Angel Sword - 'World Fighter' (official album stream)

Δισκογραφική επιστροφή μετά από πέντε έτη και full length album νούμερο τρία για τους Angel Sword. "World Fighter" ο τίτλος και κυκλοφόρησε μόλις... χθες σε cd, βινύλιο και ψηφιακή μορφή μέσω της Dying Victims Productions και σε κασέτα από την Tapes of Terror Records. Οι Angel Sword μας έρχονται από την Φινλανδία. Δημιουργήθηκαν το 2010 και μας συστήνονται κάπως έτσι:

«Angel Sword worships the heavy metal gods of old, fallen into slumber decades ago and now angered by the polished plastic sound of modern metal. Prepare for a skull-crushing, vomit-inducing dose of real heavy metal!»

Έχουν κυκλοφορήσει τρεις "ολοκληρωμένους" δίσκους ("Rebels Beyond the Pale" 2016, "Neon City" 2019, οι δύο προηγούμενοι), ένα demo, δύο EPs ("Ripping the Heavens" 2013, "The Midwinter Tapes" 2015) και ένα single ("Kallio Rock City" 2017)...

Δελτίο τύπου: «Dying Victims Productions is proud to present Angel Sword’s highly anticipated third album, World Fighter, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Hailing from Helsinki, Finland’s Angel Sword formed in 2010 with the intent to play old-school heavy metal.

And they get right to it with the too-perfectly titled demo Where We Are Going You Cannot Come demo later that year. Two EPs followed – 2013’s Ripping the Heavens and 2015’s The Midwinter Tapes - before their decisive debut album, Rebels Beyond the Pale, in 2016.

Another perfectly titled recording, Angel Sword’s first full-length was a fresh breath of old air, finding some elusive (and deceptively laidback yet rough) landscape of late ‘70s heavy metal, subsequent NWOBHM, and adjacent early US power metal.

Three years later followed the tighter and slightly more aggressive Neon City, expanding the band’s still-‘80s-bound gaze through a charmingly rustic retro-futurist lens. During all these years, Angel Sword have opened for Manilla Road, Blitzkrieg and Satan as well as playing such festivals as Metal Assault, Metalheadz Open Air, Storm Crusher warmup, and Up the Hammers warm-up.

Oh, and along the way, Darkthrone’s Fenriz thoroughly championed the band! "Our goal in this age of soulless, overproduced modern metal is to re-summon the metal gods of old with a skull-crushing, vomit-inducing dose of rough-edged heavy metal,” state Angel Sword, and that’s exactly what they do with World Fighter!

It’d be easy to simply say that their third album is a fairly even balance between the first two albums and…well, it’s kinda the truth! Sporting yet another amazing cover artwork, World Fighter brings the bathos and bravado right from its opening seconds, Angel Sword sounding like true world fighters as they chug forward to their battle hymns.

From there, nuance and shade - or, rather, just MOOD - become the watchwords as the quartet keep the thrust mostly mid-tempo, allowing their dark melodicism to fully take flight.

And, while Angel Sword never seem like they’re in any hurry, the eight tracks of World Fighter are actually the band’s most uptempo work yet; it’s just that they’re exuding such poise now that that pace feels deceptively relaxed, that big & brassy pulse coasting with coolness and heaviness.

Put another way, the album’s almost-uniformly balls-to-the-wall gait summons an effervescent energy - and maximum attitude. Truly, Angel Sword are nothing if not engaging in their rough ‘n’ tumble, raise-the-swords charisma, becoming those very blue-collar ruffians you can really believe in.

Coupled with a smoother, somewhat-shimmering style of production that still allows their intrinsic grit to “shine” through, World Fighter goes against all odds to become Angel Sword’s crowning achievement to date. All weekend warriors, enter their Church of Rock post-haste!»

Band: Angel Sword
Country of origin: Finland
Location: Helsinki
Formed in: 2010
Genre: Heavy Metal
Lyrical themes: Life, Liberty, Metal
Years active: 2010-present

Album: "World Fighter"
Type: Full length
Release date: June 14th, 2024

Label: Dying Victims Productions
Format: CD, 12" vinyl, Digital

Label: Tapes of Terror Records
Format: Cassette
Limitation: 100 copies

Track listing:
1. Vigilantes
2. Weekend Warrior
3. Dangerous Games
4. Church of Rock
5. Powerglove
6. Against All Odds
7. Afterburn
8. World Fighter

Band members:
Jerry Razors - vocals, guitar
Lightning Mike - lead guitar
Eviltaker - bass
Alexander Depraved - drums