Reviews: Insurgent, Trance, Hunter, Nitrate (Reviews By Zak Skane, Simon Black, Paul Hutchings & Matt Bladen)

Insurgent – Sentient (Self Released) [Zak Skane]

Insurgent came about when the foursome met in college to form a unique sounding Metalcore band that will have soaring melodic vocals combined with crushing rhythms. Recently (before COVID) the band have already took their music to the Ukraine and have an up and coming six track E.P coming out on August 6. Listening to this album, I got to say this is a really good addition to the Metalcore sound, Katie's vocal arrangements sound superb especially on songs like Colours Bleed, Counterpart and the closing song My Sentence Awaits. Mike's provides some serious drum grooves adding some serious punch on songs like Colours Bleed, Eclipse and Zero Sum. The guitar work (provided by Joe and Jake) throughout this E.P sound astonishing, you can hear the Jinjer and Tesseract influences in their music but it still has their own originality to it. In conclusion the four piece have a great E.P on their hands, their sound is current to the modern Metalcore formula but it still holds individuality as well sounding diverse allowing band open to explore other genres in the future. If you’re fan of Jinjer, Tesseract and Alter Bridge this an album worth checking out, 8/10

Trance – Metal Forces (Metalapolis Records) [Simon Black]

Trance are one of the real granddaddies of Rock and Metal, although not well known here in the UK these contemporaries of the Scorpions have been banging their drum since 1974. They have not had the benefit of a stable or consistent line up in the intervening time however, with several stop and starts meaning that they’ve not maintained the visibility of some of their contemporaries. I have to be honest, in that I’m not at all familiar with their history or back catalogue, so can only judge what I hear in my lugholes right here and now and that’s clearly a very NWOBHM influenced album, but one that has not benefited from the vast improvements in recording and production technology that have happened since they first appeared. That’s a shame really, as the vast experience of the players has meant that this album has some well-written and crafted slabs of Traditional Metal, and a couple of good hook laden anthem foot tappers to boot (of which As Long As I Live is one of the best).

It feels from a quick spin of their history that youthful new singer Nick Holleman has breathed a lot of new life and energy into the band. His voice is distinctive, clear and engaging and he does rather steal the show somewhat. The band are also not afraid to experiment a little, and in amongst the Trad Metal, there’s gems like Deep Dance, which has a positively Tribal rhythm and beat, which gives Holleman a chance to step forward and steal your attention. It’s not all roses though, and there are also a couple of fillers and clunkers in there, of which the title track is the most blatant. If the song writing had stayed consistent and the production was a bit beefier, then this would have raised the bar somewhat, but it does feel that continuing the experimentation may be the way forward for this Teutonic monolith. 6/10

Hunter – The Return (Metalapolis Records) [Paul Hutchings]

There appears to be no stopping the resurgent heavy metal bands from the 1980s. The latest to hit the speakers is Hunter, who released two albums in 1985 and 1987 before splitting up in 1989. The German outfit had quite a history, releasing Sign Of The Hunter and Keep The Chance on Earthshaker and Rockport Records respectively. A return to the studio for a jam session saw the formation of the revised line-up of Rusty Wayman – vocals, Steven Brandy – guitar, Jay Youngblood - guitar, T.H. Bongardinho - bass and Paul "Mosh" B. Herrmann – drums and the band then recorded The Return in four weeks.

If I was cruel, I’d have questioned why they bothered. But whilst the band are at times a bit pedestrian, there is still a market for the classic heavy metal that they play. The influences of Priest and especially Saxon shine out like lit beacons. 

The music is solidly performed, unpretentious and nothing special. Tracks such as the thumping Way To Nowhere, the AC/DC riffs of Call Me What You Want and Talk Of The Town and the reworkings of The Wheels Turn On (an ode to the touring life) and album closer. Watch Out For Metal are all enjoyable without making the listener work. This is music to clean the kitchen or wash the dishes. It doesn’t make you want to spin around or jump up and down and yet, if I saw them at a festival, I would certainly grab a beer and watch them for a while. The fact that they still want to play, the fact that they clearly enjoy it and the fact that they are a million times better musicians than I am makes this a limited but harmless feelgood album. Hunter has my full admiration. 6/10

Nitrate - Renegade (AOR Heaven) [Matt Bladen]

It's not usually we get an AOR album here that isn't on Frontiers Music, but AOR Heaven has been one of the major supporters of the AOR genre for a long while now. Their latest release is from UK melodic roeckers, Nitrate who have almost completely new line up with founding member Nick Hogg joined by Alexander Strandell (Art Nation) on vocals, Dario Nikzad (Hell To Pay) on lead guitar and  Alessandro Del Vecchio (yep him again) taking the keys. On this third album there's also rhythm guitar from Tom Martin and keys from James Martin of Vega, both of whom along with Kimber's Mikey Wilson, co-write with Nick Hogg. Now tracks such as Danger Zone and Addicted remind me a lot of American melodic rock legends Mr Big, Strandell's vocals with a similar range to Eric Martin. 

There's also a very strong Def Leppard sound to the album, the pumping Alibi and Take Me Back along with the massive power ballad Lay Down Your Arms all very similar to the British rock legends, the keys layered like a Greek yogurt, the drums pulsing and the guitars melodic but also riffy. While the title track shifts into early-Bon Jovi the majority of the album sticks with the Def Leppard, sing along quality, even bringing those Mutt Lange backing choirs. Renegade is the most accomplished Nitrate record yet, their third album embraces the changes for the better, so hopefully they can Nick can hang on to these members and the writing partnership for the next record. 7/10