“Quality, not quantity!” always seemed to be the truth concerning releases from Canada in our favourite musical genres over the years. Starting with RUSH, nearly all Metal bands (in the broadest sense) from the land of the maple leaf seemed to be at least good, quite a big lot of them were even excellent. So it is up to the rather new four piece MAULE from Vancouver to continue a kind of tradition. Did they succeed with their self titled first full length album? In my eyes and ears, they did, even though they are far from being a revolutionary act. But I like their refreshing and vigorous interpretation of classic 1980s Heavy Metal, or Power Metal, if you like. The NWOBHM, especially older IRON MAIDEN, are present in the sound of MAULE as well as the finest acts of US Metal, the likes of OMEN, ICED EARTH and METAL CHURCH for example. Yet MAULE don’t come along with vocals in too high ranges, but the vocal delivery is rather rough and powerful, still melodic. All this got garnished with lyrics that deal with those not so unusual fantasy themes and a fine production that puts some oomph into the songs. By the way, talking about the songs: MAULE definitely know how to write some fine classic Metal songs for sure. So, after listening to the album quite a few times, I am pretty sure that “Maule” will have blown up a lot of dust if it was released around 1984 or 1985. But in 2022, songs like ‘Evil Eye’, the fine ‘Maule’ or the mid tempo anthem ‘We Ride’ will surely find their listeners as well – be they old, sometimes sentimental geezers like me or newbies to classic Heavy Metal. For more information check out www.facebook.com/mauleofficial or www.facebook.com/gatesofhellrecords