VOLTURE – Shocking Its Prey

The seeds of NWOBHM were deeply planted long ago in the USA and created a winning Metal scene. In spite of the sub-genre’s altitude getting bashed a bit in the last two decades, it didn’t bother bass player Ryan Waste (Municipal Waste) and guitarist Nick Poulos who shaped their old influences and put them into action. That action was the birth of the steel wings of the Volture bird. With this fine emergence, these two guys started something that in the past few years has become a renowned phenomenon, and provides hope that NWOBHM will take back its place to be as popular as it was in the past. One of the first lightning bolts out of this group is Shocking Its Prey. In simple words, it’s pretty much decent.

Shocking Its Prey is beyond being a tribute to NWOBHM and the first wave of Speed Metal. Each and every track on this mini-LP / CD shares a different obscurity within the subgenre. Volture wanted to take another step away from NWOBHM and merged their style with cool Speed Metal beats and feels. Several of the elements of the album’s tracks display the same sense of catch and unrelenting attempts to be diverse.

Taking label-mate Enforcer into the equation as a totem for comparison, there are a few sections of their material, riff-wise, that are rather identical to the Swedes. Even though Enforcer maneuvered in the same direction, Volture turned out to be way rougher and slightly more intense. In order to exemplify it for you, watch out for the band’s excellent melodic high-pitched vocalist, Brent Hubbard, who is a strong asset to this band for sure. He’s like a shout straight out of the 80s, and Volture’s well-tuned heaviness is evident in contrast to Enforcer compositions.
As noted earlier, every single track on this release has something unique to give and displays Volture’s various capabilities and points of musical influence and focus. Traditional as they may be at their core, as an outfit Volture tries to shift between the various old school Metal subgenres, and generally succeeds.

Tracklist

1. Volture
2. Heavy Metal Machine
3. The Horde
4. Night Walker
5. Cheap Thrillz
6. Heathen’s Revenge

Band

Brent Hubbard – Vocals
Nick Poulos – Guitar
Dave Boyd – Guitar
Ryan Waste – Bass
Barry Cover – Drums