Crimson Storm – Livin’ On The Bad Side
For anyone reading this who believes that a great new Hard Rock or Heavy Metal album hasn’t been released since the 1990s then to be honest you’re just not looking hard enough.
Right across the world the last few years has seen a rebirth of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal and Power Metal being produced by young bands and young, hungry musicians who are fed up with mainstream music and this is happening right now, and it’s happening where it’s always happened first…..in the underground. Don’t expect to hear this music on the radio or read about it in the pages of Rolling Stone or NME; the mainstream media is now more than ever focused solely on Pop music and that’s very unlikely to change in the near future, but if we look below the surface and do some digging there are hundreds of great new bands producing music that could be straight out of the 1980s. It’s called the “New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal” and it’s time to get onboard!
That’s what we have here with the brand new debut release from band, Crimson Storm. From the 80s sounding Blade Runneresque keyboard intro which kicks into immediate twin lead harmony guitars we’re already hopeful this album isn’t about to disappoint….and then the vocals come in and it’s no exaggeration to say that this could actually be Bruce Dickinson singing with Rob Halford jumping on the mic at times for those high falsetto screams. The resemblance in the voice to Dickinson is uncanny and if it wasn’t for Pau Correas slight Spanish accent coming through in places, this could be a lost 80s Iron Maiden song. We can immediately hear where these guys are getting their musical influences from and I’m totally on board with that.
It’s so much more than that though. Melody, harmony, great songs, excellent musicianship it’s all here, and by the middle of Track 2, Raging Eyes Of Darkness, I’m fully onboard. Everything we want from a great heavy metal album is here, but it’s not just song after song of copy/paste heavy metal. The album has good changes of pace moving from fast-paced double-kick speed/power Metal to driving heavy metal and even grooving, mid-paced half-time passages in parts. Production is good although the bass guitar could at times have more weight in the mix and the vocals could be brought forward in certain areas but this is quickly forgotten as the songs are just so good.
Track 3, Outrageous, opens with a classic air-raid siren effect and then develops with a great sounding Motörhead – Ace Of Spades style riff. Track 5 Nightmare Deceiver has a great melodic/hard rock feel and puts me in mind of early Mötley Crüe. Track 7 opens with some great clean guitar work and then builds into a very Iron Maiden style song reminiscent of The Trooper. By the time we get to the final track, Seven Days Of Mayhem which is actually sung in Spanish, we’ve blistered through just over 33 minutes of really great heavy metal and at this point I immediately wanted to hit play and listen to it again! What a debut album from this band and I for one can’t wait for the next one.
Rating: 7/10
Label: Fighter Records
Released: January 14th 2025
Wayne McAloon | Now Spinning Magazine
