Even though the band was possibly named after a Gamma Ray song, that's not the style of metal you're gonna get on 'Merciful Angel', the Serbian band's debut album. Space Eater hail back to the turn of 1980's and 1990's rigid U.S. thrash/speed metal, and do it in style. They are not just another "retro" band, they do it credibly and with respect.

Starting with air raid sirens wailing and military drumming, callous instrumental opener leads onto first "real" song, speeding 'Bombs Away'. Catchy it is, and soon a listener is surely banging his fists in the air to the chorus and screaming with high notes hitting vocalist. A really warm welcome. 'Overkill' continue in same way... While being fast for a big part, the band know when to hit the brakes for a while, and also how to keep the songs interesting with solo parts, good riffage, even some melodies (and riffage is usually very hummable, believe me) and such things. While there's some variety, there could and should be more, because the album gets a bit repetitive at some point. To give some hints how 'Merciful Angel' mainly sound like, I give you the names Evildead and Agent Steel, with a small pinch of heavy metal thrown in it. The vocals are mainly "spoken notes", something like Forbidden's Russ Anderson was known of, and when there's some singing, it's in heavy metal vein, plus during calmer part on the title track reminding of good old Death Angel. Musicians handle their weapons of choice well, as the music requires, in my opinion. The production could be fatter, but I like the way the bass can be heard well

Cover artwork is fitting; annihilation everywhere. But it lacks of colouring, which is a bit sad thing. How cool it would have been if fully coloured?! Thick booklet includes lyrics, which is always a fine thing. Lyrical topics are about war, as you might have guessed, but also about betrayal in love (duh, no more of these, please...), lying religions and some funnier ones like loathing of opera and spending your afterlife in hell.

Still, there's better albums from the original era (what a stupid statement, of course there is!), but 'Merciful Angel' shows that this kind of metal is far from dead, and there's younger generation that is able to do something this convincing, if getting a bit too repetitive at times. This will make you wanna dig up your outworn denim jacket and cut off its sleeves and sew some patches on it! Space Eater have landed, but can they truly cause annihilation next time around?

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/30/2008 20:53