Enforcer is an easy band to poke fun at. Though from Sweden, they play a retro style that seeks to hit the sweet spot between NWOBHM and early American speed metal acts like Abattoir, Jag Panzer and Attacker, with the occasional dose of hair metal/cock rock tossed in for shits and giggles. This style calls for a fair amount of skin-tight white jeans, hairspray, bullet belts and overall silliness pasted on a rickety frame of Iron Maiden and Saxon riffs. How that strikes you is a very personal matter and I’m not one to judge (that’s a lie. I’ve been silently judging you all for years).
Heavy Metal
Jorn – Symphonic Review
Really? The almighty Jorn Lande needs an introduction? I’m sure Steel Druhm has probably covered this before, but alright, so where to start – He’s the Father of all the Gods and is usually seen with his two ravens close at hand, them being Huginn (Thought) and Munin (Memory) [for pictures of said ravens check out the covers of Spirit Black, Dio, We Bring Heavy Rock to the Land and now of course Symphonic]. I see Wikipedia says he’s the God of magick, wisdom, wit and learning…fkkkkkk wrong Wiki page, that’s what happens when you get your Norse Gods confused (I swear it was the ravens that threw me)!
Circle II Circle – Seasons Will Fall Review
I’ll run the risk to my metal cred and admit I was a pretty big fan of late period Savatage. Albums like Edge of Thorns and Handful of Rain were so loaded with pre-Trans-Siberian Orchestra bombast and cheese-wizardry, they were nearly impossible to resist (despite my occasional snickers at the unhealthy Velveeta factor inherent therein). One of the big selling points was Zak Steven’s impressive vocal work. Though I always had a soft spot for the ten-pack-a-day rasp of Jon Oliva, Stevens breathed new life into the Savatage sound with his deep, powerful delivery and dramatic leanings. When he split off to form Circle II Circle, I wanted to be a big supporter, but too often the mix of mid-tempo hard rock/metal just didn’t push my buttons the same way. After five albums of material in the same vein as Jorn Lande’s solo albums and the Allen/Lande project, only Watching in Silence and Burden of Truth stood out, with the rest feeling like tepid exercises in mundane writing and generalized malaise. Now comes platter number six, Seasons Will Fall.
Audrey Horne – Youngblood Review
Members of Enslaved and Sahg don’t always do hard rock side projects, but when they do, it fucking kills! Norwegian rock hasn’t sounded this good since….well, ever. Audrey Horne is the real deal and Steel Druhm is here to give you the spiel.
Things You Might Have Missed 2012: Silencer – The Great Bear
One of the records I meant to get to but never was able to was this modern thrash metal epic from Colorado’s Silencer. This record is a bit of a unique one, actually, but it grabbed my attention immediately because it’s a concept record about the space race between the USSR and the USA from the perspective of the Soviets. Strike you as weird? Yeah, me too. But I was surprised upon giving it a few listens to see that, indeed, The Great Bear is a very ambitious and cool record – but completely unpretentious despite the seemingly obscure and borderline esoteric topic.
Paradox – Tales of the Weird Review
Paradox has been knocking around for ages, with few albums resulting. Steel Druhm is here to fill you in on the latest from these Germanic mavens of melo-thrash. Can one of metal’s least prolific bands sway the nostalgic metal heart of the Steel One?
Flotsam & Jetsam – Ugly Noise Review
Flotsam & Jetsam is back to follow up their fairly successful 2010 opus, The Cold. Steel Druhm wanted to see more of the same, but he may have to learn to live with disappointment. Lots of it! At least the title is accurate.
Things You Might Have Missed 2012: Kotipelto and Liimatainen – Blackoustic
Steel Druhm is back with more crap you might have missed due to the many distractions of your busy lives. This time, it’s an all-acoustic set by members of Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica. What? You don’t like acoustic sets? What kind of metalhead are you???
Bloodbound – In the Name of Metal Review
Join us as Steel Druhm takes a short break from power metal to review some crappy power metal with classic metal leanings. Bloodbound is free falling into the abyss of mediocrity and In the Name of Metal is just going to speed the journey to metal’s nether regions.
Orden Ogan – To the End Review
Who doesn’t like Blind Guardian and Rage? Orden Ogan sure as hell does, as their new opus ably demonstrates. Its rich, creamy German power metal all day long on To the End and there are enough layered vocal harmonies here to choke a white whale! That means there are lots!