Steel Attack - Enslaved

*=Staff's pick	Gates Of Heaven Out Of The Flames Forsaken Bless My Sins Immortal Hate* Son Of A Thousand Souls* Enslaved* Voices When You Dream

Genre	Power Metal	Ronny Hemlin	Vocals
Tracks	9	John Allan	Guitar
Runningtime	46 Min.	Johan Jalonen	Guitar
Label	Arise	Anden Andersson	Bass
Release	01 Oct. 2004	Mike Steel	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Metalium, Nocturnal Rites, Iced Earth

There is so much good music out there that sometimes you only have time and energy to give a band one or two chances to impress you. Steel Attack got their opportunity at Sweden Rock Festival 2002. Then I dismissed them as another one of those B-versions of Hammerfall. Therefore, with their new record in my hand, I almost had the bad review formulated in my head already. When I first started to listen to Gates Of Heaven and Out Of The Flames I got no reason to think otherwise. Sure, the singing was a bit sharper and the riffs somewhat heavier, but this sounded like power metal according to all conventions. But a few songs into the album the pattern is broken and something happens. Just listen to the drums at the intro to Bless My Sins! Something is strange, and the question is if it's for good or bad?

I checked the promo material and found out that according to themselves, Steel Attack has broken with their past, changed most of the members (only guitarist John Allan Forssén is left of the SA I saw last time) and got a totally new sound. Basically, only the name is the same. New singer is Ronny Hemlin, brother to the quite famous Swedish folk/rock (and previous metal) singer Håkan Hemlin (who by the way is responsible for the most terrible appearance I have ever seen on a stage, at Sweden Rock Festival 1998, but that should not be hold against his brother I guess). And no, Ronny does not sound at all like his whiskey-voiced brother, but rather quite alike Henning Basse in Metalium.

The higher vocals are mixed with some growl parts, which is quite striking in songs like Immortal Hate and Son Of A Thousand Souls. Maybe that's why they became my favorite tracks! Although this is much more experimental and varied than I expected, the compositions still are too weak to reach any higher grade. But I like this version of Steel Attack much more than the previous. They have reached something of an own identity and that is always promising for the future.

By the way, what's wrong with the guitar solo on Out Of The Flames? Is it deliberately flipped out, or is it simply as bad as it sounds? One thing is sure, if you like your base drumming double, you'll get your way on this one…

See also review of: Diabolic Symphony , Fall Into Madness , Predator Of The Empire

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6	8	5

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - David