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SPARTAN WARRIOR
Hell To Pay

Pure Steel (2018)
Rating: 8/10

I guess the record label name and album cover art kinda give this one away, Spartan Warrior being a traditional / power metal act from Sunderland in England. But this is no generic new band trying to sound old – Spartan Warrior have been around since the early 80s, and after splitting in 1985 they reformed in 2006.

Hell To Pay is the fourth record from this New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bunch of stalwarts, and emerges eight years after 2010’s Behind Closed Doors.

Original vocalist Dave Wilkinson and his axe-playing brother Neil remain in the fold, and since 2011 have been joined by guitarist Daniel Rochester, bassist Tim Morton and drummer James Charlton. The result is wonderful heavy metal album which so many young upstarts could learn a lesson from, mostly due to those almost smooth yet convincing vocal snaps and those well-oiled riffs and silky song structures which bring songs such as ‘Bad Attitude’ and chugger ‘Letting Go’ alive.

Throughout this ten-song affair there’s such a nice, almost effortless feel; the band not marred by contemporary production values. Spartan Warrior’s earthy 80s vibe still dominant as the title track opens proceedings as a racy rocker of rumbling bass, feisty drums and fizzing leads.

‘Court Of Clowns’ begins with a thrashy rumble. Hell, this one has a feel of a steelier, niftier Candlemass mixed with Iron Maiden, a charging NWOBHM composition that is contradicted by the subtle ballad ‘Something To Believe’, which is a stirring mix of acoustic and electric soulfulness and Dave Wilkinson’s authentic, soulful crooning as the drum plods with gorgeous yet understated steadiness. And like all classy metal ballads it builds to an earth-shattering crescendo of swirling soloing and weightier, metallic intentions before ‘Walls Full Down’ gets the blood flowing again as a galloping thrasher.

However, for me the mightiest track on the opus is closer ‘In Memoriam’, a pacey headbanger featuring devastating riffage and sturdy percussive taps, nods and jabs. A slower, more menacing chug interrupts the track to provide further moodiness before the gallop resumes.

‘Covered In Lust’ is another heavy charger hinting at times at Mötley Crüe’s ‘Looks That Kill’ in its riffage before that classy and yet nostalgic lead comes worming its way through. Meanwhile, ‘Fallen’ is even steelier, beginning with metallic rage as the bass clunks and clatters like an iron horse. But it’s a song symbolic of Spartan Warrior’s sound with those silky vocalisations coating the thrashier climes.

I was a big fan of the band’s last record, but Hell To Pay has really taken things up a notch. Spartan Warrior are proving that the elder statesman of this much used and at times abused genre are still rulers of the wasteland.

Neil Arnold

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