STORMHUNTER – An Eye for An I review

STORMHUNTER – An Eye for An I

Independent

http://stormhunter-metal.de/

The labels usually push the artists to the limits and demand in short time to release one album after the other. This is a tactic that might bring profit to the label, but the fact is that it pushes the artists to their limits and usually makes them release mediocre albums. I am more into the logic of STORMHUNTER that leave a gap of 2 or for this release 3 years in order to recharge their inspiration. This is a move that, most of the times, pays back if we talk in terms of creativity. The band seems to believe so much in this release that they actually decided to release it on their own.

THE COVER: The cover of the album is dark and yet epic. It pictures a misty field with a pyramid with a huge eye on the top and on the background a mummified evil creature that reminded me of Mumm-Ra and the ICED EARTH covers too. The cover is very good and fits perfectly to the sound of the band and it is made by Peter Sallai who made covers for such bands like SABATON and SACRED STEEL.

MUSICAL STYLE: This is the third release of STORMHUNTER and if you have listened to their previous to, then you will know that musically they play heavy/power/speed metal that made their country, Germany, so known in the world. In their previous 2 releases they, of course, had a strong RUNNING WILD feeling (hell yeah) and this element is also obvious in this album too. However, this time they have expanded their sound with influences from bands like early HELLOWEEN, BLIND GUARDIAN, RAGE and SCANNER. The great thing with this is that they have managed to embody their influences into their own playing style and actually they have built a recognizable sound.

COMPOSITIONS: I have listened to this release more than enough times and I will also listen to it in the near future. All the 12 compositions that are included here are very interesting to listen to and the more I listen to the album the more I like them. I think though that everyone has favorites even if we talk about JUDAS PRIEST’s “Painkiller” and my favorites from this album are: “Victimized”, “Among the Blind”, “Cathodic Messiah”, “Tortured Mind”, “Hell (Is What You Make of It)” and “An Eye for An I”.

CONCLUSION: STORMHUNTER managed to release an album that can satisfy the people who love the Teutonic heavy/power/speed metal sound and I think that this is their most mature work up to now because they manage to keep a good balance between heavy riffs and melodies and also bring a fresh and creative air to this kind of music. Also they have impressed me with the maturity of their lyrics which are based on political and social issues and they ask you to use your brain and think about them. In a few words STORMHUNTER must be proud because they have definitely released one of the best albums that I have listened to in the start of 2015!!!

Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis