Battlecross – Rise to Power

Label: Metal Blade, released 21.08.2015

With this band name in connection with such a cover I would have  rather expected Power Metal or classic US Metal but not such core-like Modern Thrash rigmarole. The first guess, however, was not quite off the mark. The opener “Scars” begins with a rather classic heavy / thrash riff before the whole thing turns into staccato-like thrashing and screeching vocals – as a duet. In the middle section a standard melody part is inserted.

“Not your slave” tries to be a power smasher, however, it does not really stay in mind, although there is a very nice melody line in the end. Then, a first small highlight “Absence”, where  the vocals don’t bother me much less than before, but when it comes to the instrumentals it is a flawless song.

The first 25 seconds of “Spoiled” could have been  by Saxon or Accept, and what I mentioned before also applies here: really perfect title that is totally messed up by the singing. “The Climb” is again a rather artistic song, and unfortunately this just pointless raging high speed crushing with Groove in the midsection and howler monkeys, sorry – that does not work for me. Likewise, “Blood and Lies”.

In “Bound by Fear” my thumb twitches upwards again, although the vocals are still the same, but the song sounds like a unified whole, even featuring a slight black metal edge. For the last two tracks the above mentioned is valid once again – the vocals can’t appeal to me at all, the instrumental part is at least ok. I guess I know why don’t like Children of Bodom’s similarly screeching style, but at least Battlecross spares us the Keyboard wanking. Whether this is a plus point, is probably not really worth any further consideration.

www.battlecrossmetal.com