Stimulans - No Words

*=Staff's pick	Sacrifice* Dust The Road Train* No Words*

Genre	Heavy Metal	Culjo	Vocals
Tracks	4	Darko	Guitar
Runningtime	24 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Self financed	Dabro	Bass
Release	2005	Dole	Drums
Country	Croatia	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Iron Maiden, Accept, Zandelle

Definitely not an everyday occurrence here at Metal Covenant to have a band from Croatia among the reviewed material. Formed about three years ago in the town of Split, Stimulans delivers traditional heavy metal music of the old drill, mostly inspired by classic bands like Iron Maiden, Accept and a little Saxon to name the most observable but there are also influences from the American metal scene in the guitar sound. After a couple of comings and goings in the line up the band finally found a more stabile formation and are now readying themselves for a bigger audience. They've had some attention in their homeland already as opening band for Helloween and Blaze and have been met by overall positive reactions. This 24 minute duration is their first demo given the name No Words and it's been recorded, produced and mixed by the band members themselves and the tracks are up for listening in their web lair.

Sacrifice is the more epic opener in mid tempo grinding fashion that features an introductory riff very similar to the opening guitaring on Iron Maiden's Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Basic riffing but also very rhythmic and effective that also reminds a whole lot of the sound American metal bands usually prefer. The verse section follows a pace and melody that reminds pretty much of Powerslave but still with a more personal characteristic stylishness. The band is also introducing some more melancholic undertones in mainly the guitars but at the same time keeping a quite positive vibe alive. Dust the Road speeds things up to a more metal rocking pace with guitars again mixing old classic 80's sound with American metal style and on this track Stimulans show that even solos are a market they control very well already. Train is a quite aggressive track that tempo wise is located in mid pace but some dynamic tempo changes in the instrumental sections give the song a nice vibe. Again the melancholy plays a big part and gives the sound a nice aura. The title track of the demo is once again a mid tempo rhythmic number with an almost semi-ballad paced chorus and a good main riff going through the whole song. The guitar solo is of the very good sort and I especially appreciate the tempo escalation at the end of that section.

Taken all this together, No Words is a very good demo that shows that Stimulans are very capable of delivering quite an array of varied metal songs and a musical skill that foreshadow a promising future career. The vocalist has a clear and strong voice in the mid range area and has a touch that feels very suitable for the musical direction Stimulans have chosen to follow. It matches the guitars very well and overall enough is shown here to display that the band has lots of talent and potential and I wouldn't be jaw droppingly surprised at all if a record company contacted them any day and signed them for a full studio album deal. Surprisingly good and promising stuff from Croatia.