METAL INQUISITOR – Doomsday For The Heretic

From the inner deeps of the German underground comes Metal Inquisitor, and judging from what can be found on this effort, there’s no reason why these cult-metallers can’t step out of the shadows and into the spotlight -– there is some very cool stuff going on here indeed.

The band, consisting of El Rojo on vocals, Blumi and T.P. on guitars, Kronos on bass, and Havoc on drums (maybe the pseudonyms could benefit from a second evaluation) have existed since 1998, and during their 7 (soon to be 8) years of existence, they have so far released two demos, a split 7” with Ritual Steel, one contribution to a Brazilian Black Sabbath tribute, one 8 song cassette tape (gotta dig that old music cassette format!), and finally the debut full-length album, The Apparition, which was released in 2002. Also, the band have been performing at the Rock Hard and Keep It True festivals, and are scheduled for next summer’s edition of the Headbanger’s Open Air.

The band play, not surprisingly maybe, a very traditional style of Metal –- Dio, Rainbow, The Last Command-era WASP, Saxon, and Iron Maiden are key bands to describe their sound. They are not at all that focused on speed, as are many German contemporaries -– which indeed is a good thing as the faster songs become a fresh touch rather than an annoying fog of sound -– and base their music on sweating guitar riffs, and very “British” vocal melodies.

The band plays well, and although never overly spectacular, the performances on this album are solid and more than good enough to make the album enjoyable in that department. Guitarists Blumi and T.P. put on particularly memorable performances in songs like “Recall of the Heretical Past,” and “M1 A1.” El Rojo’s vocals are definitely not aimed at the fans of Il Divo or Andrea Boccelli, but they work just fine for any anti-social, perverted, Heavy Metal animalz. Overall, his vocals can be described as a mix of Rob Halford’s midrange and Biff Byford, for the less metaphorically oriented out there.

After a short intro, the album kicks off with one of its highlights, the very melodic title track. A cool guitar theme leads into a very Rainbow-influenced track full of good Metalry. The guitar sound is clean and crisp with just that little, out-of-tune “edge,” which adds the final touch of “feel” to it, a trait the guitar mags (and all of a sudden also Metal Express) keep raving about.

“Restricted Agony” and “Thane of Cowder” (a bit influenced by Jag Panzer’s excellent “Thane of Cawdor” maybe?) follow in good manner, before the instantly moving “Star Chaser” (with a very entertaining 70s feel to it) takes over and stands forth as the album’s second highlight. The chorus is very simple, yet effective, and clearly festival sing-along material. “Midnight Rider” is a slower-paced track with guitar riffs that may remind both of Maiden and Manowar’s slower moments, and it too works well indeed.

Now, when one almost begins to think that this band cannot fail, they suddenly do. “Legion of Grey” is the Inquisitor’s take on Motörhead, and unfortunately it’s a rather unsuccessful one. The riff is too obvious and for the first time on the album, Rojo’s vocals sound out of place. The drum groove is cool, though, but still this track is the weakest on the album.

“Infamia” is far better, clocking in at an ambitious 8 minutes. Luckily, it has all the majesty and might of longer, more epic tunes, and what could easily have become boring actually ends up as one of the album’s best songs. Neither “Logan’s Run” nor the closing “Invader” manage to live up to this standard, though, and it’s good that the fast and furious “M1-A1” (what is this, a tribute to the art of the highway?) drops by in the middle to show that the band hasn’t lost their touch. An intense and very headbanger-friendly reincarnation of the memories of “Fast As A Shark” and “Painkiller.” The ending section of the album is a bit more uneven, then, but all in all this is still an excellent effort by an up-and-coming band. If this album was shortened down from 12 to 9 or 10 songs, they’d have a very good candidate for the Traditional Metal album of the year, and it is without a doubt that this is a talented bunch indeed.