Trial by Fire

Mean Streak could be best described as a guilty pleasure that you don't have to feel guilty about liking, primarily because while they play a style of hard rock-leaning power metal that is normally associated with cliche and occasional goofiness, they don't come off that way. To be sure, they play around with a mixture of ideas that have been kicked around since the early 80s and seem to draw about as much influence from the likes of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin as they do 80s Judas Priest and Helloween. But for their extremely close proximity in sound to bands like Firewind, Dream Evil, Hammerfall and Metalium, they've managed a level of qualitative consistency and power that makes them an easier band to take seriously, and also one that can appeal to those a bit older who maybe didn't take to the power metal revival that began in the late 1990s. Trial By Fire, their third in a fairly close succession of LP releases, continues this tradition of consistency with maybe a slightly greater helping of old school rock influences that pull them closer to the AOR craze that tended to define the mid 2000s.

This ever so slight change in direction is not immediately apparent, as things start with a heavy dose of familiar tricks of the power metal trade. Coming out with both guns blazing at maximum capacity, "We Are One" hits all the obligatory sweet spots of a speed infused, melodically rich crusher that could pass for Primal Fear circa the early 2000s. Nipping on its heals is "Shine On", which backs the tempo down the a stomping thud with a grooving feel right out of the "Heaven And Hell" approach, a formula that has been exploited without fail by Hammerfall and several other power metal acts since Black Sabbath and Dio first popularized it in the early 80s. Things get a bit more mixed up as the album progresses in terms of style, but they manage to return to a similar place at frequent intervals, as the up tempo shuffling riff monster "Into The Night", and the closer/title song "Trial By Fire" manages to blaze out a few solid riffs while keeping the pace cooking.

Much of what rounds out the other 2/3rds of this album is of more of an older rock/metal flavor and gets a bit more reminiscent of some older influences that are not as commonly employed by most of Mean Streaks contemporaries. The biggest outlier is the extremely subdued and serene ballad "Cast Away", which sounds like it could have been written by Led Zeppelin back in 1972 and features vocalist Andy La Guerin trading out his trademark grit and sleaze for what can be described as the most subdued croon ever accomplished by a power metal vocalist. One the other side of the hard rock infused coin is mid-paced anthems like "A Heartbeat Away" and "Let Love Rain", which are heavy enough to pass for Accept, but the actual riff work and vocal tendencies put them much closer to Def Leppard's Pyromania. In the case of "Hangman's Daughter" things get so blues/rock driven and retro 70s in character that one is almost tempted to inquire as to whether a Great White tribute band got a guest song on this album.

As a complete album, this comes off as maybe a tiny bit schizophrenic, but the band carries it well and all but perfectly emulates each style of old school and present day metal and rock that they bring to the table. The guitar work is generally exceptional, and the soloing is masterful and easily rivals the virtuoso brilliance that Gus G displayed on Firewind's early offerings. On that subject, this album is basically an example of how Gus G's solo albums could have sounded had he opted not to bring in a bunch of pop/rock hack vocalists and kept a more consistent guitar display going. For those that manage to pick up the Japanese version of this release, the fast paced metallic bonus track "The Fugitive" is actually one of the best songs out of the entire pack. Between the solid rocking tunes and the consistently sexy demonic women depicted on their album covers, with Mean Streak the only question left is what more can a guy ask for?