CATEGORY VI
“Firecry”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9.5/10

Category VI are a heavy metal band from Canada formed in 2010, releasing three albums to date – ‘Fireborn’ (2013), ‘War Is Hell’ (2017), and ‘Firecry’, released in 2023.

Emerging from the same country that gave the world the legendary Anvil, comes another band to maintain Anvil’s legacy – a legacy that echoes the sound of traditional heavy metal! Category VI actually hit harder than many of their contemporaries, with lead singer Amanda Jackman a powerhouse vocalist, howling and scowling with deadly venom! Album opener – and title song – ‘Firecry’ explodes into life with a terrific “metal scream” by Jackman, and proceeds to thunder forth like a souped-up Judas Priest! The barrage of power driven heavy metal by Category VI is instantly likeable – metalheads everywhere grinning from ear to ear and banging their heads very vigorously. And at over six minutes in length ‘Firecry’ (the song) is fairly long for an album opener, but boy does it do a great fucking job!

The intensity of the opening salvo is kept high with the heavy foot stomping ‘Valkyrie’ – and a heaviness that’s likely to flatten anyone, anything and everything in its way! Picking up the tempo as it progresses, Category VI are in mean mood, pummelling listeners with an aggressive yet melodic meld of traditional and thrash metal. Yes readers – thrash! The band serving up a genre crossing style of metal that is infectious, heavy hitting and highly head bang-able. And with a short, eerie opening, ‘The Vultures Never Came’ proceeds to become a hustle and bustle type of a metal romp, the band maintaining the heaviness they began the album with. I can’t stress enough how heavy ‘Firecry’ (the album) is – it’s like Iron Maiden high on energy drinks! A mightier version of Manowar! Or as I mentioned earlier, a souped-up Judas Priest! The band power on with the iconic feel of old school metal – ‘She Runs With Wolves’ planting one “foot on the monitor” and screaming at the audience to head bang. And head bang they will, for ‘She Runs With Wolves’ is so damn infectious. Come on readers, I defy you all to not be head banging right now! ‘Heavy Is The Crown’ is the most anthemic song heard so far, pounding the ground with a rabble rousing call to arms feel that every single fan and follower (of the band) will answer. The piercing vocals of Jackman are so sharp they’re likely to slice your head clean off your shoulders!

And with the band showing no mercy with regards to the level of intensity, the album powers on with the heavy hitting ‘Coven’ – and the return of the thrash metal aura from earlier. Fans of both traditional metal and thrash are gonna love this album, head banging in unison as the band march on with the more sedate ‘The Cradle Will Fall’, and an air of hymn-like balladry come anthemic metal – all the huff and huff of the album up to this point vanished into thin air. Until the one minute mark when ‘The Cradle Will Fall’ explodes into life and powers on with all the gusto of every other song heard so far. What an expansion of the bands raw and energetic root sound, showing Category VI in a totally different light. Stretching their collective legs, the band canter on with ‘Burning Bridges’ – and no, not a cover of ‘Burning Bridges’ by Status Quo (off their 1988 album ‘Ain’t Complaining’). Category VI’s ‘Burning Bridges’ is old school traditional metal all the way, planting both feet firmly on the monitor as it gallops by at a head bangingly perfect pace.

Bringing the album to a close, the band deliver a spectacular cover of ‘Barracuda’ – the Heart classic from their 1977 album ‘Little Queen’. 1977! Were any of the band members born by then? Even I was only seven years old! But then, ‘Barracuda’ is such a classic – and very well known, appearing in 2007’s music video game Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock, featuring in a number of movies, including Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Identity Thief (2013), and TV shows The Sopranos, Chuck, and My Name Is Earl. And Category VI do the song proud – changing the ambience to fit in with the bustling, bold and brash style of ‘Firecry’ (the album), yet losing nothing of the originals punchy and aggressive nature.

Overall, a thundering old school flavoured romp of heavy metal, highly head bang-able and immensely infectious.

TRACKLIST

Firecry
Valkyrie
The Vultures Never Came
She Runs With Wolves
Heavy Is The Crown
Coven
The Cradle Will Fall
Burning Bridges
Barracuda (Heart cover)

https://categoryvi.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CategoryVI

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