From the first time I listened to the first single ‘’Blitz’’ of STEEL INFERNO’s new album, I felt really enthusiastic about it. What a nice feeling, I thought, to listen to some Speed Metal music like it’s 1985. So, as it was obvious, the expectations were starting to grow, regarding this album. I believe that the final outcome justified the initial expectations in the best possible way.
‘’Rush Of Power’’ is the fourth full-length album of the band that hails from Denmark, which was formed back in 2012. The band started with a female vocalist (Karen) which participated in the first recordings and the first couple of full-length albums. The current vocalist Chris Rostoff (real name Christian Andersen) arrived in 2020 and has firstly singed in their previous third album.
Their recent fourth album has the title ‘’Rush of Power’’, which is very indicative of what this album is really about. A real outburst of Speed Metal adrenaline and power. It is comprised of nine songs with a total duration of around 34 minutes. All the songs are exceptional of their kind and no fillers can be found here. Just pure energy and killer riffs with amazing vocals.
In general, I believe that in this album the new vocalist delivers an amazing pandemonium of his vocal abilities. He totally unfolds his talent at an astonishing extension and proves himself as an excellent singer for the genre.
He totally reminds Bobby ‘’Blitz’’ Ellsworth of the early OVERKILL era, with his exceptional expression, shrieks mixed with melodic and anthemic, dramatic, soaring but aggressive choruses.
Discussing about influences, if someone’s also into first albums of AGENT STEEL, HELSTAR (‘’Distant Thunder’’ era), early METAL CHURCH, HALLOW’S EVE (‘’Death & Insanity’’ era) or even to thrash metal acts like EXODUS with late Paul Baloff in the vocals, then this is the perfect album for you, as it was for me.
The album gallops in a frantic rhythm, the songwriting entails inspiring and hooking riffs by the two guitarists Lars (Lars Lyndorff Krelskov) and Jens (Jens Andersen). The rhythm section makes the wall of their sound really cohesive and dynamic like an artillery bombardment with the pounding drumming of Krzysztof Baran and the killer bass lines of Thierry Zubritovsky.
Listening in the last days to their full back-catalogue, I feel definitely sure that the band has delivered by far their best album up to now, from every possible way. Personally, I am absolutely convinced that this album is one the two best Speed Metal albums that I listened to in 2024 (the other one is LEATHERHEAD’s self-titled debut).
If you have never listened to STEEL INFERNO before, now is the perfect timing to do it. Their latest and best album of their discography is a tornado attack of pure adrenaline.
‘’Rush of Power’’ was released on the 29th of November 2024 by From the Vaults and is available on LP, CD and Digital format.
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Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
