Predator

From the ashes of German metal act Stormblade arose Predator, a superb new power/heavy outfit that seems to get very little attention, something which is quite unfortunate. Nothing they are doing is remotely original, but they have prepared here a ten track debut that is done so well you can’t help but be impressed. Fans of traditional German darker power metal (i.e., not as “flowery” and happy as a lot of European power metal) should really enjoy this, as should fans of heavy/power metal in general.

The first thing worth mentioning is the tremendous production on display here. Everything is crystal clear yet oozes heaviness and crunch, two vital ingredients which put the “power” in power metal. Entirely absent are the tinny drums and thin guitar tones that sabotage so many power metal albums these days. The drums in particular sound great – Batta Hinz, a relative unknown, puts on a hell of a show and is aided by the perfect sound that helps accentuate everything he does. Marko Osterholz’s vocals are also a treat. He normally sings in a mid-range style more typical of the German scene, though every now and then he takes things up a few pitches. Comparisons are tough to come up with – maybe Seventh One’s Rino Fredh, if you’ve heard him, but a little deeper. Most importantly, Osterholz always seems perfectly at ease with how he’s singing, meaning he’s not straining to hit notes he can’t hit or hold. His voice at once evokes feelings of power and control.

Concerning the songs, there are plenty of good ones. The open, “Predator”, is a fast-paced, double-bass driven number featuring a nice melodic break in the middle. “Hollow Words” is another winner with a mix of slower verses and a great chorus backed by strong drumming. Even the obligatory power ballad, “Dream’s Assassin”, is great – Osterholz really shines during the slower portions, sounding a bit like Hansi Kursch at times. The real highlight for me, however, was the last track, the crushing “Night of the Witches”. Again driven by terrific drumming and guitar work, this song perhaps best shows how double bass drums, when used properly and with restraint, can help accent the heaviness of a song instead of simply clattering away endlessly in the background. An awesome song and one of the best I’ve heard lately. With 10 tracks and at a little over 46 minutes for the entire album the length is perfect. Nothing drags on longer than it ought to – this is pure heavy/power metal, short, intense, and to-the-point.

Hopefully Predator can provide us with more terrific metal of this sort in the coming years. Apparently some of the material on this album was written back in their Stormblade days, so I guess we’ll see if future work is similar (very likely, due to the three ex-Stormblade members). Actually, listening to this album you might get a sense that these are veteran musicians at work, and this is true – this is their debut, technically, but these guys have been around for a while, the reason this debut sounds so much better and more refined than most power metal debuts. With this band I could really care less about their lack of originality – as long as they keep producing this sort of music at this high a level of quality I’ll gobble it right up, hopefully along with so many others who eventually discover this hidden gem of a band.