Sometimes you just need some form of Metal other than extreme. Sweden’s Heavy Metal act STORMGOAT is here to fill in that gap. Relying on an old school sound with a little biker bar vibe mixed in, Andreas Persson (guitars and vocals), Anders Eklund (bass) and Johan Ahs (drums) bring us a raucous, rollicking party to swig some beer to. The first track ‘Deathdealer’ is a swaggering, chugging, head-bobbing, fist in the air delivery to set the tone for a consistent album of similar songs. ‘Speed Demon’ is sort of what you’d expect, which is a good thing. This track could have reared its head in the early to mid ’80s with its down and dirty, almost JUDAS PRIEST like riffing. With ‘Nothing More To Lose’, I almost imagine a room full of sleeveless, denim jacket-wearing fans itching for the wrong person to look at them wrong. ‘Blood In Blood Out’ continues the glory of STORMGOAT, a little bit Metal, a little bit Hardrock and an abundance of good, solid musicianship. Persson’s vocals harken back to the style of Metal that tugged on our sweaty black shirts back in the day to open the door to escape generic Pop radio that we all know we listened to before Metal punched us in the face. ‘Lord Of Lies’ slows it down a little, as any good Heavy Metal album will do from time to time. And slowed down or not, it’s a tune that we’ll be singing in our heads when we wake up in the morning after a night of drunken trouble-making. Track 6, ‘Down You Go’ brings it back to a more upbeat pace, but very smoothly. The album continues to the end in a very consistent package. STORMGOAT may not bring anything new to the table, but we don’t really want them to. This is simply Heavy Metal at i0’s finest, raw around the edges with an anthemic plethora of songs we can bang our heads to. For more information, check out www.facebook.com/stormgoat-832735643458784, www.facebook.com/ibdc666