The Storm Is Just Coming...

This band are pretty much the premier metal provider from their homeland with six full-lengths released in the new millennium, and if we look further back at the two other outfits with whom the band members had been involved earlier, the old school thrash metal outfit Dark Mordor and the thrash/death hybriders Undesirable, then we’re talking the originators of all things metal on Slovakian soil their contribution extending all the way to the early-90’s. Under the new moniker the guys have chosen the classic metal idea again, but this time the approach transcends the mere thrash metal boundaries, and comprises power and speed metal the three ingredients mixed in almost equal dozes on the cool debut which was also characterized by prominent keyboard presence, and very cool emotional clean vocals.

The thrash metal fanbase may have been left a bit let down by the first showing due to its openly mellow at times nature, but on the album reviewed here there are much fewer reasons to complain. The melodic tunes still “roam” around, but now they ornate several admirable attempts at a more complex, multi-layered performance as evident from “The Devil’s Breath”, and especially the top-notch speed/thrashing shredfest “Master of the Lies”, a composition worthy of Manticora and Paradox at their best. On the opposite pole we have the laid-back power metal anthem “With the Devil Inside” (the guys like singing about the Cunning One), but the more elaborate ways of expression keep coming in quick succession until they reach their culmination on “New Age Preacher”, a nearly 10-min opus providing a wide arsenal of time and tempo shifts, numerous twists and turns in the riff department, the obligatory melodic configurations, and a really cool atmospheric, acoustic finale. Three bonus tracks come served at the end as “dessert” one being a fairly decent cover of Judas Priest’s “Grinder”, sped up and made more aggressive in order to match the other two additions “Land of the Shadows” and “Midnight Scream”, both perfectly acceptable melo-speed/thrashers, taken from the band’s debut demo, epitomizing the guys’ staple style quite well.

The high-class vocal performance remains, and the other major asset is the lead guitar which serves plenty of interesting moments throughout some touching the Shrapnel performers at their most acrobatic and virtuoso-prone. The keyboards’ interference has been diminished considerably leaving a lot of room for various riff applications to be more fully developed with thrash stepping up to fill in the gaps left by the absence of too many lyrical escapades this time. The sequel “Shadowplay” deserved its title all over being a faithful copy of the album here, providing the essence of the mentioned amalgam within less than half an hour. With this instalment the culmination of the band’s career having been reached, the band indulged in devious experiments on subsequent efforts, bringing back the keyboards on “War Never Changes” for a not very invigorating power/thrash fiesta, then paying an extended, nearly 2-hour tribute, to all their idols on an all-covers opus (the title says it all), before opting for a poppier, more radio-friendly delivery on “Flammarion” which was a not very impressive, quite banal at times, power/speed metal saga with thrash not given too many opportunities to shine. Any chances for some fierce storms stirred in the band’s camp in the future? Why not, who wouldn’t like to be woken in the middle of the night by piercing screams and raging speed/thrashing guitars?