Saufen an der Meile

Monstrously mashing, freewheeling vibes of idiosyncratically hip bands such as Sweden's Helvetets Port and Norway's Flight with the linguistic forcefulness of Witch Blade (which sings completely in Swedish, albeit comically) and enhanced by a touch of Angel Sword's good time rollicking-ness is none other than Essen (North Rhine-Westphalia)'s Spiker, a dual-axed quintet which, under the withering glare of Germany's Dying Victim Productions, authored a couple of sizable sneak previews in the form of its 2017 cassette demo titled Saufen an der Meile - translating to, if my fledging grasp of the Teutonic tongue is correct, something along the festive lines of "Drink at the Mile" - and soon-to-be released Heavy Metal Macht ("wares" to the Germanophile on the street) EP.

By Fritz, this storied Central European nation has done it again; namely, churned out a further raw yet catchy and melodic purveyor of trad metal thrills and swills. Hence, it's with gregarious enthusiasm I expound on the former annotated foray and its four fist-pumping, not to mention rabble-rousing, tracks, however briefly.

No sooner than begins the tautly skidding "Der Straßenblitz" ("The Street Lightning"), you know you're in for a riveting time; all the more so upon realization the whole deal is sung in German, which, while not only permitting Worldly metal heads to brush up on their extracurricular gymnastics, offers up a few knee-slapping auditory hallucinations - such as the one which ruefully pinches my goat in a most sly manner: the exuberant, lowly mid-ranged frontman's honky dory recitation of the relaxed refrain on "Saufen an der Meile" proper (the title itself over and under a couple of times), which, to my amused ears, sounds like "There's something on your mind - eh!".

Anyhow, what's intoxicating about this demo is how the crisply leap-frogging riffs give impression of a (black) top-hatted and duck tails sporting prestidigitate-or repeatedly churning out carrot munching, bopping hares, much like the topsy-turvy and helter-skelter, tight-rope teetering licks and solos evoke a unicycle and birthday hat riding dachshund animatedly blowing into his party horn (or, ahem, blow tickler) while looping around in figure eights. Truly, a real radical rigmarole! (Haha...the "honking" solo notes at 02:19, on "Saufen an der Meile" - the song - remind me of a horny mallard!)

"Kiste Bier" ("Crate of Beer"), for its rampantly excised part, kicks off with a rapidly culminating and thwack-about drum beat/roll soon accompanied by a bumptiously thumping bass line, imbuing the track with a sleazy, honky-tonk ZZ Top meets H. Ports feel which shall never wear thin. As for closer "Der Sensenmann" ("The Grim Reaper", who else?), consider it the demo's darker, yet still adequately shuffling and rough n' tumble, number, akin to perhaps one of the more epic, or evilly broadsword-themed, variations from Witch Blade's Oskurdernas eld.

Once again, Dying Victim Productions has come out with a duly ensnaring morsel sure to turn into a fan most level-headed - as well as spastic - adepts of old school, drunken ribaldry styled heavy metal such as 80s mainstays Accept or Breaker, in addition to modern-day lascivious top s(p)inners Coronary and Leathürbitch. Therefore, proceed to grip Spiker's SADM demo quicker than the barbed lash of a manticore's tail!

(With that, "Jubelnde Schwermetallhagel und Grüße, Jungs!")