This is the debut album from Switchblade, an Israeli band who feature the vocals of our very own former reviewer Lior "Steinmetal" Stein. So naturally he sent it to the nicest, sweetest reviewer among us, right? No, he sent it to me. Dude has balls. Fortunately, this is a pretty killer slab of 80s worship.
Chugging riffs, killer hooks, and sheer attitude carry this a long way. The guitars could have a heavier tone, but the riffs almost fall over themselves in their rush to burst out and gallop around. There's nothing you have not heard before, but that's the point of this kind of album, isn't it? Album opener "Heavy Weapons" is a careening cut of old-school slayage, and the opening crunch of "Metalista" will get your fist pumping, even if the lyrics are pretty silly. The ballad "Lost Lover's Unite" proves this band can't really do ballads, but then they get back to what they can do with "The Lost Kingdom" and then they keep crushing with songs like "Infernal Paradise" and album high point "Curse of the Father, Sins of the Son".
Lior's vocals are pretty good here, and he has the right kind of high-octane wail for this stuff, he just needs some more work, as he wanders off-key when he goes for big notes, and he sometimes has problems with his phrasing, so the lyrics sound jumbled. Overall though, this is a solid bite of classic 80s metal that pretty much guarantees a good time.