What? You've never heard of Skull Fist? What, do you live under a rock or something? Well I might as well write some info for YOUR benefit then!
Skull Fist are a Canadian Metal band that have released a total of two albums (at the time of typing this). Their first album borrowed a few tracks from their 2010 five track LP "Heavier Than Metal" which, in my personal opinion, is a great listen if you're into 80's Metal. From the guitar harmonies to the screeching vocals, this band certainly knew how to crank out the old school sound.
But the question is: does their latest effort maintain the same passion and love for Heavy Metal or have they pulled a Black Tide and turned into whiny Metalcore dweebs?
Fortunately, the answer is the former.
Track one, Hour To Live, not only bursts in with a furious set of riffs but also allows the new drummer, Chris Steve, to try and make an impact and try he certainly does. There's plenty of energy in his work, employing double-bass and what I call the "Speed Metal beat" but since the band have still kept their toned-down sound akin to 80's Metal acts like Keel and Crimson Glory, it lacks the necessary power that an opening track with such speed and enthusiasm deserves.
Next up is Bad For Good, another good indication that the fire hasn't died with these lads. Their music still sounds like it's from a mysterious new album uncovered after 30 years, mostly due to the riff and solo-work from Jackie Slaughter and Jonny Nesta respectively. However, even though this track is rather average, it's the next one that finally grabs you.
Track three is the title track, Chasing The Dream, and it also sounds a lot more like their 2010 material. Same rhythm, same high pitched vocal work (also from Jackie Slaughter) and overall, the kind of song that should belong on many a Modern Metal compilation (maybe if songs like this did, those compilations wouldn't be bloody awful). If I was a betting man, I'd say this is the one the band had the most confidence in after recording the album.
Following on is Call Of The Wild, a track with an all-too familiar gallop and some decent bass licks from Casey Slade too. It also proves that one of the advantages of writing contemporary music that clearly belongs in the past is that you have a wider range of influences. The dual guitar and bass in this song during the chorus clearly borrow elements from the Paul Di'Anno era of Iron Maiden, whilst the steady gallop is mostly typical of the Bruce Dickinson period.
Fans of "Heavier Than Metal" will know track five as it's a rerecord of their LP opener, Sign Of The Warrior, albeit slightly beefed up with guitar harmonies, fancier fretwork and more prominent back-up vocal work to give it a more polished sound. However, for the most part, it's the same song that you'll still enjoy if you liked the original. Kicking off track six with a riff to make air guitarists moist, You're Gonna Pay is probably my favourite on the entire album.
Sure, it's more of the same but I would argue it has slightly more strength than the other songs, even with the tempo change in the middle. It's the first song where I haven't felt heavier drums or guitars would benefit the sound. Track seven, Don't Stop The Fight, resurrects the "Speed Metal beat" and gets your foot rapidly pumping again. I feel like I could write an entire essay about all the different factors that make this band perfect for denim-clad fans of 80's Metal. In fact, I reckon I pretty much have done with this review. I mean, come on, even the names of the tracks sound like they were lifted from an unwritten Saxon album.
Shred's Not Dead is the penultimate track, but it also happens to be an instrumental. However, considering the title's implication, you'd think the band would save their best soloing for this track. Unfortunately, it tends to blend into the sound of the rhythm guitar and drums. Luckily, there's also some notable bass at the end of the song so it's not a complete loss.
Finally, there's Mean Street Rider, another track that could easily slip into their earlier work undetected and still provide an awesome and coherent listening experience. Coming in at just over five minutes long, this song also has a section where both drums and guitars take turn soloing. As a result, it kind of steals some of the previous track's thunder. However, all in all, it's still faithful to the Skull Fist sound so you don't need to worry about the band stumbling on the dismount.
The 2010's are proving to be the Decade Of The Comebacks and not just in regards to bands from the 70's/80's releasing new material. Newer bands are still recording albums that go against the mainstream sound, falling into the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal subgenre and providing fans of old Metal with something to sink their teeth into that doesn't have soft melodic piano sections or a vocalist screaming like a constipated pig.
As a band, Skull Fist are perfect if you like groups such as Helloween, Gamma Ray and Running Wild. In fact, if you like Skull Fist, do yourself a favour and check out other NWOTHM bands like White Wizzard and Enforcer. As an album, "Chasing The Dream" is spot-on if you want to play it in your car whilst speeding around pretending you're in Brutal Legend.
Select tracks might appeal to you more than others although overall, this is an album to enjoy as a whole. All the instruments range in their speed and (in the case of vocals) pitch so it's not a case of the exact same track copied and pasted start to finish, although due to the lack of differentiation towards the end of the album, I would give this a 7/10.
Apologies for the shorter review but I've been feeling a bit bleh recently and if I'm being honest, an album like this doesn't need a huge write-up. You could listen to about three random tracks and get an accurate representation of the whole thing. Besides, February is a shorter month so why not a shorter review? Anyway, come back towards the end of March for another blog post that may or may not be on "Aftershock" - Motorhead.
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