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German quartet Gun BarrelGun Barrel provides us with a hard hitting album full of hard rocking power metal. That might not be a conventional genre name, but I think it sums up very well the sound of the band. If you were to take the sounds of Motorhead, Grave Digger, and Primal Fear and mix them together, the sound of Gun Barrel would be a very reasonable outcome. For this album, vocalist Guido Feldhausen has been replaced in favor of Xaver Drexler. I would guess that even devoted fans of the band would not notice the difference between the two. Just like Swiss rockers Shakra, Gun Barrel have opted for a replacement lead vocalist that is nearly identical to the original.
Despite being a solid album, Bombard Your Soul doesn’t quite match the greatness of their previous work, Battle Tested. The stand out tracks don’t stand out near as much s the ones on Battle Tested, but still, the album is consistent and it is a damn good one. Battle Tested jumped into my memory upon the first listen, but Bombard Your Soul is the type of album that takes a few listens for that to happen. Even though Piet Sielck is involved with this album, the Iron Savior-isms of Gun Barrel’s sound have lessened this time around. Still, the main ingredients of the band’s sound remain constant on this offering. Xaver’s dirty, powerful, and melodic delivery is right in line with ex lead vocalist Guido Feldhausen’s. The bass work is forceful on this album, giving each of the songs a strong sense of urgency. Each of the songs is fueled by powerful riffs and tasteful soloing. Also, the drumming is once again adventurous, sometimes using power metal double kicks, but also mixing in some beats that will sound more familiar to Scorpions or
While their third album doesn’t quite match its predecessor (not too far off the mark, however), Bombard Your Soul is another excellent offering of German heavy metal that confirms that Gun Barrel plans to stick around the metal scene for a while. The third quality of a band’s third album for me is often indicative of a band’s staying power. Some bands start off with a couple of strong albums, but then begin to fade with their third. This is not the case with Gun Barrel. While this is nothing new or original, these guys do their thing very well, and are establishing themselves as prominent players in the German heavy metal scene. |
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Killing Songs : Dear Mr. Devil, Down And Dirty, Bloody Pretender, On the Road Again |
Mike quoted 80 / 100 | ||||||
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