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METAL CRUCIFIER
The Strike Of The Beast

Evil Attack (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

I first stumbled upon this Peruvian act a few years ago through the video for their namesake track ‘Metal Crucifier’. Although it was one of the worst videos I’d seen, I did like the catchy chorus of what was a nifty little track. However, I forgot about the band and never got round to checking out their 2016 self-titled debut full-length, so it’s nice to be given another chance with the five-piece with this new offering.

Metal Crucifier play speed metal, with the key ingredient being the snappy vocal surges of Juli Brendal – although Brendal has since been replaced by new frontman Paul Ramos. But listening to The Strike Of The Beast I’m transported back to the mid-80s, imagining that Metal Crucifier would be the sort of band to appear on a Speed Kills compilation such is their fiery and pacey nature.

You’ll hear a lot of bands like this, particularly from South America, and they all seem to deliver such tirades of terror so well. Wild axe work, molten chugging – check out the killer mid-tempo savagery on ‘From Beyond’ – and those rough, primitive vocal designs.

I just adore records that are so heavily daubed in satanic majesty and the likes of ‘Evil Is There’, ‘Evil Attack’ and ‘Lord Of 666’ fuse classy chugs and steelier speed so well. Meanwhile, ‘Heavy Metal Beer’ sounds like Jake E. Lee on acid initially before the combo goes full hell for leather with its charge and that fist-pumping chorus. I also want to speak about the metallic slaying of ‘Legions To War’ with its vintage haste, plus ‘Nightmare!’ with its Exciter dynamics, and then there’s the closing title track which barks like old Voivod.

Speed certainly does kill when it comes to this exceedingly good yet old-fashioned battering ram that hones in on frenzy and strikes with steel claws.

Neil Arnold

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