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ZEPTER
Inferno EP

Ironbound (2024)
Rating: 8/10

Now this is a very interesting if rather short (19 minutes) debut from Austrian act Zepter, who apparently formed only a few months ago. Considering the lack of experience within, Zepter has breezily constructed a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-styled gem which bristles with energy and an airy nonchalance. In fact, it’s as if I’ve discovered some early-to-mid 80s unlabelled cassette in the attic.

Vocalist Lukas Götzenberger has a light, carefree style and behind him the music always keeps you guessing in a vintage yet non progressive way, as evidenced on the extremely catchy ‘Crushed By The Sword’. It’s such a fluid song, running like a Ghost track to some extent while also nodding towards Mercyful Fate but with a lighter 70s shade of cool. The chorus is a wonderful little segment brimming with a Thin Lizzy lick and metallic sheen that conjures wafts of medieval mayhem before a drift into speed metal. If I’d discovered this track on a mid 80s Euro metal compilation I would’ve been foaming at the mouth.

The same goes for the title track, a six-minute rocker which gallops like Iron Maiden with a punky background, and yet further beefier levels of punk with the steely riff. ‘Precise Radars’ is thicker and layered with more menace, but again there is a Thin Lizzy fluidity to the lead and borderline speed metal attitude too. This is cleverly crafted heavy metal from the days of future past so to speak, more so with the excellent ‘Inquisitor’ which busily arcs towards speed metal yet remaining refrained to keep its foggy mysticism.

Alongside the mysteriously innovative Elle Tea from Italy, Zepter is another understated masterstroke which shoes that the metal genre is far from stagnant or derivative, because even with its nostalgic delivery this is a glorious release that leaves me tingling with excitement for future works.

Neil Arnold

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