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SNAKEBITE
Cobra Crew

Maniac Attack (2024)
Rating: 7/10

With their third full-length studio album German combo Snakebite continue their fusion of 80s styled rock and metal. Beginning like some smoky 80s ballad, ‘Blow It Up’ flutters satin sheets and lace curtains with its sweet yet haunting piano before the crisp axe work punctures the city streets causing lamps to shatter and downtown alley rain puddles to ripple.

Nikki Wagner’s vocals are simple midnight croons that could lace any mid-table 80s metal band as Cobra Crew unravels to remind me of the sort of airy horror-cum-metal soundtracks I used to collect and which were littered with acts like this. This is nostalgic heavy metal peppered with lush keyboards, fizzing riffs and a general feel of late nights by the stereo where the only light is provided by the hi-fi glow.

‘Stormriders’ provides anthemic gallops and fist-pumping melody, while the cheesier ‘Heading For The Best’ sounds akin to something designed for a men’s shaving foam commercial. The album is drizzled with a dynamic array of steely strides which rarely, if at all, shift from the stiff if somewhat mist-caressed 80s heavy rock framework. After several spins this ten-song release does begin to lose its appeal, mostly due to the tepid vocals. Wagner just lacks the oomph to drag this opus out of the trenches and onto the bloody battlefields, which is a shame because the surrounding echoes of artillery more than does its job.

When I hear songs like the bombastic ‘My Burning Love’ or straight up mid-paced rocker ‘Chained To Rock’ I’m left thirsty for a ballsier vocal fire, but instead I’m somewhat unfulfilled. That’s not to say this isn’t a highly enjoyable melodic metal outing, but the generic nature of the voice won’t propel Snakebite to the dizzier heights I’m afraid. That aside, this is a record that soothes rather than slays and I do appreciate the charm within.

Neil Arnold

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