Sunday, May 3, 2015

MESSENGER: "Captain's Loot"

Rating: RR
Label: Massacre 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Too many Messengers about? There are at least a couple of Christians hard rock acts from U.S. of A and Sweden. Add the Germans of Francis Blake (vocals), Chainmaster (guitar), Pyro Jack (guitar), Dr. H.R. Strauss (bass), and Merlin (drums), and you might as well hand over the loot. What's up with all those monikers of the eighties past? Produced and mixed by Captain Rolf Munkes at Empire Studio, there's a rather typical Teutonic vibe over the material.

The gunfire attack of the ack-ack are blasting out speedy power metal tracks such as 'Sign of the Evil Master' and 'Asylum X-T-C' with little or none finesse. Sure. They may have the admirable taste and aim of carrying on the torch of fine German acts of the past but fail miserable with their own material. It's perhaps not the greatest of idea to overlook the power of the sing-a-long melody, especially when you are about to cover your metal heroes on the next following five tracks.

Indeed. Kill the King (Rainbow). Port Royal (Running Wild). Black Bone Song (Zed Yago). Dr. Stein (Helloween). Don't Talk to Strangers (Dio). They are all heads and shoulders above the rest, but never even close to sounding as good as the originals. Classic metal is the overall feeling at hand. Sadly the emphasis is on the covers and gives the impression of a band not being able to pen down something decent of their own. Let's hope for better next time.

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