Death Dealer
War Master Steel Cartel Records / Soulfood
Death Dealer present an album of inspirational, steam hammering, death defying metal, delivered the way Metal used to be, no death growls or cookie monster vocals here! What you have is ten tracks of superb wrecking ball Metal Meltdown of huge proportions. Death Dealer are a super group who have an amazing line up of Sean Peck from CAGE, Ross the Boss and Ross the Boss drummer Rhino, as well as Stu Marshall (Dungeon, Empires of Eden) and bassist Mike Davis (Lizzy Borden, Halford). Everything you could ever love about heavy Metal is here, you get shredding solos, stunning guitar riffs and screams to strip paint.
The album is full of melodic, screaming, barb wired vocals to please and head bang your brains into mush! The album opens with the band’s name 'Death Dealer' this is fast and stampedes and destroys all in its wake, a catchy chorus, drums bashed and eye watering guitar riffs are the order of the day, so that’s the first track and much more to follow, believe me this is a skull crushing, hostile opener.
'Never to Kneel' is an anthematic, punching the air with clenched fists tune and leads nicely into the album title 'War Master', which is quite frankly imposing and magnificent, here you have five minutes of thrash, progressive, speeding metal which will have you enthralled and begging for more. 'Children of the Flames' slows the mood down a tad and believe me you will need it after the previous track, this song is shrouded in melancholy, then builds and is evocative and a lingering song. I can see many different influences on this album and without a doubt 'Curse of The Heretic' has King Diamond-esque tones to it and has an addictive chorus to burn into your conscience and never leave.
'Hammerdown' is basically a hammering from hell with spikes on! A brutal chorus to have everyone singing along at a live concert, it’s fun, Manowarish and another song that will stay with you and have you ripping and shredding your neck muscles! Next 'The Devils Mile' opens with dark and brooding vocals from Peck, this is the longest track on here and delivers everything from Rhinos drums being decimated and guitar strings wound tightly and cutting like a blunt razor, with solos and riffs to die for and a devils laugh and cunning as well.
'Liberty or Death' exudes NWOBHM and that’s never a bad thing in my book. Then the brilliantly titled 'Heads Spikes Walls' well they certainly do, and Death Dealer know how to ram then spikes right into your being, Rob Halford's 'Fight' came to mind with a smattering of Manowar .
'Wraiths of the Wind' brings the album to close and finishes as the album as it started, with the wind of a tornado ripping into your body and bombarding you with riffs and screams to scare the neighbours! To sum up 'War Master' is going to appeal to classic Metal fans, there are some New Wave of British Heavy Metal influences throughout the album and 80's style thrash.
I would recommend this opus for fans of Judas Priest and all things Power Metal influenced; you are going to adore this album!
Review by: Seb Di Gatto
Tracklisting:
1. Death Dealer
2. Never To Kneel
3. War Master
4. Children Of Flames
5. Curse Of The Heretic
6. Hammer Down
7. The Devil's Mile
8. Liberty Or Death
9. Heads Spikes Walls
10. Wraiths On The Wind