronghold Of The Sun” starts with a mighty power riff and that clearly shows what is to come next. Definitely there is a difference from the songs from the first album. Speed is still there, melody also, but the guitar weaves far more complicated figures and the drum’s rhythm is quite uneven at places. It shows that the group has developed to a direction of more complicated compositions. The whole rhythm of the piece reminds us of the first album, and namely fast-paced tempo in the style of the German power school (Gamma Ray etc.), but here we find several music parts which definitely 'smell' of Angel Dust also, introducing some American power metal in the music. The chorus is very “engaging” and makes you hum sing it for hours. 

The piece “Metal Shell” is an absolute razor - fast and hard with much melody and guitar harmony. My absolute favorite in the EP. 

The rest two pieces are in fact an English and a French variant of the main song “A Tale to Cold”. It is more slow, but as a matter of fact quite an epic with hard and powerful guitar riffs and solos. 

We can say that as a whole the EP sounds quite diverse and besides on the part of the music there is a perceptible growth on the part of Maria’s singing as well. At places, it seems to me that she sounds like Jutta Weinhold from Zed Yago. As a whole the production is at a higher level in comparison with 'Voice Of The Wilderness'. 

There are some changes in the band, which actual members at the moment are: Maria D.S. (vocals), Vili Neshev (guitars), Svilen Ivanov (bass), & Peter Svetlinov (drums). 

In conclusion I will say that we are looking forward to the second full-length Rampart album. [9]

(Asen Asenov) 

Rampart MySpace 

Inferno Records 

'Riot or no riot, we'll play', Maria declared, when Rampart's pair of English gigs coincided with the turmoil this August. And they did just that...hats off!!!