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STREET FIGHTER
Secondhand Hero

From The Vaults (2023)
Rating: 8/10

Danish heavy metal project Street Fighter has seemingly emerged from nowhere with a sizzler of a record. Don’t be put off by the bad cover art (even though it’s a straight up homage to the 80s), this is a superb debut outing which stirs the 80s metal cauldron with eight tracks that sound fresh rather than derivative. Sure, this is throwback metal, but it is energetic and crackles with an almost heroic sentiment echoed by the stormy wails and commands of the vocals.

Street Fighter is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Marco Angioni (Meridian), and is joined on this project by vocalists Stefan Jensen (Exelerate) and Sofia Schmidt (Ethereal Kingdoms), bassist Anders Peter Bruun (Meridian) and drummer Klaus Agerbo (Meridian). The album also features a whole host of guest musicians; opening song, ‘The Fall Of The Ash’, is led by the voices of Michael Catton (Tainted Lady) and Christopher Catton (Boys From Heaven), Diamond Head frontman Rasmus Bom Andersen guests on ‘Queen Of The Night’, while the closing track, ‘Nordic Noise’, features Michael Bastholm Dahl (Artillery) and Lars Märker (Meridian) on vocal duties.

With so many different singers there is no solid vocal identity to Street Fighter, but that doesn’t stop this album from being a melodic powerhouse. The slow burning fires of ‘Black Potion’, the bass clanking fluidity of ‘Deadend City’, and the synth led and simmering ‘Devil In Disguise’… it’s all here.

If you want metal you’ve got it; bold, suave, enigmatic, evocative and nostalgic. Get these guys supporting a band like Michigan’s Wanted and you’re on to a winner. ‘Sister Moon’ writhes with a sleazy riff, stomping almost like Led Zeppelin but dripping with that late 80s and, more so, early 90s vibe which saw under appreciated acts like Kik Tracee and Spread Eagle vie for attention. Not much else I can say really, except just buy the damn thing!

Neil Arnold

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