SHRAPNEL STORM
Silo
(Great Dane Records)
40:15min

An intro of air raid sirens, the sounds of gunfire and heavy machinery bursting through the barrage and the cacophony, is something we all have heard many times before as an introduction to Metal albums. I will admit on first listens I was a tad bored and nothing really jumped out at me. Still, I delved further and I began to notice and pick out some cool elements, good and some not so good. After the intro, the lead-off track ‘Wastelands’ kicks in with a rollick thrashing riff, and the gruff vocals of Yka come in and overall give a good SODOM vibe and a great start. As I listened further what I am getting is a kind of thrashier HAIL OF BULLETS and a lot of BENEDICTION. Track 3 ‘Justice And Glory’ has a moment mid-song where you hear the bass player go off on his own for a bit. It is both cool and unexpected, because you don’t typically get that in some Death Metal. Well, let me rephrase that. You normally don’t hear that, because of production reasons. On that note, you can hear it rumbling along on some tracks and I appreciate that. There is some interesting riffing and time changes happening on ‘Icon Of Destruction’ and the sort of shout-along chorus as well, could be great in a live setting. Throughout the tracks, you get some headbanging moments that draw you in. This I feel is their strong point, the guitars. I think that borderline Thrash element carries them. Now onto some of the not-so-good. The vocals can become sort of monotone after a few songs. A more varied approach would make the songs and the lyrics come alive. Speaking of varied again, the songs themselves tend to sound a bit similar. They don’t have much variation and lack a bit of distinction. The song ‘Kinslayer’ starts off with a heck of a riff and has the song progresses well, but the vocals kind of make it sound similar to the aforementioned ‘Wastelands’ track. Overall not a bad release but I fear with some people it could be a one-and-done type of listen. Instilling more dynamics in the songwriting could really draw more fans in. Give them a once over. Info can be found here: www.facebook.com/shrapnelstormband, www.facebook.com/greatdanerecords

Will “Bones” Lee

Will "Bones" Lee

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