Like every genre, there are peaks and troughs in the popularity of styles. The current surge in bands who are blending high speed power with traditional metal seems to show no sign of slowing and in Tailgunner, we have another example of a band who unashamedly drink in their influences and wear them proudly on their sleeve like a badge of honour.
Tailgunner’s history dates back a couple of years, with bassist Thomas Hewson moving from a previous outfit to put together a band he describes as one “I’ve had in my head since I was a kid: The ultimate Heavy Metal band, with no compromises”. He’s plundered a couple of former Midnight Prophecy members in drummer Sam Caldwell, guitarist Zach Salvini and vocalist Craig Cairns, alongside guitarist Patrick van der Völlering to create a powerful quintet that have delivered a couple of singles and now present their debut ep Crashdive. The production is top quality, thanks to Enforcer’s Olof Wikström.
I would call Tailgunner a heavy metal band. There is quite a bit of speed metal, and old school power Metal in there too” says Hewson. It’s evident from listening to Tailgunner that the influences are Helloween, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, and Judas Priest. The band have a fresh, vibrant style that draws deep from those influences, but they have managed to bring their own style in some small way. The result is a joyous, upbeat 20 minutes which demands repeated listening.
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Cairns brings a huge quality rarely found in metal today. He can really sing with a power and control that catches the ear and dives deep. He’s also joined Induction, a German power prog outfit who feature Kai Hansen’s son Tim. The dual guitars on “Shadows of War” worship at the Maiden altar, with bits of “Tailgunner” (the song) as well as the earlier “Phantom of the Opera” era thrown into the mix. But hey, we all love Maiden, and this brings a quality delivery which is impossible not to nod along with.
It’s non-stop pace from start to finish. “Guns for Hire” zips along at an incredibly high tempo, the riff on “White Death” pushing the band into thrash metal country whilst closing song and title track “Crashdive” is pure heavy metal at its finest. Apparently, it’s inspired by the King Diamond album Abigail in sound but based lyrically on the movie “Das Boot”. It’s certainly a dramatic and impressive conclusion to an EP that really is worth checking out.
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Crashdive is out on December 9th
Check out all the bands we review in 2022 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!