There was a time in the history of heavy metal, where it was hard to know just where exactly NWOBHM ended, and thrash begun. In fact, arguably before the term “thrash” metal was even in very regular parlance, the “speed metal” term was used to describe this emergent sound. These days, among the years and years of accumulated forum-dwelling genre-policing master-debators, there are some very strict “rules” about what constitutes speed metal. All of which, of course, is a nonsense. I was struck a few years ago, when I saw Avenger (UK) live, by just how much cross over there was between the NWOBHM bands, and the sound of, say, early Slayer.
Enter the band Black Cyclone, who sound as if they’ve unearthed some rare old 12” LP from a British Heart Foundation store in Hartlepool (probably with a badly painted semi-dressed lady on the rear), and decided to cover the whole blinking lot of them. You know what? This isn’t a bad thing at all!. “Death Is King” has it all. Despite being a band from Gothenburg, Black Cyclone really have more in common with the kind of music spilling forth from Newcastle and Neat Records back in 83-84.
From opener “Death Is Crowned As King”, the template for their sound is laid bare. Rampaging, dense riffing, cleanly sung, high pitched vocals complete with the soaring “WaaAaaaAAaaAHhhhHHHH!!!” moments of the time, burbling Maiden-on-Speed bass lines, and the compelling, slightly shuffling drum beats of yore. Better yet, there are some tasty, cheesy yet all so addictive guitar solos. In fact, one is minded of a kind of unholy collision between Manilla Road, Blitzkrieg and early Slayer, with a dark tone and melancholic melodies running rampant.
Is it true metal? Is it proto-thrash? Is it a nostalgic throw back? Frankly, I don’t care. All I know is that tracks such as the self-referencing “Black Cyclone” have all of the appeal of the early Witchery albums, but with a much more faithful appeal to the old bands. So sure, there isn’t much here that’s breaking new ground, per se, but it’s a great album full of absolute ragers that’s had me listening to it on heavy rotation for the last three weeks. No, it’s not particularly inventive. I. Don’t. Care. It has a great, powerful production, but most importantly it has great songs. Remember them?
Top stuff. Hopefully I can catch them live some time soon should they venture across to UK shores.
(8/10 Chris Davison)
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