Yes, yes, I know. Another album we’ve had for ages but which I’ve reviewed after release. Again I cite the usual excuses based around “other stuff taking up my time” and I feel especially bad as, after one listen, my immediate response was “I need to tell more people about this”.
The opening guitar tones of “Manifest Destiny” had me thinking of Carcass, but the band are definitely more of a traditional metal act and I could spend a while pointing out a few Maiden-esque tweaks and influences throughout. Musically they’re fairly obvious but it’s worth pointing out that Tantrum also throw together some good lyrics as well – something quite a few bands struggle with.
With songs based on Greek legends, homelessness, climate change, classic short stories and more there is obviously no restriction on what Tantrum are prepared to sing about. The first of those, “Minotaur”, is a cracking trad-metal song. Chock full of riffs and quickfire solos it… well, the thing is, it really doesn’t stand out from the rest of the album because every bloody song is of equally high quality.
One that did catch my ear as I had it on in the background while working on the stupid number of video posts we put up earlier was “The Judge”. One of the heavier, more pounding, numbers it features the lyrics “Life is the crime and you will pay”. I’m a 2000AD / Judge Dredd nut so this very much caught my ear. While the song takes influences from the comic, it’s also a story about the original grim reaper as well as Sidney De’ath.
Three songs on the album also form what is called the “Trinity Trilogy”. Aptly beginning with “Manifest Destiny” (the Manhattan Project, hence the name of the trilogy), “Hellbound Planet” (climate change) follows and everything is wrapped up with “Traveller” – a search for a new planet, likely to replace the one we’ve buggered up. The songs are spaced over the album, and the theme is an interesting one.
It’s tricky to review “another” metal album, because there are so many of them out there. However, what a lot of them lack is high end production. So many just sound like they’ve been recorded on the cheap. This very much isn’t the case with No Place For The Damned which absolutely thunders out of the speakers.
With luck Tantrum will be pushing this new release with live dates, and I’d certainly recommend checking them out as and when they do. A hammering release full of classic metal traits deserves to be enjoyed with speakers cranked in a venue that sells cold beer!
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No Place For The Damned is out now
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