Iron Maiden influenced Swedish outfit.
It would be easy to write off this young Swedish group as just another of the new bands inspired by NWOBHM but the disc has so much youthful energy it wins you over. They sound a lot like one of the leading lights of this resurgent scene, White Wizzard, wearing their love for Iron Maiden, Angel Witch and Saxon on their leather studded sleeves.
When you listen to this you’d better remove all the glassware and get the dog out of the house, in fact get yourself out of the house as Riley’s high pitched screams and Robbie Rockbag’s and Alex Vega’s squealing guitar solos are likely to bounce off your walls and reduce your house to rubble and send your dog into a frenzy. You can only reach such high notes if you’re squeezed into tight black studded apparel and you instinctively know Riley sings live with one foot, like Maiden, on the monitors at the front of the stage. ‘Roadkill’ sounds like it should have been the soundtrack for the Mad Max movies or Death Race 2000 as the track revs its engines until they’re red hot and the rhythm section hits you as if you’ve been run over by Jenson Button, closely followed by Lewis Hamilton. It’s “Kill or be killed” chant is pure NWOBHM poetry.
Indeed all the songs burn up the track shifting through the gears before they go into guitar wig out overdrive. ‘The Illusion’ is perhaps the best track and if they ever remake that Lucozade advert with Daley Thomson blasting off the blocks then this track could replace Maiden’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’. It’s got a scorching solo and it’s a true piece of theatre. Another belter is ‘Point Of Singularity’ that gallops along like the four horseman of the apocalypse and throws in cyborg backing vocals, which is something you don’t hear everyday, while ‘Sentinel Hill’ possesses an early Sabbath sounding riff that helps vary the mood slightly. Listen to this and try not to make the devil’s horns with your hand at some point of the proceedings. It can’t be done.
Their vitality helped win them the Rock the Nation music competition in 2009, ahead of 1200 other bands. When they go on tour later this year with Blind Guardian they should ensure accident and emergency is full of rockers suffering from whiplash caused by over exuberant head banging. As metal has evolved it’s got, not surprisingly, heavier and darker but Steelwing and their ilk remind you it can still also be fun. Not particularly original but if you’re a fan of the current crop of NWOBM revivalists, then dig out your denim jacket and ask your mother nicely to sew on a new Steelwing patch.
Duncan Jamieson