Steelbreed

Did someone say Brainfever? Expect No Mercy is another one of those lightning fast, aggressive, Teutonic heavy/speed metal bands from the mid 80’s. Like Brainfever, Stormwitch, Stormwind, Living Death, Stainless Steel, Gravestone, and many others, this band hails from Germany and is hell-bent on aggressive melodic metal, pushing the limits of heaviness, and often speed, and driving us ever closer to the thrash sound that was about to take over metal with extreme domination. On this debut album, the band feels young and incredibly hungry, nasty, visceral and raw. Featuring the rough and ready vocal attack of Eberhard Stettner, and the caustically toned, crunching guitars of Frank Thoms this effort is passionate, very heavy, and NWOBHMish, but not as defined, polished or refined as their later works – although enjoyable.

Most of the songs, including the anthemic ‘Iron Cross’ gallop along in Iron Maidenish/Aceeptish Teutonic style, and feature nastily delivered vocals, and quite thrashy vibes throughout. This track is quite a drawn out number, at over six minutes however, and showcases some well-throughout out guitar harmonies and leads, to go with the run-of-the-mill Germanic riffing interlaced with shouted, evil sloganry. The bands self-titled number is very anthemic as you might imagine, and has heavy Brainfever, Motorhead vibes on offer. It’s incredible roughness, and guitar tone (particularly in the aggressive solo) gives off an almost punk rockish vibe. Very cool, and damn heavy, heavy metal, no doubt taking inspiration from Lemmy’s gutsy and influential outfit. ‘Slow Down’ does anything but, and is a mish mash of wannabeJudas Priest grandeur, and aggressive, speedy NWOBHM with Tysondog, Tank, Venom springing to mind.

Altogether this is nasty, and very heavy aggressive German speed/heavy metal that refuses to relent on badass attitude and angst. If your into the aforementioned Brainfever, Stormwitch, Stormwind, Stainless Steel, Gravestone, Motorhead et al you may get a kick out of this raw, nasty effort. For the most part it’s fairly well-done, but it feels very rough and unpolished, which is certainly more than a little intentional. A couple of the numbers feel a little too rough, and a bit plain (‘Heavy Traffic’) but are utterly listenable, and have a charmingly filthy guitar tone (listen for the solo). This is enjoyable aggressive traditional German metal that is fairly unknown. The band would sound a little more refined on their latter material due to some personnel changes and a slight change in direction, but you could do worse than this rookie offering. Worthwhile if you’re into this sort of thing.

-DeathRiderDoom