cover of some Lady Gaga song back in 2021. Since then, they’ve been hard at work on their own material, resulting in Full Force which came out last September, and which has been sat on my desk gathering dust while real life prevented me having the time to review anything. Something I’m now trying to rectify…
In my defence, it’s taken them seven years to follow up their second album Conquer & Command (2017’s The Masterplan doesn’t count as it’s a re-recording of their debut!), so a couple of extra months for a review hopefully shouldn’t bother them too much.
Full Force is, in short, an eight-song collection of absolutely blasting heavy metal. It’s along DragonForce lines but tempered with a large dose of classic metal so doesn’t quite hit the epic heights of Herman and friends. Also buried in there is a definite influence from the classic thrash acts, in particular (very) early Anthrax. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it’s some combination of the guitar tones, the vocals and the production.
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The net result is something surprisingly familiar and easy to enjoy. From opener “Blood in the Water” through the titular “Full Force” and thumper “Screaming Eagle”, there isn’t a song where the guitars don’t shred and the drums don’t absolutely rattle along. Great riffs, twin guitar solos, and vocals that hit octaves that most can only dream of, this is about as metal as an album gets. “Into Oblivion” probably takes the gold medal as top track, so it’s a shame it’s not one of the songs which has been entrapped in celluloid (that’s old-fashioned YouTube for the youngsters) so I’ll have to treat you to a different track below.
While it’s harsh but fair to say that Silent Knight aren’t bringing anything new to the genre table (which is already groaning under multiple sub-genres and their bastard children), there’s nothing wrong with ripping it up with some quality traditional metal emboldened with thrash and speed elements. Especially not when you end up with a soaring belter like Full Force.
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Full Force is out now
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