The legendary British heavy metallers CLOVEN HOOF return with their ninth album “Time Assassin”, and the expectation is quite high as their previous record, “Age of Steel“, gave some excellent samples of heavy metal such as βJudasβ, βTouch the Rainbowβ and βVictim of the Furiesβ that the old fans liked a lot. Their new effort follows the same direction, with a much stronger emphasis on powerful and high-energetic songs.
At first, we must say that with this album the band puts an end to the wishful thinking of some old fans who still hope for an album similar in sound to “Dominator” or “A Sultan’s Ransom“. “Time Assassin” follows the CLOVEN HOOF sound from 2005 and afterwards, and some songs present the heaviest face of the band until now. βLiquidatorβ and βLords of Deathβ are perhaps the bands most aggressive songs, like a mixture of JUDAS PRIESTβs “Jugulator” with ICED EARTHβs “Horror Show“. The same holds for βTime Assassinβ and, in general, half of the albumsβ songs are in this direction. Difficult, non-melodic songs, quite aggressive, that the old fans of the band will probably wonβt like, but some more modern heavy metal fans will perhaps find the power and the energy of those songs appealing.
The big surprise of the album comes in the last 4 songs. The melodies we met inΒ “Age of Steel” return and raise the level of the album. Especially βTokyo Knightsβ and βCarnival of Lost Soulsβ are very good tracks, and itβs a shame that the album doesnβt have more songs like those. βBeltaine Fireβ and βHighway Manβ are also good, with nice melodic vocals by George Call, who doesnβt sound like an angry version of βRipperβ Owens, like in the first part of the album.
In general,Β βTime Assassinβ has a lot of energy and power and the fans of modern power/heavy metal will like the album in its totality, but perhaps a more traditional fan would expect more melodies and less βscreamsβ and βnoisy productionβ. But even for the traditional metalheads, the album has several βclassicβ and more melodic moments that those fans will enjoy and appreciate.