Heavy Metal Resource Reviews-Serious Black, Kandia, Reckless Love, Warrior Soul, and Kraemer

Index

Great way to get this year going in the right direction. Serious Black are about to unleash their latest metal masterpiece. What can you expect from this new album? Great power metal with a huge dose of melody. Songs overall have intensity, but really have an infectious nature to them as well. That has been this band's signature sound and style through their career. The album has plenty of memorable moments. Obviously you want to open the album in that fashion and 'Rock With Us Tonight' does just that. I also really liked other tracks such as 'Senso Della Vita' with it's memorable choruses, the melodic 'Ray Of Light that also has a nice thick wall of guitar sound, and the appropriately titled 'Album Of Our Life' as this album could be just that. It is a quite consistent album. The listen overall is enjoyable and makes this very easy to recommend!

Release Date: February 25, 2022

Kandia is a modern metal band out of Portugal that is female fronted and have just released their new album via Frontiers Records. I spent some good time with this album and really tried to figure out where they would fit in that female fronted genre. In ways I would probably lean towards Lacuna Coil. Maybe a bit earlier in their career, but to me, there are similarities. The basic sound of the band is pretty thick with the guitars and low end, but the band have a good hold on adding atmosphere and some pretty rich tones throughout the record. I have to say I really enjoyed this record. Even if you lean more traditional as a fan and with this record having a more modern feel, I think this record has the ability to please a lot of different fans with their different tastes. Pick this one up and keep them on your radar, I'm expecting big things down the road as well!

Release Date: January 21, 2022

Having signed with AFM records for this record, Reckless Love are about to get things rolling again with their latest platter. This band seems to polarize fans a bit with some feeling they are a bit too poppy and others absolutely loving their sound. The band have an obvious 80's influence to their music and this record is no exception. Let me just say, this is a fun record. There is plenty of flash in the guitar playing. You also have some synth sound and it all gels together pretty well. This record has stuff that is a bit edgier and other songs that are fairly mainstream in terms of sound and style. My recommendation would be to go check out the title track on YouTube as well as 'Outrun'. You will get a pretty good idea where this album stands in their catalog. I definitely have fun listening and have gone back many times so far. Definitely a very upbeat record!

Release Date: March 25, 2022

Kory Clarke continues to stay busy releasing albums under the Warrior Soul name. While his voice sounds a bit different than the earlier records, there is no denying his style and sound. The last few records have been more of a raw rock sound. This new record to me has a bit of the band's earlier feel to it, specifically the first 3 records. Yeah, there is also some stuff that sounds like the past few albums, but I feel this record sounds a bit closer to the Warrior Soul I rmember early on, specifically in the structure and sound of a few of these songs, especially 'We're Alive' and maybe even 'Hip Hip Hooray'. It's kind of hard to explain, but early fans of the band will get my point easily. It's good to hear as I was always really into Warrior Soul and did have the chance to catch them live in the arenas. Another good release with a return to roots in places!

Release Date: March 4, 2022

For those that saw our review of the album by Simulacrum a while back, this is Erik Kraemer who fronts that band. What we have here with this project is his vocal work to a more mainstream melodic rock sound. The results are really good. It's obvious that he has many different capabilities when venturing into different paths of the rock and metal genre. His voice is very accommodating to either band and style. If you aren't into the more sophisticated feel of Simulacrum, then Kraemer is where you want to look. The songs on this record are written and performed well with elements that will have you thinking back to the 80's at times. Good atmosphere and all areas of the band sound good from the guitars, vocals, keyboard work, etc. Frontiers offers a lot of bands from this genre and it's cool to see artists cross to different areas of the genre with great results!

Release Date: January 28, 2022