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CONVENT GUILT
Guns For Hire

Cruz Del Sur Music (2014)
Rating: 6.5/10

I’m not sure the amateurish cover art does this Australian metal combo any good, but with a horde of bands eager to revisit traditional heavy metal I’m sure many will see such artwork as typical of a time when all was acceptable.

Convent Guilt are very much of that New Wave Of British Heavy Metal slant – evoking strains of Saxon, Iron Maiden, Witchfynde, Judas Priest et al – but as is the case with so much of this stuff, it sort of feels rather tepid as it rumbles by all too inoffensively.

I get the impression with a lot of this stuff that the guys in the bands have only just discovered what early 80s metal is all about – I dunno, maybe the labels are eager to jump on the bandwagon and force this retro metal down the throats of upcoming bands – but it just feels so forced from the opening strains of the bland ‘Angels In Black Leather’ to the closing speed metal fury of ‘Stockade’.

The problem is, it’s okay revisiting your dad’s record collection but you have to appreciate rather than merely replicate, and Convent Guilt – who try so hard to bring back the glories of the past – just do not have the ability or the bite to carry the banner.

The music is rather flat, albeit catchy; the result being a sort of boozy, half-baked rock that attempts Motörhead but falls incredibly short, yet it’s not for the want of trying. Like so many bands of this ilk today, Convent Guilt also falls short in the vocal department. We’re treated to an almost watery warble which in a sense brings the music down too; if one lends an ear to the infectious snap of ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes’ then we can certainly hear the potential of this band, but vocally it’s a miserable wail that seems at unease with itself and secondly seems to be battling with the AC/DC-styled riff rather than complementing it.

I will admit to liking the raw, punky flair of the record which comes to the fore with tracks such as ‘Perverse Altar’, while the doomy, yet drunken rant of ‘They Took Her Away’ also makes for interesting listening. For every swerve into the realms of mediocrity there appears to be a band eager to experiment, but sadly all too bogged down by its fascination with the denim and rust of 80s Brit metal. The title track is another harmless trek into low-budget revival metal; it sort of plods without menace and rarely peeps out from its demo feel, but the bass-lead drive of ‘Desert Brat’ does up the ante as far as aggression and attitude goes.

Guns For Hire is an album that leaves me unfulfilled but somehow eager for more. With such an air of unprofessionalism and lo-fi tepidness though, I’m left thinking that Convent Guilt probably needed another year or so in the studio to truly form their sound because this is one patchy affair that never really gets off the ground but at times offers glints of hope.

Neil Arnold

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