#52 Razorwyre - Coming Out

With the "resurgence" of Traditional metal, as proclaimed by many of the young acts out there, the variety of traditional sounding material being produced is of great extent. "Razorwyre" are somewhat more thrashy than many of the deeply orthodox traditional acts like White Wizzard, but does this harm their sound? No. Razorwyre produce a thrashy, clean vocal, fist-pumping bundle enshrining the spirit of metal with their debut EP - Coming out.

For a short, five-track EP, Razorwyre certainly manage to cram a lot of good music into it. The riffs is thrashy, not unlike Metallica's style on "Kill 'Em All", while the vocals are very smooth, with catchy, business like mid-range sound, with the occasional gang-chant, and over-the-top, impressive falsetto excellently blended into many areas of the song. Musically, the EP is very strong from a guitar and vocal aspect, with a sound in the songs which is a remarkably original twist, despite the overall style being extremely heavily used for almost three decades of the "softer" side of thrash. The thrash stylings of the album, are incidentally, augmented by many nods to traditional and power-metal, especially in the vocal department, and in some of the riffage, such as "Party of Five" which has some fairly noticeable power-metal influence, while still complimenting the other songs on  the album.

I'd have to say that the vocals are one of the factors which made this album appeal to me - The catchiness, especially, is impressive, and the songs are very memorable, with some original and downright awesome sounding structures and vocal hooks which really draw in the listener, especially on "Operation Market Garden" and "Battleshark", both of which are very strong songs. The production of the album also suits it well, with the rough-edged, but respectable production, nicely suiting the gravely, crunchy sound of old-style thrash, which would risk being spoiled by excessively tight, neat and crisp production.

Overall, this is an EP which leaves me wanting more from the band, and it's safe to say that the music is thoroughly addictive and enjoyable. All five songs are well thought-out and solid, without a hint of filler anywhere in sight. This is a band who, had the debut occurred in the early 80's, would have had a classic on their hands, however, even today, this EP suggests to me that the band will go far.

I give the EP 8/10.

Links:
Razorwyre Official site
Razorwyre on Myspace
Razorwyre on Metal-Archives (Yes, their original name was a little different)