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REVEREND HOUND
Deal In Steel

Metalizer (2024)
Rating: 7.5/10

Munich, Germany-based metalheads Reverend Hound formed in 2004 but under the moniker of Savage. The name change emerged in 2008 but a debut full-length outing (Release The Hounds) wouldn’t come until 2015, followed three years later by an EP (Enter My Nightmare). Such stats suggest little action from this Bavarian combo, probably due to other commitments, but now Deal In Steel is here although only two original members remain, axemen Thomas Meyns and Sebastian Weinstock. They are joined by bassist Markus Brendel who joined in 2011, vocalist Wolfgang Gräbner who was recruited in 2015, and drummer Andreas Lorenz who was added to the ranks last year.

The band themselves might be little known, but with this sophomore slab there is plenty of high energy metal on the menu at ye olde inn. Tankard raised, Reverend Hound successfully blends the ripping pace of vintage Grave Digger and Accept with the more harmonious threads of Iron Maiden.

After just two listens of this glinting beast I was visiting the garden shed and wielding my axe through the nearby woods in search of bloodstained battlefields and fiery dragons, but alas I was merely left with this robust soundtrack that bristles with Teutonic fury while dripping with the sweat of muscular warriors.

With every masculine throb, Deal In Steel maintains a grandiose feel with each drum slap quaking like the drop of Thor’s mighty hammer. However, Reverend Hound have no time for gimmicks even with the levels of fantasy related from those steaming fjords which echo with the wafts of ice cold crooning. The band successfully taps into the murky 80s flashes of Euro steel; the contours are Gothic and stormy as Reverend House craft colossal, although a touch overlong, tapestries such as ‘Seeds Of Faith’, an eight-minute whopper of brooding, colourless intensity powered by masterful guitar work.

Hints of Manowar are also noted within the potent patchwork quilt of thundery, smouldering landscapes. ‘Days Of Wrath’ is more concise, a pure rocking slab with a Judas Priest aesthetic in its tag team axe work, but a majority of tracks here are hefty in duration. At times the patience is tested just because of track lengths. ‘The Night’ (6:41), ‘A Cry For Light’ (8:04), ‘Rain’ (5:58), ‘Glory’ (5:54), ‘Hounds Of The Sea’ (7:09) and the previously mentioned ‘Seeds Of Faith’ (8:37) could all do with a trim, but they still remain powerful, driving anthems, particularly ‘A Cry For Light’ which is a good honest heavy metal cut with its mid-tempo loping. ‘Fallen Angels’ is another strong groove as again the Accept influence comes to the fore especially in the vocal strikes from Gräbner who is not always a world away from Mark Tornillo.

Deal In Steel is simply a good, all round heavy metal outing full of punchy riffs, meaty drums n’ bass and clear, powerful vocals – the true core of every quality record.

Neil Arnold

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