Horns up to those that love heavy metal songs from back in the day. Songs like “Run to the Hills” and “Breaking the Law” just to name a couple of the tons of tracks that, when we listened to them, developed and nurtured our love of Heavy Metal. Even today this is true with plenty of new bands going back to that magical time. Hey, they even gave it a handle, NWOTHM, which, for the uninitiated stands for New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal.
Well I’ve just listened to “Afterburner” by Kryptos, and this album fits in perfectly with the NWOTHM moniker and will more than remind you of the spirit of the time as you sit back and take in each track.
This album opens with the title track “Afterburner” and what a classic way to start. There’s hints of Thrash and Power but in the main it’s a pure and clean anthem to the genre and is just tremendous. “Red Dawn” and “Cold Blood” are a bit more epic in that there’s old school shredding guitars with over the top lead breaks. You can just see them on stage with hair being snapped back and forth along with the melody and percussion perfectly in unison.
For mine “On The Run”, “Crimson Queen” and the last track on the album “Into The Wind” are probably the main tracks that shows that Kryptos definitely belong in bosom of NWOTHM. Simple but well-crafted song writing, technical style of guitar work reminiscent in parts of DragonForce, and thunderous drumming along with impeccable production bring the raise the roof moments.
By the way, while your listening to this, check out the artwork for the album cover and then try an tell me that it isn’t classic old school Heavy Metal.
Ok, so there’s no guttural growls or demon inspired vocals but even so, this is a well-crafted Heavy Metal album in the true sense of the word. Now settle in and remember the glory days of Iron Maiden & Judas Priest because sometimes the old ways are the best ways and it seems that everything old is new again
Rating – 4/5
Get schooled here!
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The Metal Wanderlust 