#vanlade

One more metal album, folks, but I’ve saved the best for last. Well, Sumerlands’ self-titled album was very good, too. I loved that album, but this one I like a little bit more, though. I was looking through my bookmarks, because I’ll save Bandcamp links for bands that I want to listen to later on, and I happened to come across the sophomore album, 2015’s Rage Of The Gods, from heavy metal / power metal band Vanlade. This Missouri band came to my attention last year, but I put them on the backburner, for whatever reason, most likely just because I had a lot of stuff already. I knew I’d get to them eventually, it just took about six months for that happen, but since I’ve been into a lot of power metal lately (that was thanks to listening to Thunder And Lightning’s fantastic LP, The Ages Will Turn), I figured I’d look through my bookmarks again, just to see if anything else caught my attention. The subject of today’s review did, obviously, and I say that with a lot of regret. Not because this album is bad, the first sentence should give away how I feel about it, but because it’s awesome to the nth degree. I wish I would have heard this last year, because this is one of the best metal albums I’ve ever heard, to be completely honest. If I had heard this in my initial power metal binge, this band, as well as this LP, would have one of my favorites that I came across. I don’t usually praise albums this early on in a reviews unless they really deserve it, but Rage Of The Gods definitely does. What’s weird, though, is that this band is very straightforward with their sound. There’s not that much to them. Unlike Necromancing The Stone, Unleash The Archers, Sumerlands, or even Tanagra, Vanlade doesn’t really add anything to their brand of power metal. They remind me a lot of Judas Priest, but it might be that their vocalist essentially has a Rob Halford sound in his voice. You know, that high-pitched epic wailing that Halford is known for. The vocalist of this band isn’t quite as great as Halford is, but he does a damn great job.

If they don’t add anything to their sound, and they’re essentially a Judas Prest-esque band (a band whom I enjoy a lot, by the way; I have a few of their albums and they’re all great albums; they’re one of the best metal bands of all time), why is this band at the top of my list? Why am I talk about this album last? What about this album stands out to me? Well, there are a lot of things, actually. Its sound is one of the big ones. I love this kind of metal, even when it’s done very straightforwardly. Something about traditional heavy metal, as well as power metal, just really does something for me. I think it’s because it combines two things that I really like – metal and catchiness. One reason I like death metal a lot is that it challenges my tastes, because I’m a sucker for hooks. That’s what power metal / traditional heavy metal has, and I can really latch onto that. It gives me what I’m looking for, but in a metal setting. This band is very good with their sense of hooks and melody. There are some killer hooks on this record. “Hail The Protector” is a good one, and I love its Judas Priest-esque hook that has a call and response kind of thing to it. They manage to be very accessible with their brand of metal, especially with their sound. This band does have a Judas Priest / Iron Maiden thing going on, but I’ll be honest – this band is basically Judas Priest on steroids. If you enjoy Judas Priest, but you want more guitar solos, intensity, and power in their instrumentation, you’ve come to the right place. This is one of the main reasons I love this band. This album has some of the best instrumentation you’ll ever hear. I’ll admit, though, this won’t be for everyone, because their sound is very intense, aggressive, and powerful, but not in a brutal sense. There’s just a lot of frantic guitar riffage, soloing, and very awesome instrumental moments. A lot of the songs on this thing are upwards of nine minutes. There are a lot of absolutely killer, mesmerizing, and intense guitar solos.