ELIMINATOR
“Ancient Light”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Eliminator are a heavy metal band from the UK forming in 2008, releasing the ‘We Rule The Night’ E.P. in 2011, followed by the two song 7″ single ‘The Seer’ in 2012. Over the coming years, Eliminator went through some line-up changes and a period of inactivity, returning to the live circuit in 2017, and featuring on the ‘British Steel’ compilation (2017), with a re-recorded version of an “old” song. The bands debut full length album ‘Last Horizon’ was released in 2018, followed four years later (in 2022) by their sophomore album ‘Ancient Light’.

Ten songs of straight up heavy metal over a run time of fifty minutes? Yes please! Eliminator are back – and punching harder than ever, as they present their emphatic new album. Hailing from the country that invented heavy metal, the band are unabashed when it comes to delivering traditional “foot on the monitor” metal. Their debut album four years ago was very impressive and garnered rave reviews…me included. So when the bands second album arrived, I just had to check it out! And boy am I glad that I did. Crunching riffs, galloping rhythms, and an infectiousness that is simply sky high.

Album opener ‘Arrival’, arrives with a spectacular bang, setting a blistering pace as it gallops forth like a thoroughbred racehorse. Eliminator are back – and delivering good old fashioned traditional heavy metal just the way it should be…head bangingly addictive and one hundred percent infectious with a great amount of memorability. Oh come on spell check – I’ve used memorability many times before, surely it’s a word! Keeping the foot well and truly on the monitor, Eliminator pick up the pace and fairly storm on with the breathless ‘Silent Stone’. The opening double from one of the rising stars of British heavy metal has just been phenomenal. The pace, power, and catchiness is reminiscent of the eighties heyday, and pioneering bands such as Raven, Samson, Saxon, and of course the mighty Iron Maiden. The title song ‘Ancient Light’ is more up tempo, displaying a much higher level of energy than the two previous songs. More melodic too, ‘Ancient Light’ (the song) will have heads involuntarily nodding back and forth and smiles appearing on the faces of heavy metal fans from all around the world.

Chiming in at the heavier end of the heavy metal genre, ‘Goddess Of Life’ is a rumbling rampage of hustle and bustle, yet loses nothing of the albums overall infectious nature. Eliminator have stayed in top gear since the album began, and there’s absolutely no sign of them slowing down. The intensity levels too have been top notch, the album steaming on with the thrilling ‘The Sculptor And The Stone Lady’. And when I say thrilling, I actually mean ‘The Sculptor And The Stone Lady’ raises the hairs on my forearms, such is the songs attraction. When I first got into heavy metal during the early eighties listening to bands such as ‘Maiden, ‘Priest, ‘Sabbath, Saxon and Motorhead, the feelings I felt back then, I’m feeling them again right now! Eliminator are just as exciting as some of the first metal bands ever were! Amazing and awesome at the same time. A more epic and sensational vibe takes over the album as ‘Lord Of Sleep, Dreamaster’ comes to life with an anticipation filled intro, before exploding into life in a frenzied fury. The fastest song heard so far, ‘Lord Of Sleep, Dreamaster’ is quick, almost thrashy quick, and will have the die hard head bangers banging their heads faster than ever.

The breath taking pace of the album has been unrelenting, without a single pause for breath. And as ‘The Library’ kicks in, there’s still no pause in sight! ‘The Library’ a much more melodic offering than anything that has gone before. The iconic sound of the NWOBHM is rife throughout ‘The Library’, harking back to the eighties glory days for British metal. Showing no mercy and not giving an inch, Eliminator storm on with the thundering ‘Mercy’ – a swashbuckling rampage of very heavy, heavy metal. The pace and intensity levels remain extremely high – just as high as they were when the album began – and show no sign of dropping, ‘Foreverless’ the next crescendo of scorching hot metal. And at over six minutes in length, ‘Foreverless’ is the longest song on offer, opening with a tension filled mellow intro before breaking into an anthemic stroll – that quickly becomes a brisk walk. The pedal is still firmly pressed to the metal, ‘Foreverless’ effortlessly swinging from melodic metal to galloping metal to head bang-able metal. Now all good things have to come to an end, and so does this album. ‘The Nightmare Of Aeon’ brings the curtain down on what has been a superb metal album – one of the best released in recent years, and definitely one that I would recommend. And as for ‘The Nightmare Of Aeon’ – what a menacing and sinister song. All pace has been dropped in favour of a terrifying mid tempo march – sending chills down the spine and fear to the face.

Overall, a superb album of traditional heavy metal, full of pace and melodious intent, highly infectious, and did I say superb!

TRACKLIST

Arrival
Silent Stone
Ancient Light
Goddess Of Life
The Sculptor And The Stone Lady
Lord Of Sleep, Dreamaster
The Library
Mercy
Foreverless
The Nightmare Of Aeon

https://eliminatorheavymetal.bandcamp.com/
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