A few months ago I posted my report from the Athenian Three Tremors concert and did a band presentation. Their hell raising performance was the perfect appetizer for the debut album that was finally released after overcoming a last minute complication.
So, what is going on in this record? Nothing less than a rushing outpour of molten American metal! The ingredients mentioned on the package don’t leave room for anything else after all. Tyrant, Ripper and Hell Destroyer totally justify their nicknames by spewing a relentless barrage of screams upon screams that only the band Cage could support. Garcia, Trask, Elg and Pickard lay the basis on which the three sirens present their weaponry and undisputed talents. A true power metal orgy with screams and howls giving way to explosive leads which subsequently make room for more sky high yelps! Painkiller on steroids. And this assault takes place on all 14 songs. The speeds vary from relatively high to supersonic but the album doesn’t lack its mid-tempo epics like Wrath of Asgard which pounds like a battering ram or Sonic Suicide which resembles a punch down low.
If you have forgotten what power metal sounds like, there is no better reminder. This album will not be universally accepted and hailed as a masterpiece and I can totally understand anyone who claims that didn’t find it that good. In an era that demands 70s sounding credentials from all the new bands, soft productions, stripped down guitars and mellow vocals, Peck, Conklin and Owens present their own emphatic musical proposition, far from trends and revivals.
