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KONQUEST
Time And Tyranny

No Remorse (2022)
Rating: 8/10

Wrapped up in a mid-80s Swedish design, Italy’s Konquest unleashes its second album with a riff on opening instrumental ‘Relativity’ not too far removed initially from Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train’ before the Tuscany combo drifts with a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-styled ramble. It’s all familiar yet heart-warming stuff as Konquest rumbles with a fluidity and ease through gloomy waters.

As expected, Konquest’s new album hints towards the likes of Angel Witch and Iron Maiden but there’s always that mid-80s strike of doominess as the title track combines a subtle, melodious streaks pattered with heavy raindrops before Alex Rossi’s vocal commands boom out from the grey clouds like lightning bolts.

The guitar tone of this opus feels somehow cosy in its Euro-goth hardiness as the kick of ‘Something In The Dark’ beckons like a lantern-wielding hermit inviting you, dear weary traveller, to his cave of delights. Okay, so if Konquest had emerged back in the 80s they may have got swallowed up by the horde of similar bands, but this style of retro throwback metal is very much a thing nowadays.

‘A Place I Call Home’ has an earthy, timeless ache to its greyness; the stark axe work casting a pallid veil over the horizon as all 80s Euro metal used to do. Meanwhile, ‘The Traveller’ gallops across the moors like a wild stallion combating the swirling mists. Again the axe leads with a fizz, but whereas, say, Canada’s Riot City really explodes in your face, Konquest has a different style, one that’s steady and at times quintessentially British in its stormy lope.

My favourite tack is ‘Warrior From A Future World’, but there’s not a bad song on offer as Time And Tyranny produces its own drizzly haze with which one can only turn their collar up to and drive tirelessly into its murk.

Neil Arnold

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