Elm Street – The Great Tribulation
Release Date: 27th October 2023
Label: Massacre Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Megadeth.
Review By: Jeffery Childress
Coming back after a short hiatus, I decided that I should switch gears. For the past month or so I have written primarily on the doom/sludge/stoner genres, and with the fresh start I decided that it was time for a fresh sound. Straight up, neat heavy metal is where my roots lie in regard to my identity as a “metalhead”. My desire to return to the heavy metal sound has led me to Australia’s own Elm Street. Ben Batres on Vocals and rhythm guitar, Aaron Adie on lead guitar, Nick Ivkovic plays bass and Tomislav Perkovic hammers the drums on their upcoming release The Great Tribulation , set to drop October 27, 2023 via Massacre Records.
It was so awesome and refreshing to make a bit of a change of pace first of all, and to return to the genre where it all originally started for me with heavy music was wonderful. This album has left me craving more of that modernized approach to straight forward old school heavy metal. This banger kicks off with Seven Sirens. This track starts off somber and then transitions swiftly to a state of savage in a matter of a minute and seventeen seconds. This one is riffs galore packaged in an eleven-minute total ripper, which includes some powerful guitar work from Ben and Aaron that is reminiscent of the work of power metal powerhouse Herman Li of Dragonforce. The inclusion of gang vocals is a nice touch, and let us not fail to mention some fantastic solo work that truly mauls.
The band shows their punky side with a quick, fun little banger that flat out impresses with Take the Night that leads into The Price of War, a fantastic, thrashy banger that features a soaring guitar solo that hearkens back to heavy metal of the early to mid 1980s. If Provoked Will Strike takes the helm straight after, opening with a truly phenomenal opening riff. I absolutely love the gallop that the tempo takes through the verses and the machine gun riffing ripped out in this angry metal masterpiece; absolutely well done.
Behind The Eyes of Evil presents a menacing, doomy type quality intro that bleeds into a sort of thrashy vibe once again. You begin to feel as though you are storming the field of battle as this track progresses through a period of heroic guitar solo work. Hold your horns up high for this one and be ready to bang your freaking head. The Last Judgment was one that really thrilled me. Mainly because it has been quite some time since I can remember a heavy metal instrumental being quite this good. Pounding drum work, a chest thumping bass line and shredding guitar work make this one stand out and shine. This song will be an absolute pleasure to whoevers ears it graces. I feel that I would have liked The Darker Side of Blue much better if the first six minutes had possessed the same amount of punch for me as the final minute and a half of the track. A State of Fear just feels like a closer. This is one of those songs that leaves you stepping away from a full album listening session with a taste in your mouth that leaves you with a desire to return to the same record for another cover to cover listen. Impressive drum chops and guitar licks that kill deliver an absolute barrage of epic, slaying heavy metal. Overall, I rate this one a 4.0; I shall be giving this one a frequent listen, as this kind of riffing doesn’t get old in the slightest. Any fans of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden or Megadeth will love this banger, and I highly recommend any metalhead to give it a whirl. That’s all for me this time, folks, so good to be back in the saddle again; until the next go around, keep it loud, keep it metal!
(4 / 5)
