Speedbreaker | facebook | bandcamp |
Released on May 6, 2014 via Bandcamp
Every now and then I go into a bit of a music slump when I haven’t found something new or something worthwhile to listen to, especially when you’re over the stuff you’ve had on heavy rotation for a while. When you listen to a lot of music, this tends to happen regularly. Then without expecting it, you’ll stumble across a release that reminds you why you fell in love with a certain genre of music in the first place. Well, I’ve found exactly that. One can rely on the Germans to do something right, and in this case it’s a band called Speedbreaker and their release titled Built For Speed, which was released earlier this year.
It’s a mishmash of Motörhead and Judas Priest worship with uncompromising speed and technicality, which is done without breaking the overall flow and melody. The combination of NWOBHM along with speed and technicality makes for a release that will blow you away. Under the banner of speed metal, they’ve come up with such a unique yet reminiscent sound. It’s not just a bunch of dudes playing as fast as they can if that’s what you’re thinking.
It does have a harsher vocal style from what would traditionally be considered the speed metal vocal style, which is usually very high-pitched, which is very evident in one of the speed metal derivatives known as power metal. This being said, the rhythms are wicked and there is a real sense of song writing and composition amongst the harsh speed and distortion, which to me is just sheer music genius. There are some incredible leads, rhythms and precision drumming, which ties it all together, not to mention solo work that is out of this world. One senses the love and passion for classic heavy metal when listening to this release, which is something modern heavy metal music has been lacking in recent years. There is a whole “not giving a fuck what’s popular, we’re going to do what we love” attitude to this band, which is excellent.
This just adds something refreshing to a degrading soundscape of classic sounding heavy metal that has been seemingly stagnant in recent years in my personal opinion. This been said, there has been strides to shake it up in the last 3 to 4 years. This gives me hope for the future, especially since the whole throwback thrash revival has died down and the hype is over. I feel that this release is amongst some of the finest I’ve heard this year and definitely among some of the very best speed metal releases I’ve heard in recent years. This rates highly amongst bands such as Speedtrap, Skullbastards, Diabolical Night, Maniac and Whipstriker.
I heard one song on their bandcamp and I knew I had to buy the release. I only got a digital copy, but I will get my hands on physical copy, one way or another. It is an absolutely phenomenal release that just screams speed metal, which makes me want to drive fast cars, wear leather and kick some ass! I can’t stress enough the importance of this record and how much something like this was needed and it definitely reminded me why I love heavy metal, so big ups to these dudes.
So, if you have a thing for extreme heavy metal, this release honors bands of old within the sphere of NWOBHM and classic heavy metal, then these guys won’t disappoint. If you want to get specific, bands such as Savage, Nasty Savage, Judas Priest, Tank, Tygers Of Pan Tang, and Angel Witch. I would urge you to get your hands on Speedbreakers’ – Built For Speed release.
