Out NOW
Via High Roller Records
Words by: Daryl Daryl
Naïve? Perhaps. But like a breath of fresh air from 1981.
The band call themselves heavy metal and list some obvious influences, but I’d say it’s NWOBHM reborn. This time-capsule album is precisely the antidote I needed this month. There appears to be a growing resistance to the overproduction in modern metal, and Zepter are at the forefront, like they’ve discovered a portal in their Austrian rehearsal room that lets them record on machines from the past. The result? Songs that sound like you’re actually there with them. Raw, visceral, human. Not digitally captured for later manipulation and artificial perfection.
Most modern metal exhausts my ears after the first run-through. Worse still, I couldn’t name a single song or pick the band out of a shuffle-play line-up. That can’t be said for anything on Zepter.
Absent are the pitch-corrected vocals and MIDI-programmed canned drum sounds. What remains is a skilled, live-feeling recording of mistake-free songs played by actual humans.
Anaemic guitars, pumping bass, over-excited drumming and vocal melody – not just screams. How refreshing is that? Nothing to challenge your ears when getting to grips with these tunes. The tone is straight out of the ’80s and complements the writing perfectly. From proto-thrash rhythms to twin-lead guitar, the album has it all. It’s like being 16 again and discovering your friend’s dad’s old vinyl stash. You won’t get Denim and Leather, but you will get that experience.
The band cite early Iron Maiden (from The Soundhouse Tapes to Killers), Saxon, Witchfinder General, and Saracen amongst their NWOBHM touchstones. Guitarist/vocalist Lukas describes their sound as
‘A mixture of Thin Lizzy and UFO of the Schenker era, combined with elements of early speed metal by the likes of Acid and Slayer, as if they had been already around in 1978.‘
Standout track Exterminator channels Trespass and Tygers of Pan Tang at their peak. Eight great tracks including a cover of Screem’s Lonely Night.
If you miss the good old days, this album is for you… they’ve just come back.
