CRUEL FORCE – dawn of the axe – BONE LP

Speed Metal, Thrash – Bone version – Shadow Kingdom Records

Titled Dawn of the Axe, CRUEL FORCE’s long-awaited new album is, in many ways, a new chapter for the band. As presaged by that short-length, Dawn of the Axe harkens to dustier, more archaic times – ones where subgenre delineations weren’t so strict and all was mostly HEAVY METAL. For sure, CRUEL FORCE can still thrash with the best of them – regular thrash, “blackthrash,” whatever – but their sound carries a strong old-style speed metal edge reminiscent of ’80s Kreator, Iron Angel, and Germany’s Deathrow, sharp as an axe and just as lethal. And while the blackened elements of the first two albums have been dialed back some here, the overall speed of LP#3 is, in fact, faster. But as Dawn of the Axe slices onward, it soon becomes apparent that that the quartet are subtly integrating a more rarefied field of influences, with the mysticism of ’70s Rainbow and especially Scorpions most prominent as well as the blue-collar thrust of early US metal – again, all before the development of speed metal or thrash. Thus, the nine songs comprising the 39-minute album exude a wider variety of moods and dynamics, and also sees CRUEL FORCE exploring their more epic side, with three of those songs topping six minutes. No matter the mood or dynamic, though, energy bristles from every second of Dawn of the Axe – riff, rhythm, lead, vocal, EVERYTHING – and with the slightly-more-atmospheric recording style (or a more “mysterious” production, perhaps), it all gels together to create the band’s strongest and most complete statement to date. No matter how you (axe)slice it, there’s no wimping out whatsoever!