The Swedish band AIR RAID returns with its fourth album, โFatal Encounterโ. The album continues the change which began with the previous record, โAcross the Lineโ, where the classic heavy and speed metal sound of the first albums, was enriched with many neo-classical metal influences.
โFatal Encounterโ is also the second consecutive album with Fredrik Werner on vocals who sounds magnificent throughout the entire album; imagine a mixture of Graham Bonnet and Tony Martin. Actually, the entire album is in this style, a blend of Yngwie Malmsteenโs โOdysseyโ, BLACK SABBATHโs โHeadless Crossโ and Axel Rudi Pellโs โEternal Prisonerโ.
The albumsโ opening track is perhaps the only one that goes back to the first two albums of the band. Speedy and classic heavy metal for those who liked that period of AIR RAID. But the rest of the album follows the neo-classical direction we described before. Especially the track โLionheartโ is great, one of the band’s best songs that the fans will love. โOne by Oneโ is also among the best moments of the album. It is up-tempo but very melodic and catchy. Fortunately, the album has a number of other good songs too, such as โSee the Lightโ and โEdge of a Dreamโ.ย Of course, we must mention the albumsโ last track which is a cover to the amazing โPegasus Fantasy (Saint Seiya)โ. Great cover, with an updated heavy metal sound.
AIR RAIDโs new album is trying to combine some of the NWOTHM first days of the band with the neo-classical sound of โAcross the Lineโ, giving priority of course to the latest era. This makes the album a very good choice, especially for those who would like to hear something in the vein of โOdysseyโ, or โHeadless Crossโ, and miss that sound and feeling deeply.
Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
