Fury of the Thunder God

Sweden's Under Attack has been around more than 10 years (as of 2023) and after a number of demos, is seeing the release of their debut album, Fury of the Thunder God. After looking at the cover art and title, I was expecting some epic heavy metal and that's essentially what Under Attack plays. The promo materials say they play speed metal, but other than a few thrashy parts, I don't hear that at all. What I hear is muscular, epic heavy metal in the vein of Omen, Armored Saint and Manowar. Punchy riffs, gruff vocals, pounding drums, songs with metal lyrics like "Where the Axeman Laughs" and "The Beast Shall Rise," all the boxes are checked. The sound is somewhat flat without a lot of depth, which undermines the epic atmosphere Under Attack are going for, but it isn't terrible, nor is the songwriting, though it is generic and often repetitive ("Night of the Sniper," "Dawn of Fire," and "Meatgrinder" are big offenders, but not the only ones). On the other hand, "Fury of the Thunder God" has a slow, pounding rhythm and a chorus tailor-made for having the audience shout along with. Fury of the Thunder God, the album, is not bad, but is ultimately unremarkable.