Ambush
Infidel
High Roller Records
2020
Sweden’s Ambush is an interesting band, probably, better than most of their newer wave trad metallist pals that worships in the altar of Priest and Maiden. But these kids also seem to be mixing more melodic stuff, ie Dokken, Riot (the hard rock side) and Scorpions to the mix.
On their third album they seem to be running in parallel to their countrymen in Enforcer, trying to clean their act up, showing of as much versatility as the genre and it’s rather dumb crowd may afford them.
“Infidel” starts with a happy go lucky, “Freewheel Burning” type of intro, before it settles for something more melodic and original, which however can’t help than give you the sense of a strange dejavu, complete with early Def Leppard grit and Lizzy Borden mad screams midway. Cute soloing.
“Yperite” goes overboard with pinch harmonics. It feels like Accept, with the wrong singer who decides to go Def midway. Not terrible, but pretty basic. Probably like your girlfriend.
“Leave Them to Die” tries to pick up the slack and run with it, almost Rioting along the way, but with super clean vocals. I must say that I liked it, but I wouldn’t have minded some more grit and heaviness.
While I was expecting “Hellbiter” to be a balls out double bass, sprint, this mid-tempo uber melodic number, feels and sounds suspiciously “hairy” and poodle y, but in a way that won’t disappoint you if you are a fan of classic melodic metal.
“The Summoning” is a riffy intro (ala the “Hellion”) to the “Demon Within”, a more hard hitting number with some nice leads that also unique because of muscular lead execution.
“A Silent Killer” is more melodic and quite prominently minor, which offers a nice contrast to its predecessor for instance.
“Iron Helm of War” again tries to sounds menacing, but it feels like Dokken trying to sound like Manowar. It’s not rubbish, its just not the most convincing thing under the sun.
“Heart of Stone” is the band actually being more melodic by design, against a hard riff in a way that might have worked well for Riot, but probably ends up being a little too much for them to handle, despite not lacking the promise, they just lack the experience.
“Lust for Blood” for once, begins with a riff that means business but the melodic vocals make it sound a little like a more melodic early Motley Crue (LTK). Not that’s bad, but it’s probably not what the vast array of underground fans would want.
Singer Oskar Jacobsson would probably fare better in a band that sounds like Europe than a band with upside down crosses with burning corpses on the cover… that sound like a whimpier Q5 without the chops or the rasp.
The production is clear and pretty bass happy, vintage in a way reminiscent of NWOBHM, but lacking the bite of more substantial genre classics. Ambush do harmonies nicely, but they feel like Enforcer lite and then some… some less.
On their third album they seem to be running in parallel to their countrymen in Enforcer, trying to clean their act up, showing of as much versatility as the genre and it’s rather dumb crowd may afford them.
“Infidel” starts with a happy go lucky, “Freewheel Burning” type of intro, before it settles for something more melodic and original, which however can’t help than give you the sense of a strange dejavu, complete with early Def Leppard grit and Lizzy Borden mad screams midway. Cute soloing.
“Yperite” goes overboard with pinch harmonics. It feels like Accept, with the wrong singer who decides to go Def midway. Not terrible, but pretty basic. Probably like your girlfriend.
“Leave Them to Die” tries to pick up the slack and run with it, almost Rioting along the way, but with super clean vocals. I must say that I liked it, but I wouldn’t have minded some more grit and heaviness.
While I was expecting “Hellbiter” to be a balls out double bass, sprint, this mid-tempo uber melodic number, feels and sounds suspiciously “hairy” and poodle y, but in a way that won’t disappoint you if you are a fan of classic melodic metal.
“The Summoning” is a riffy intro (ala the “Hellion”) to the “Demon Within”, a more hard hitting number with some nice leads that also unique because of muscular lead execution.
“A Silent Killer” is more melodic and quite prominently minor, which offers a nice contrast to its predecessor for instance.
“Iron Helm of War” again tries to sounds menacing, but it feels like Dokken trying to sound like Manowar. It’s not rubbish, its just not the most convincing thing under the sun.
“Heart of Stone” is the band actually being more melodic by design, against a hard riff in a way that might have worked well for Riot, but probably ends up being a little too much for them to handle, despite not lacking the promise, they just lack the experience.
“Lust for Blood” for once, begins with a riff that means business but the melodic vocals make it sound a little like a more melodic early Motley Crue (LTK). Not that’s bad, but it’s probably not what the vast array of underground fans would want.
Singer Oskar Jacobsson would probably fare better in a band that sounds like Europe than a band with upside down crosses with burning corpses on the cover… that sound like a whimpier Q5 without the chops or the rasp.
The production is clear and pretty bass happy, vintage in a way reminiscent of NWOBHM, but lacking the bite of more substantial genre classics. Ambush do harmonies nicely, but they feel like Enforcer lite and then some… some less.