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SIGN OF THE JACKAL
Heavy Metal Survivors

Dying Victims Productions (2024)
Rating: 8/10

After a couple of changes in personnel (Dave L. “Dröz” replacing Max Pinkle on guitar and Frederick “Triple F” replacing Nick “DevilDrunk” on bass), Italian rockers Sign Of The Jackal embark upon their third full-length.

I was a big fan of the band’s 2013 debut Mark Of The Beast, but it would be another five years before sophomore outing Breaking The Spell emerged, and that one passed me by. However, Sign Of The Jackal is now back after a six year silence with this latest effort.

Introduction ‘Eulogy Of The Survivors’ pays homage to Mötley Crüe’s ‘In The Beginning’ before ‘Breaking The Spell’ kicks in like a speedier version of Crüe’s classic ‘Live Wire’. As with previous albums, Heavy Metal Survivors is happy to wear its influences on its denim sleeve as the clan marches through steamy streets of early-to-mid 80s metal as the likes of W.A.S.P., Warlock, Twisted Sister, Lizzy Borden and the aforementioned Mötley Crüe get reincarnated via a batch of fiery numbers.

There’s a post apocalyptic menace about the rich riffage of ‘Nightmare City’, as one envisions lawless streets run by leather-clad and long-haired gangs. ‘Shocker’ is as equally rebellious, stomping like heavy glam fused with shock rock as the meaty riffs strike in tandem with the hefty percussive chimes. This is the sound of true heavy metal that your parents were scared of back in 1985. Fists pump and chests pound to the steady Mötley Crüe-esque anthem of ‘(You Better) Run For Tomorrow’, while ‘Watch Out’ is borderline speed metal in its fury as Accept and Exciter collide.

The only thing this album is missing is a band photo on a wasteland of rubble and twisted, crushed futuristic vehicles. Laura “Demons Queen” Coller continues to lead her mob beyond the thunder dome as she wails commands like a Bronx Warrior banshee. The alleyways are strewn with litter, blown furiously by the sizzling streaks of ‘Pedal To The Metal’, the cauldron of Dokken, Warlock and Acid is stirred as satanic sirens fill the air and Molotov cocktails puncture already shattered window panes of sombre buildings.

Heavy Metal Survivors is the Mad Max of metal albums, falsely futuristic yet naively primitive… and I love it.

Neil Arnold

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