Powermad

Stälker play the kind of speed metal that kills you in the crosswalk. No warning, no signal, just screeching wheels of burnt rubber and the howling cackles of the powermad. These wild New Zealanders channel the spirit of the early 80's in a drunken, orgiastic reveling of a post-apocalyptic alternate-past wherein the bombs did fall and only the diesel swilling speed punks survived. Think Exciter circa 1983 but with stronger production values.

"Powermad" is the siren song (hell, it begins with an air raid siren) launching, as it does, with blazing leads and high falsetto shrieks that drag you kicking-and-screaming into a maelstrom of raging speed metal that is less interested in being tight and clinical and more invested in unleashing an ungodly amount of feral energy. Stälker's speed metal runs the keen edge, a switchblade dance of entangled energies straining for release. "Powermad" achieves that release with blistering hot tremelo riffings, buzz-toned bass lines, and a drummer who struggles to maintain accurate time-keeping cuz fuck it, the world's ending anyway.

"Behold The Beast" lulls you into a false belief that a mid-tempo chugger is coming. The opening riffs hearkens onto Tank (as covered by Sodom) but things rapidly spiral out-of-control as the double-time kicks in. "Behold The Beast" is closer to the refinements that mid-80's thrash brought to speed metal but Stälker keep it vintage with the falsetto shrieks and intentional sloppiness.

Neither of these tracks touch the overall quality of the songs on Stälker's previous full-length but they are still a fun, energetic neck workout and worth your six minutes of aural investigation, particularly if bands like Exciter, Razor, and Inepsy float your speed metal boat.