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LÖANSHARK
The Warning Sessions EP

Self-released (2018)
Rating: 8/10

Not to be confused with a Finnish act of the same name, here we have a Barcelona-based trio hell-bent on reviving the 80s and providing enough grit, determination and fire to wake up the nation.

Throw this one alongside numerous floundering revival acts but accept The Warning Sessions for what it is, which is a sterling and edgy EP featuring four nippy tracks entitled ‘Turn It Louder’, ‘Black Leather Queen’, ‘Heavy Metal Addicts’ and ‘Machinegunner’. All are delivered with a high degree of energy and built upon a foundation of acidic speed metal riffs and slightly gravelled vocal strains.

This is actually good, exuberant and volatile stuff, all full of hot-blooded guitar streaks, high-spirited percussion and tetchy bass licks. It’s not original at all, but whereas so many bands seem to rely on an 80s image and in turn neglect their rather watery sound, these guys go all out in all departments.

Löanshark serve up a rather delicious fizzing guitar sound, the threesome lapping at New Wave Of British Heavy Metal shores, throwing in Exciter, Malice, Picture, Attacker, Armored Saint and whatever else takes your fancy as another well-oiled solo leaks into the mesh of metallic frenzy. The band concoct a rounded, tight and speeding ball of high-octane fury and fuss that is far better than the song titles suggest. For instance, a track such as ‘Black Leather Queen’ just exudes confidence and vitality; flecks of sleaziness spark from the streetwise and regressive decadence, the mechanics behind this one seeming simple, yet almost spontaneous.

A myriad of hot sparks shower from the galloping, street level mayhem of barroom rocker ‘Heavy Metal Addicts’ which, for all of its naivety, is a stern and proud ballsy rocker. The rudimentary charge of ‘Machinegunner’ with its stony drum pulse and panicked bass, meanwhile, could easily have been thrown together in a pub in 1984. Instead though, this battalion has no shame, combing a greasy AC/DC-meets-Motörhead heat as the vocals strain and struggle to combat the molten musical wallops.

That 80s stuffiness at times stifles the vocal warble effectively enough to give the whole package a rather downtrodden and roguish façade, the band revelling in their own sweaty, blood-fuelled turmoil all while being clearly capable of whacking us with a batch of steel-eyed yet disposable metal anthems – the sort of brash, honest and stiff heaps wreckage that if an album existed, would proper run out of gas before the halfway stage.

As it stands The Warning Sessions is an effective throwback to a time of bravado, brutish chemistry and speed metal shrapnel.

Neil Arnold

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