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AIRFORCE
Strike Hard

Pitch Black (2020)
Rating: 4/10

“Scream for me London!” I cry in bad imitation of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, as I stand agog at an album that for all intent and purposes tries to ape the mercurial Iron’s frontman in voice.

Strike Hard is the second full-length release from UK metal act Airforce. The London-based band features ex-Iron Maiden drummer Doug Sampson and were actually formed back in 1987, although their retrospective debut record never saw the light of day until 2016. Unfortunately, new vocalist Flavio Lino really is a blemish on what is otherwise a steely landscape. Lino is a clone of ol’ Dicko and that just doesn’t sit comfortably with me as Strike Hard coughs up 11 mostly lengthy-ish tracks that for the most part are metal-by-numbers in guise.

Tracks such as ‘Son Of The Damned’, ‘Finest Hour’, ‘I Feel Your Pain’ and ‘The Reaper’ (featuring guest vocals from Vision Divine’s Ivan Giannini) ramble with no real conviction, except as a tribute to Iron Maiden at their most mediocre. The problem is, the vocals become an irritant – dirt in the eye, an ulcer on the lip, a wart on the arse – which is a shame, because musically the band is a steady machine of steel.

‘Fight’ and the war-torn heroics of ‘Band Of Brothers’ are sturdy if somewhat formulaic tracks taking us back to the heady gallops of classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but why oh why would the guys enlist a third-grade Bruce Dickinson to get their voice across? In fact, by the time I’ve reached the final stages of ‘Band Of Brothers’, I’m bored and confused, waiting for Eddie to pop his raggy head out of the darkest corner.

The chesty rasp of former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di’Anno makes a guest appearance on the stony ‘Don’t Look In Her Eyes’. However, by the time ‘War Games’ chugs on to the battlefield I’m battered by another slightly tuneless warble, somehow attempting to swat away those pipes of pain from Lino in order to envoy the music, but alas, no, as Airforce meanders through a batch of rather watery pale anthems suitable for the greasy biker pub circuit.

Tales of battles and war rage on forevermore as ‘The War Inside’ reminds me of why I lost interest in Iron Maiden in 1991. To be fair, ‘Die For You’ in its sombre guise is a steady, mid-paced rocker, but the clichés are all too many, although will no doubt be lapped up by the more feral humans among us.

Finally, the album closes with a cover rendition of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s ‘Faith Healer’, which includes a guest solo from original SAHB guitarist Zal Cleminson.

Sadly, on the evidence of Strike Hard, Airforce is a band I just cannot take seriously; for every positive there are a million metallic negatives, mostly made up of Flavio Lino’s dire vocal croons that send me off to the land of nod in a heartbeat. For peace of mind of mind I’d give this one a miss.

Neil Arnold

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