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SPEEDTRAP
Powerdose

Svart (2013)
Rating: 6/10

Finland’s Speedtrap aren’t exactly the masters of their disguise. As soon as I saw the band name I was thinking that this must be some type of thrash band, or at the very least, a pacey old school metal combo – and I wasn’t wrong.

Speedtrap is a volatile quartet who’ve spent the last 20 years or so raiding their dad’s record collections in search of molten metal to inspire them. At times this short, sharp and sweet eight-track album attempts to sum up all that is great about heavy metal by combining three main ingredients – thrash, punk and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. It’s the sort of record that’ll have droves of spotty teenagers adorning themselves in newly purchased denim jackets and ordering Judas Priest patches – well, that’s what we did back in the 80s!

This is a furious slap of a record that passes by in under half-an-hour and not once does it let its foot off the gas. The vocals of Jori Sara-aho are impressive to say the least; wrenched from the old school of metal warbling they combine Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson with Judas Priest’s Rob Halford together with a nice dose of thrashing menace in-between.

This, coupled with those rampant Ville Valavuo guitars and Miika Kerӓnen’s speedy drums, means that Speedtrap are about as slow as Speedy Gonzalez. All revved up and ready to go they clatter and gallop through a selection of fist-pounding, sweat-inducing tracks such as ‘Ready To Strike’, ‘Out Of Time, Out Of Line’, ‘Battlecry’ and ‘No Sympathy’, all boasting a punky vibe complete with rather predictable lyrics, which for the most part describe “having it large”, to coin a phrase.

Powerdose is very much metal that is “havin’ it” and that’s its only aim; to shake, rattle and roll with such fury that once it’s over you’ll be throwing your head under a tap in need of cool relief. The guitars flail at quite a pace, with riffs that are hostile yet harmless at the same time, while the bass is driving and the drums hurtle by like a jet. It’s all very much no thrills metal but the sort of metal we’ve heard countless times before, and despite its fist-in-the-air attitude it rarely offers a track we can get our teeth into.

I’m sure that live these guys will be the ideal support band to whip a crowd up into frenzy, but if I wanted hyper Iron Maiden then I’d simply slap Piece Of Mind (1983) on at 45rpm for a laugh. Powerdose does have the creaky quality of an obscure British metal record you might’ve found at a record fair many years ago, but like so many of those old releases it can be quite a bland affair despite its direct approach. Speedtrap are all guns blazing indeed, but all too soon running out of ammunition.

Neil Arnold

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