There is no denying the guys can play.
When an accompanying press release to a CD claims the singer “was born when a volcano containing metal and steel erupted at the beginning of time” you know the band is not going to sound like Air Supply! Unfortunately an image looking like a bunch of lads on a metal fancy dress night adds little to entice you to buy the CD on image alone, still we should be thankful they have improved on their previous album title ‘Death or Sandwich’ even if the image is hard to take seriously.
Luckily the music does the talking and the fantastic voice of Fang VonWrathenstein (yes I kid you not) is impressive and opening track ‘Skyforce’ comes charging out the speakers. Clearly the influences of Iron Maiden in the twin guitar department is evident in title track ‘Chains of Fire’and it all works rather well.
There is no denying the guys can play and elements of metal meld well in the delivery, and the title track could be Accept or Primal Fear and is a huge slice of hard riffing metal.
Admittedly there is nothing revolutionary here but when you consider the poor output of an established act like Queensryche these days this is by far a superior proposition, if only for the entertainment value alone.
There is a stab at a more commercial sound on the quite infectious ‘Fighting For love’ though the song does sit somewhat uncomfortably among the more metal offerings on this plate. Certainly a song like ‘Stranded’ has all the elements of a classic metal tune and the guitar delivery is impressive and exciting.
These days there is so much music on offer that if you have a gimmick or image it better be a good one to see off the competition. My advice to the guys is to ditch the dodgy outfits and the music will get the chance that it deserves.
Ray Paul
Subscribe to this comment's feed
