DEATH DEALER

Here's one for the diehards. DEATH DEALER are not fashionable, absolutely nowhere near the cutting edge of modern heavy music, and almost certain to be dismissed by the same people that shriek "gatekeeper!" every time a metal fan dares to stand up for their favorite music and its fundamental principles. But one thing is undeniable: "Reign Of Steel" is unapologetically metal as fuck. Formed 13 years ago, this meeting of veteran minds was designed to be an unassailable bastion of all things old school. Any band that has former MANOWAR legend Ross The Boss and power metal icon Sean Peck within their ranks is guaranteed to deliver huge, choking doses of the good stuff, and no amount of pop-metal treachery will change that.

If you have red-blooded heavy metal in your heart, this is absolutely for you. If not, please feel free to continue with your frothing support for whichever gimmick-reliant flashes in the pan have grabbed mainstream attention this week. DEATH DEALER will still be here, alongside many other great bands, and making records like this. "Reign Of Steel" is not for everyone, and that's the way we like it. Turn it up, bang your head, and pay your respects to the real thing. This will rip your head off.

The fourth album to bear the DEATH DEALER name, "Reign Of Steel" is bursting at the seams with screaming guitar solos, explosive drums, and vocals that will make dogs shit themselves. While not yet a dying art, true heavy metal is consistently overlooked by metal media folk who have no sense of history, and albums as overblown and thunderous as this will usually be denied the audience they deserve. But that will not stop moaning old bastards from plugging in to the old-school mainframe once again. From the opening clangor of "Assemble" onwards, this is a turbocharged and tumultuous dose of face-ripping heavy metal, delivered by some of the finest ever to do it. The song titles alone should be enough to see off the lightweights: "Devil's Triangle", "Riding On The Winds", "Bloodbath", etc. cranium-crushing metal anthems all, and an invigorating antidote to just about everything else. This side of JUDAS PRIEST, there aren't many bands that consistently hit the bullseye like this. Every song feels like a self-contained tribute to the spirit of our beloved genre, and thanks to a combination of Ross The Boss's unerringly savage riffing and Peck's octave-obliterating howls, the outside world soon ceases to exist.

This is real heavy metal, pure and simple. From the grandiose pomp of "Riding Wild And Free" to the stately, mid-paced muscularity of "Compelled", "Reign Of Steel" is aimed squarely at the leather-clad faithful, making no concessions to modernity (a crisp, ass-kicking production aside) or trend-chasing transience. DEATH DEALER kick so much ass, you may have to call an ambulance. If there is a more exuberantly metallic four minutes than "Dragon Of Algorath" released this year, scowling "elitists" everywhere will be very surprised. Kick drums pummel, guitars are brutalized, and from its none-more-metal artwork to the way that Sean Peck leaves every shred of throat on the battlefield, "Reign Of Steel" is joyously true-to-the-bone and guaranteed to make your liver shrivel. Sign up or cry harder. Heavy metal is still the law.