Line of Danger

Just because a mad warmonger gripped Mother Russia is presently engaged in criminally invasive "military operation" doesn't mean its myriad of fist quaking heavy metallers fail to deserve recognition and praise as much as their un-oppressed colleagues in the First World. Enter St. Petersburg's prolific Blazing Rust, a purely bread and butter purveying quintet which, to date, has hit for the cycle with a demo, split, pair of full-lengths and EP.

Released in 2020 on CD under Pure Underground Records (on vinyl through Kattran Records), the rusted-in-chains formation's latest album proper, Line Of Danger, assures a freshly rocking and upbeat take on the thriving trad metal scene over in them Baltic parts, with eight strike zone launched tracks across forty minutes of fully throttling, wheelchair accessible maneuvering. Plus, the crystal clear production allows for each instrument, from the front man's un-accented and perfectly rendered, upper mid range delivery and "blazing" twin guitars to a rock solid, strongly founded battery, to fully resound.

Although all songs rock from here to Vladisvotok, opener "Let It Slide" - a modern day cousin to BTO's 1973 radio smash "Let It Ride" - particularly stands out thanks to its raw cymbal tapped intro and slippery-as-Ад main guitar riff soon yielding wickedly masterful lead flourishes, not to mention steady-handed, no frills tone for the rest of Danger Line's fleeting duration. Also worth noting, vestigial touches of heavy 1980s rock permeate this instantly listenable affair.

Be they the aquiline, hook lined riffs or grandly orchestral leads (alongside our renegade front man's intelligibly phrased verses and refrains), Blazing Rust never falls prey to oxidation (i.e. stagnation), with the sole balladic instance sleekly integrated within hardened radio-active title track, whilst further heliotropic zingers include versatile, six-minute odyssey of "Amidst The Furious Waves", with its bass dominated bridge, as well as Russian spoken word tinged "Race With Reality" and Kiss evocative "Murder", a lyrically top-notch piece of not-so-romantic intrigue belying its blunt, ominous title.

Weirdly, the recent Red Triangle EP features a retrowave remix of "Only To Burn", alongside three new originals, one of which is in Blazing Rust's Cyrillic alphabet based, native tongue. Fans of the genre and rock n' roll in general, take heed.