Finland’s Strike At Once have been going for a couple of years now, billing themselves as a “crossover metal” act. Bloom is the first time I’ve given them a real listen and, typically of pretty much everything out of Finland, it’s pretty damn good.
Only four tracks are on display, but as I am so sick of trying to tell people – size isn’t everything. They very much know what they’re doing with their little 18-minute entry into the metal world, blending harsh vocals with melodic guitar undertones, riding on top of steady beats. “Garden” had me right from the start, a great song and easy to get into. Pulling from various metal styles, the only thing I found a little jarring was that mixture of guttural vocals and clean guitar. I felt that the band could have done with a second vocalist in certain parts, adding harmonic tones to partner the guitar.
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That’s not to say that the vocals aren’t well done. They’re perfect for “Relentless” which follows, a much heavier foot-stomper of a song which owes more to the groove metal point on the spectrum. “Torch” verges more towards death metal, but without getting brutal. It has that mixture of quick-fire repeated riffs and it wouldn’t have much further down the slope to slide to become a much darker number. A nice bit of production with the choral backing vocals, too.
“No Place Like Home” (released as a single in 2019) wraps things up and is the track with probably most earns the label “crossover” from the intro which quickly leads into an absolutely thrashtastic opening sequence, followed by a more solid and angry headbanger of a track.
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Strike At Once may be a new band on you, but we need new bands these days. And if they could all be this good then so much the better!
Bloom is out now
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