I thought Warball was pretty good (see my review
http://www.live4metal.com/reviews-466.htm). Damn. Link is fucked
EDIT:
Another band that I’d heard the name of, particularly during the thrash years, but never got round to listening to. VR have been in the metal game since 1985, which in itself is no mean feat, and looking them up on the BNR database
www.bnrmetal.com/groups/viru.htm, I think it’s fair to assume that they’ve had quite a chequered history. I raised an eyebrow to see that the band has the vocal talents of none other than James Rivera, of Helstar/Seven Witches fame, along with members and past members of other well respected bands like Chastain and Ozzy Osbourne.
I was expecting some relatively trite music, to be fair, given that the band were described as
“Power Metal”. Of course, I was expecting something in the vein of Rhapsody of Fire, all synthesisers and dragons, and happily I couldn’t really have been more wrong. This is Power Metal that reminds me greatly of the Halford solo albums – and that is some accolade. Straddling the line between guitar-centric good old fashioned heavy metal, the vocal stylings of Power Metal and often straying into drum and riff heavy thrash metal, this is some stirring stuff.
Rivera's voice, is, as usual, absolutely stunning, and remains one of the most impressive in metal. The guitars, courtesy of Geoff Thorpe, with lead guitars being handled by the twin guests of Brad Gillis and Thaen Rassmussen. Founder members, and rhythm section Larry Howe (drums) and Dave Starr (bass), carry themselves with the utter professionalism one would expect from veterans of the scene. Geoff Thorpe has co-produced the album, which is to his considerable credit, given the clarity and distinction between the individual elements. He manages to do the difficult in perfectly balancing the soaring lead guitars, while retaining the dominant punch of the rhythm section perfectly.
The song writing, which often strays into the generic in the realms of the power metal warrior, is of a uniformly high standard. The appeal to the cheese, a constant refrain from the chain mail bikini brigade, is conspicuously missing here, although you will catch the odd stirring vocal chorus, such as with the titular slow-burner, “Warball”. Elsewhere, the songs can carry a palpable Testament like attack, verging on the down right thrash laden – such as with the absolutely excellent track, “Cross Threaded”.
This then, is an album with a rare broad appeal. The Power Metal crowd into, say, the more aggressive stuff from the likes of Primal Fear are likely to find much to like here. Likewise, those die-hard thrashers with a penchant for bands who straddled the thrash/heavy metal divide such as the afore mentioned Testament or Annihilator are likely to be absolutely in their element. One can only hope that such a band of talented and battle hardened veterans can get such a fine album out to a deserving audience
Any thrash influences likely to be included at all ?
