This one says what it does right on the packet here. I mean a band like Crying Steel isn’t going to be exploring the Blues, Psychedelia or the AOR, it’s going to be rocking right? Right! And rock it does with a wanton nod or two to the giants of Maiden and Priest before it gets down to business.
I mean what do you want from life? These guys throw all the right shapes, make all the right moves, have some more than decent songs behind them that tick all the required boxes, but they’re not going to win any awards for originality. My question to you is does that matter? Do we need Power Metal bands to push the boundaries and challenge the solid steel walls of the genre of just write a stack of decent tunes that get the fists pumping and the heads banging?
This is an album for the converted from the classy openers ‘Hammerfall’ (full fist pumping action) and ‘The Killer Inside’ (A slower build and more of a groove) to the final word of ‘Road To Glory’ (all mid-tempo gusto, assured, driven and maybe even my favourite here).
Now here’s the kicker…
If you find the voice on this Italian band’s album sounding rather familiar then that because it probably is. I’m one for writing my reviews before I read any promotional material and I had a name in the back of my head for comparison and guess what it doesn’t just sound like him, it actually is Mr Tony Mills of TNT fame supplying the voice here!It makes complete sense of course and after a few listens I have to say there is a certain amount of that band in the mix too from the hard rock hooks and riff-driven rockers to the real epics.
Elsewhere the likes of ‘Barricades’ are just so catchy, and you get glimpses of other big names in the mix too from the ‘foot to the floor’ Saxon-like ‘Name of the Father’ to the very end.
If I sound like I’m dismissing this I’m not. I really like this album, and whilst Power Metal and its like might not be my usual listening fare I appreciate when it’s done well and here it most certainly is. Buy a copy and support a great band, I’m putting in my order now…
