Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 07-02-2012, 09:57 AM

Nothing to get too terribly excited about

Artiste: Avenger
Nationality: German
Album: Prayers of steel
Year: 1985
Label: Wishbone
Genre: Heavy Metal/Power metal/Speed metal
Tracks
Battlefield
South Cross union
Prayers of steel
Halloween
Faster than Hell
Adoration
Rise of the creature
Sword made of steel
Bloodlust
Assorted by Satan
Chronological position: Debut
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting Factoid: This was the only album recorded by Avenger, but they later changed their name to Rage and have since had over twenty albums released and are still going strong, with a new one out this year.
Impression: Don't take it too seriously and this is fun metal. They're not reinventing the wheel, but sure, who wants to go to all that bother?
Best track(s): South cross union, Halloween, Faster than Hell, Prayers of steel, Assorted by Satan --- Hell, most of it is pretty good, while not actually verging into great.
Worst track(s): Not really any bad tracks.
Intention: Add to metal playlist. Probably not go much further than that though.
Comments:At first I thought this doesn't look good: any band who titles their album like this has got to be a joke. Then I read about their namechange, their output and their links with bands like Motorhead, Helloween and Saxon, and I decided to give them a little more credit. Besides, any band that has a Wagner in it, and also someone called Jorg Micheal (!) has got to be worth investing a little time listening to! And on first listen I can hear the similarities with Saxon: fast, powerful guitar riffs, a singer who actually knows how to sing and be understood, growly without falling into the “death” style of grunting vocals, similar themes. A smattering of the old black metal, with songs about Satan and Hell, but it's more a nod in its direction than anything serious.

It's fairly generic metal, but then, so is a lot of the music out there, and some not done as well as this. For what it is it's quite good, certainly nothing new or amazing, rooted in the traditions of Sabbath, Maiden and Saxon, with quite an NWOBHM feel to it. Peter Wagner comes across as sort of a viking god or norse warrior, and it's all good fun: lots of fretburning solos, heavy drums, a few neo-classical snippets thrown about in Rise of the creature, and not a keyboard in sight! Good stuff!

07-02-2012, 09:57 AM	#16 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Nothing to get too terribly excited about Artiste: Avenger Nationality: German Album: Prayers of steel Year: 1985 Label: Wishbone Genre: Heavy Metal/Power metal/Speed metal Tracks Battlefield South Cross union Prayers of steel Halloween Faster than Hell Adoration Rise of the creature Sword made of steel Bloodlust Assorted by Satan Chronological position: Debut Familiarity: Zero Interesting Factoid: This was the only album recorded by Avenger, but they later changed their name to Rage and have since had over twenty albums released and are still going strong, with a new one out this year. Impression: Don't take it too seriously and this is fun metal. They're not reinventing the wheel, but sure, who wants to go to all that bother? Best track(s): South cross union, Halloween, Faster than Hell, Prayers of steel, Assorted by Satan --- Hell, most of it is pretty good, while not actually verging into great. Worst track(s): Not really any bad tracks. Intention: Add to metal playlist. Probably not go much further than that though. Comments:At first I thought this doesn't look good: any band who titles their album like this has got to be a joke. Then I read about their namechange, their output and their links with bands like Motorhead, Helloween and Saxon, and I decided to give them a little more credit. Besides, any band that has a Wagner in it, and also someone called Jorg Micheal (!) has got to be worth investing a little time listening to! And on first listen I can hear the similarities with Saxon: fast, powerful guitar riffs, a singer who actually knows how to sing and be understood, growly without falling into the “death” style of grunting vocals, similar themes. A smattering of the old black metal, with songs about Satan and Hell, but it's more a nod in its direction than anything serious. It's fairly generic metal, but then, so is a lot of the music out there, and some not done as well as this. For what it is it's quite good, certainly nothing new or amazing, rooted in the traditions of Sabbath, Maiden and Saxon, with quite an NWOBHM feel to it. Peter Wagner comes across as sort of a viking god or norse warrior, and it's all good fun: lots of fretburning solos, heavy drums, a few neo-classical snippets thrown about in Rise of the creature, and not a keyboard in sight! Good stuff! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 01-13-2015 at 05:18 AM.