A Night in Trance

Beijingers capable of reliving the rockin’ ‘80s as if they were still happening today: that’s how I would introduce you to Dressed to Kill and I don’t think they would mind too much. Everywhere there are revivalist heavy metal bands who want to pretend their shitty modern lives are shitty ‘80s lives and do so by playing melodic metal that was established and perfected by Iron Maiden and doesn’t really need tampering with. Granted, this five-piece don’t sound exactly like Bruce Dickinson and company, but the vocals at the start of the band’s titular song would suggest otherwise, as would some of the leads played further into its length.

On the website from which I glean much of my new music, Dressed to Kill are compared to the NWOBHM acts Wolf and Soldier, to which they bear some similarity, often making use of big vocals and reverbed guitar solos, while occasionally putting the pedal to the metal in the form of speedy riffs and pounding beats on a slightly muffled drum kit. The mix of laidback material and more energetic exploits proves engaging but not thoroughly attention-grabbing in the heavily populated field of trad metal, largely since the sound of the songs is catchy and non-threatening, proving fun as long as they last though somewhat leaking out the other ear after the EP is over. If that’s intended it suits me fine, because the haring yet gentle verses of ‘Madness’ are pleasant listening, with only ‘Murder City’ hinting at something more aggressive as riffs bite more forcibly and Tie Shuo turns his slightly wobbly high-pitched vocals into a nocturnal snarl.

Five songs is a good size for an introduction to Dressed to Kill, since it allows them to build up momentum in the Running Wild catchiness of ‘Speed Metal Mania’, which reveals the basswork of Hao Chenxi, then change the mood just once or twice for the more atmospheric title track and an interesting cover of A II Z’s obscure NWOBHM anthem ‘The Witch of Berkeley’. I don’t see any particular reason why these guys couldn’t build a following with a bit of luck and a few more good songs to make a full-length, although they acted smartly to put out a very solid but short offering as their first statement. I’ll listen to the next one when it comes out.


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