Savage Dawn

Savage Dawn is the fifth full-length album from Spain's Iron Curtain, a band that plays fast, loud, and loose heavy metal which grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shoves you into the pit. Their music is like a cross between a punk-fueled, Motörhead/Venom assault and some of the contemporary black/thrash bands like Bewitcher and BAT. Most of the songs on Savage Dawn are pedal to the metal thrashers with a nice, crunchy guitar tone and throat-rending shouted vocals, but there are some instrumental songs ("The Aftermath," "Savage Dawn") as well as some softer passages within actual songs (" Калашников 47") that are nice breaks from the wall of sound. The songwriting ranges from "yeah, this fucking rocks" ("Devil's Eyes," "Rattlesnake") to "is this song almost over yet?" ("Jericho Trumpet (Stuka)"), so the album is a bit uneven but it'll wear you out nonetheless. Not the most amazing black/thrash/speed music you can find, but it gets the job done.