STORMBRINGER
“BLOOD AND RUST”
Album Review By Iron Mathew
8/10
Stormbringer are a rock/metal band from the UK formed in 2011 who released their debut album in 2013 with their follow-up in 2015.
Setting the scene is the atmospheric instrumental opener ‘Blood And Rust’ that gives way to the barn storming ‘No Redemption’, the guitars chop, the vocals are venom fuelled and the rhythm relentless. ‘Rise’ is a raucous blast and introduces death metal style vocals too, giving ‘rise’ an intriguing twist as it thunders through. ‘Unto Me’ displays a chainsaw style guitar riffage and a hard edged melodic vibe too. Brutal guitar riffing brings ‘Ashamed’ to life as it builds into a mid tempo crescendo of very heavy guitars and a vocal performance that varies to match the tone of the song.
With a twist and turn, the tone of ‘No Return’ is lighter than the rest of the album. Not so dark and menacing as what has gone before ‘No Return’ is a slab of melodic hard rock. ‘Bad Blood’ picks up the tempo and energy levels and is a full tilt heavy metal stomp with an anthemic chant style chorus. ‘Off The Edge’ sounds more progressive metal, chopping and changing its style and sounding rough and tough. Attitude and angst laden it still bristles with energy.
‘Cross To Bear’ heavys things up and continues with the dark and menacing style heard previously, guitars duelling, thunderous rhythms and an awesome vocal rasp of a performance. The hard edged melodic heavy metal style returns in the shape of the seven minute epic ‘Voice Of Demons’. Sounding like a darker version of Iron Maiden, ‘Voice Of Demons’ is a swaggering slice of good old British heavy metal. The album is brought to a close with a swash buckling rendition of the Talking Heads ‘Psychokiller’ (off their 1977 debut album), buzzsaw guitaring and a menacing vocal performance.
Overall, bristling with energy and laden with attitude, Stormbringer do exactly what their name describes. Button down the hatches, you’re in for a wild ride.
TRACKLIST
Blood And Rust
No Redemption
Rise
Undo Me
Ashamed
No Return
Bad Blood
Off The Edge
Cross To Bear
Voice Of Demons
Psychokiller
This review was written for Frenzy Fire [http://www.frenzyfire.co.uk/fa_stormbringerreviews.htm]
http://www.bringthestorm.com
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