Formed in 2007 and releasing their third album, Rebirth, recently are Italy’s Soul of Steel. They’ve had an interesting journey over the last 13 years with festival appearances, high-profile support slots and near-full lineup changes.
They’re very comfortably in the “power metal” category, making full use of the genre’s preference for keyboards. Through some songs, such as “Brothers in Arms”, this lends a 70’s sci-fi atmosphere though this could just be me showing my age! The choppy guitars and solid bass give a complementary backing to most of the tracks, and when the blistering leads kick in the band definitely enter DragonForce territory (although not quite at that speed!).
Where Soul of Steel score is in their ability to create a simple rhythm, a hook, that gets you into each track quite early on. By the time the intro has passed, your toe is tapping and you’re engaged. By the time you add in the guitar solos and the ethereal vocals, you realise that this is a great collection of power metal songs. They’re not as powerful as some acts, I’d place them at the lighter end of the genre, but that doesn’t detract from how much I enjoyed Rebirth.
That’s not to say they can’t belt it out when they want to – take “Blessing in Disguise” as an example – but overall the sound is pretty mild. This isn’t a bad thing, and does make the album an easy listen, while still having enough variety and creativity to keep you interested. Check out “A Margin of Life” as an example. There’s plenty going on in that song!
While not a “classic” slab of power metal, Rebirth is an interesting release from Soul of Steel and one worth seeking out.
Rebirth is out now and available everywhere – grab it on Amazon to support this site
