ESPIONAGE - Wings Of Thunder
September 13, 2016, 7 years ago
(Independent)
Second EP here from Australian trad metallers Espionage and, like you, I haven't heard the first so we're starting at square one here with that cool retro cover art, which sets the listener up for more power than trad. And while there are clearly power influences at play here, this stuff's got weight when it throws its balls to the wall, even if the chorus to the opening title track is definitely something that makes me nervously eye my Stratovarius CDs collecting dust over in the corner.
I like Espionage more when they show their trad metal roots, the guitar solo in the title track a great example of this, the chord changes basically an open love letter to Metal Massacres 1 through 4. “High Riser” has some great melodic thrash riffing and harmonic playing, “Running Out Of Time”'s chorus and dramatic peak at the end totally rules (and, again, shows tons of love to the sound of metal past), and “Never Surrender”, well, you always win when you call a song that. The song lengths are borderline pushing it, this four-song EP clocking in at 20:38, but otherwise this is a shockingly well done and enjoyable release.