TRAUMA - Rapture and Wrath review

 

TRAUMA - Rapture and Wrath

Pure Steel Records

http://traumametal.com/content/home-page/

TRAUMA is a name that might not ring a bell to most of us, but this is a band with quite an interesting story. The first official appearance of the band was back in 1984 when they released their debut album under the name “Scratch and Scream”. Also in their demo back in 1982 the bass was played by Cliff Burton. So, now after so many years of absence they strike back with their sophomore release.

THE COVER: The cover shows a metalhead coming out of a volcano and some skeletons surrounding him. Also in the background you can see another volcano and mountains and a thunderstorm in the sky. The message is quite simple I think. It symbolizes the rebirth of TRAUMA.

MUSICAL STYLE: In order to decide which albums I will present I always listen to a song, so when I listened to the song “Heart of Stone”, I decided to present this album because it had a strong DIO/RAINBOW vibe. Things, though, differ while the album progresses. I think that TRAUMA’s sound can be described as U.S. power metal and it is close to bands like early QUEENSRYCHE and early FATES WARNING.

COMPOSITIONS: The album includes 10 compositions which most of them move on the paths of U.S. power metal. The songs without being great are not bad. In my opinion they are quite typical for the kind of music that TRAUMA plays. This means that the fans of the sound will love them, but the rest won’t be touched by the music of TRAUMA. In my opinion the song that stands out from this release is the one that opens the album and has the title “Heart of Stone”.

CONCLUSION: I don’t have to say much more than I have already written above. Things are pretty simple here, if you like U.S. power metal in the vein of good old QUEENSRYCHE and FATES WARNING, then you will love this release.

Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis