Headless Cross
Burning Sanctuary
6.1
Synopsis:
Traditional Heavy Metal with next to no bullshit...
Review:
The good news: this record rocks like it means it. The somewhat bad news: it rocks like every other traditional band that means it. It’s a slower version of a lot of the throwback bands running around these days, but it hits hard and doesn’t really put one off with any cute attempts at artificial quirkiness. Unless you count the singer’s occasional affectation of Dave Mustaine’s worst vocal traits. Namely I'm referring to him drawing his vowels out over pointlessly extended off-key growling.
In fact the singer could probably have gone a few different ways with his voice. He seems to have decided Mustaine was the way to go. Considering the rest of the band’s workmanlike attitude, you almost forgive him for trying to inject some added personality to the mix. But whereas Mr. Mustaine’s band and compositions were often too interesting to ignore just because Dave’s voice sucked so horribly, this band only shows flashes of such creativity. You will hear influences ranging from Maiden to Saxon to Metallica in here, but all of it seems to boil down to mid paced, 80s NWBHM in the end. Not a bad thing, but I own those fucking records already.
Musicianship and production are all professional. Each player gets ample space in the mix. I have heard bands where the individual players have a lot more to say that would benefit greatly from this production job. Headless Cross simply sounds like a band that knows what it wants to sound like. There is nothing at all tricky about their style or playing, but it works in that "all for one, one for all" sense.
The bottom line here is that this band simply rocks like Metal used to rock. I am not impressed at what they are doing, but I am impressed that they do it in such a professional and no bullshit way. This band would fit seamlessly into a bill with your favorite classic metal heroes…maybe only as a warm up band, but without having to apologize for doing what they do. Make no mistake: nothing new here at all, not even contemporary, but solid and pure. I hope they take it someplace on their next outing. The foundation is like a rock, judging from this EP. Find your own voice and you could be something great.
