Sweden keeps spawning new exciting traditional Metal acts, and the newest hope for the revival of true steel is called
Katana. Their debut offers lots of exciting, well played old school Metal!
Hailing from Gothenburg,
Katana released their first EP,
Heart Of Tokyo in 2006. After some line up changed, the current line up was established in 2008.
Heads Will Roll marks their full length debut, and is to be released January the 28th, 2011!
Livin' Without Fear opens the album and with its melodic, catchy and intense profile immediately making an impact on the listener. Right from the start, it is very obvious that the band members are familiar with a certain band called
Iron Maiden. The guitar and bass work is very Maiden-ish, as well as the structure of the song reminds me of the early period of the Brits.
Blade Of Katana is a great song, that will capture the listener immediately, with its catchy refrain and galloping rhythm. The chorus will have old school Metalheads screaming along from the first listen!
Phoenix On Fire is one of my favorites on the album, very melodic and with a great chorus. The band slows down a little bit here, showing us they are capable of writing more melodic tunes as well.
Heart Of Tokyo is probably the first song that will grab your attention. So catchy and energetic, it is already the band's own little hit.
Asia In Sight marks the tougher and slightly less catchy side of the band, one of the album's heaviest tracks.
Across The Stars is a song that's easy to overlook the first time you listen to the album. Slightly less catchy, it shows a different side of the band's talent and adds to the diversity of the album. The song really grows with time, and has ended up one of my personal favorites.
Rebel Ride is an instantly recognizable and lovable hymn to freedom and the wild life, one of the album's finest tracks. The song relies on some very capturing, fast riffs, and is sure to be stuck in your head right away. The riffs in this song just has so much classic Rock 'n' Roll feeling to them and sends my thoughts to acts like
Judas Priest and
Accept.
Quest For Hades is the band's slightly epic story about love beyond death and the gruesome travel of a young girl to Hades to save the man she loves. The almost commanding vocals guide the listener through the epic story and draw you into the world of the song. It is an exciting track, with lots of twists and turns, it offers a lot of variation and has a way of sucking the listener into its world. It actually feels longer that its 6:51 Minutes - and I mean that in a good way; it has that epic quality to it. One can't help but be reminded of Iron Maiden's classic tales in the same vein, like
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner,
Powerslave and even
Alexander The Great. Clearly, the band was aiming for something like this, and the result is splendid!
As you can probably already guess, there is one band,
Katana seem very influenced by, and that is of course the mighty Maiden. It's great having new bands that proudly wave the flag of traditional Metal, and sound as great as
Katana! Other good old honest acts that come to mind are
Accept,
Judas Priest and
Stormwitch - singer
Johan Bernspång even reminds me a bit of
Andy Mück. In other words, timeless, classic Metal!
The musicianship and songwriting skills of the band are great! Singer Johan Bernspång is a great highpitcher as well as having that melodic approach; he can scream with anger and sing with passion equally well. An important asset for the band. The guitar work is very Maiden -ish, and the soloing is great. The bass is detailed and the drums offer a lot more variation that is often the case in this style. Overall, solid musicianship.
The only slight criticism I can come up with is, that, like so many bands playing this style,
Katana need to shape their own identity a little bit more. Having heroes and following the old way of Metal is great, but the influences shine through a bit too much on occasion. Nevertheless, shaping a complete identity is a long journey, and seen as a debut, Heads Will Roll is completely awesome!
Heads Will Roll is sure to turn some heads in the Metal scene, and be an instant hit with old schoolers!
Written by
Nina Monday, November 29, 2010
Show all reviews by NinaRatingsNina: 8/10Members: 8.5/10 - Average of 2 ratings.
Member ratings
 | Stuart (Staff)
Rating: 8/10
After seeing Katana at Sweden Rock this year I was rather looking forward to hearing the b... · Read more · |
 | Craig
Rating: 9/10
My review:
http://www.angelfire.com/music5/metalcdratings/pageKATANACBREVIEW.html
I ... · Read more · |
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