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INTRANCED
Muerte y Metal

High Roller (2024)
Rating: 8.5/10

Having formed two years ago and releasing two EPs – Intranced (2022) and Rogue Warrior (2023) – Los Angeles, Californis-based rockers Intranced now issues a debut full-length album, Muerte y Metal.

The band features former Holy Grail and White Wizzard frontman James-Paul Luna who had seemingly slipped under the radar until forming Intranced with fellow band mates Fili Bibiano (guitar, ex-Witherfall), Nico Staub (bass) and Ben Richardson (drums). However, Intranced is certainly a posse that gets the blood pumping with their high energy rock n’ roll that drives hard into the heart of the 80s.

Luna has a fantastic voice that is both smooth and powerful and just breezes through these songs with such a sizzling charisma. This is straight up heavy rock; cocksure and littered with swaggering grooves that roll like a brash mix of Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, UFO and any classic driving metal that flits towards the 70s too. These guys are far from being a bland mimic though, Luna’s voice is so rich and the rhythms constructed so tight that the band instantly draws you into its fiery lair.

The songs are so strong here and wonderfully melodic with my particular favourites being ‘Pulse’ with its Scorpions vibe, especially in the vocals, and semi-ballad ‘See You On The Other Side’ which is sublime in its simmering, a real lighter waver of an anthem featuring superb axe work as Luna cries, “Can you hear me calling? Calling out your name”. ‘Pulse’ is such an instant track that it borders on being a classic. It’s that good and proof that modern bands can dish out such potent compositions. Another example is on the contrasting juggernaut ‘Fantasy’ with its shuddering riffs and Luna’s cries. “You took all my money and left me to die,” he despairs. “I knew it was dangerous and still paid the price”, he continues. It’s molten metal of the highest order and there are another eight tracks of this quality.

Ballsy super charger ‘Reyes de las tinieblas’ (sung in Spanish) blitzes like Judas Priest as the drums and bass rage like an angry bull. ‘Switchblade’ offers up a classy New Wave Of British Heavy Metal gallop that’s smeared with a brilliant hook before taking on a Thin Lizzy guise. ‘Lady Lightning’ is as equally if not more exciting with its vibrant stride, while ‘Passionate Pretender’ conjures UFO and again Thin Lizzy with its clever stop-start notions.

Some of the lyrics here veer towards glam rock and one does feel that Intranced could take any trajectory in their stride as Luna rips “She’s an alleycat with a spinal tap,” on ‘Switchblade’, while on the aforementioned ‘Pulse’ he’s more sexual as he demands, “Crush me ’til I feel your pulse. Hold on! Move on!”. But Luna saves the best line for the track ‘I Dunno Nothin’’ as he barks, “I’m living in a trance, a heavy metal daze”. It might be the shortest song on the album, bar brief instrumental ‘Entra la tormenta’, but it’s arguably the best, if only for its introductory axe work.

What a fantastic and soulful opus this is from a band surely destined for great things, so get behind them, raise the horns and rock hard because Intranced are the new metal masters.

Neil Arnold

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