Thursday, July 26, 2012

VORPAL NOMAD "Hyperborea"

Rating: RRRR
Label: Metalodic Records 2012
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Vorpal Nomad? Production-wise, clearly a case of the Newcastle and Neat Records sound 'ala 1983! Musically, the lads are paying/playing major tribute to eighties teutonic metal albums such as "Branded and Exiled" (Running Wild), "Reign Of Fear" (Rage), "Battalions Of Fear" (Blind Guardian), "Hypertrace" (Scanner) as well as the odd reference to cult NWOBHM act Angel Witch. At least they totally sound like the next generation of above mentioned bands/albums and it surely must have been Vorpal Nomad's main source of inspiration?

They're actually from Bogota, Colombia (hold your drug-related jokes, please) but could just as easily have been from Bayern or Stuttgart. Their singer (Felipe Machado Franco) is a spot on deadringer for Peavy (Rage) with just a hint of Blackie Lawless (WASP) and Rock N Rolf (Running Wild) for good measure, and there's absolutely no need to worry about any weird vocal accent really. The eighties dated production was mixed mastered and post produced by German producer Piet Sielck of the band Iron Savior.

This is no garage album, nor is it top notch, it's probably the result of lessons learnt from listening to all those old records. It's 'back to basic' or if you prefer 'meat and potato' heavy/power metal. Nine tracks where the opening title track is an instrumential introduction. Titles such as "Skull Island" and "Jack O'Lantern" will obviously have you thinking about Running Wild. But there's more to Vorpal Nomad than pirates and buccaneers as the songs are accessable to plenty of old skool metal fans. Raw, savage, sinister... good.
www.facebook.com/vorpalnomad

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