STORMHUNTER
“Strangle With Care”
E.P. Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Stormhunter are a heavy metal band from Germany formed in 1998, releasing three full length albums to date – ‘Stormhunter’ (2009), ‘Crime And Punishment’ (2011), and ‘An Eye For An I’ (2014) – along with two E.P.’s – ‘Ready For Boarding’ (2020) and ‘Strangle With Care’, released in 2022…

…featuring five brand new songs. With guitarist Stefan Muller as the sole remaining founding member, Stormhunter continue their penchant for traditional heavy metal, rather than following their country’s rich heritage for power metal. And a great choice it’s been too – for the bands new E.P. is brimming with “foot on the monitor” metal. Opening song ‘Mind Odyssey’ carries all the flavour of old school metal, delivered at a scorching pace! Mind you, there are plenty of gear changes along the way, as Stormhunter hit the ground running in blistering fashion. What a storming opening salvo!

Moving into territory ruled by Judas Priest, Stormhunter plough on with the British legends power driven style of heavy metal – ‘Headbanger’s Ball’ an anthemic mid tempo stroll of heaviness. Much more melodic than the E.P.’s opening song, ‘Headbanger’s Ball’ is a corker, and will have fans everywhere raising their fists high in the air. The band are heavily inspired by the iconic NWOBHM evolution, with ‘Paralyzed’ displaying every sign of the glorious era for development of heavy metal. ‘Paralyzed’ has the feel of the early eighties, when bands such as Iron Maiden and Saxon were defining the traditional metal sound.

A sound that has been in my heart for over forty years – yes readers, I am that old! ‘Remnants Of Society’ picks up the pace and hurtles on at a great rate of knots. The mosh pits are gonna go crazy for this one – heads becoming a blur as they vigorously rock back and forth. This is what traditional heavy metal should sound like! The fifth and final song on the E.P. ‘Balles Masquees’, sees guitarist Muller taking over vocal duties – and a great job he does too. Keeping the fast pace of the previous song well and truly alive, ‘Balles Masquees’ is infectious, thunderous, and echoes the fabulous foot on the monitor feel of classic heavy metal.

Overall, a five song firestorm of traditional heavy metal, Stormhunter deliver an infectious journey of head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

Mind Odyssey
Headbanger’s Ball
Paralyzed
Remnants Of Society
Balles Masquees

https://stormhunter.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stormhuntermetal

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