The title says it all! Opinions expressed here are those of the authors. Personal tastes may vary, and we are cool with that.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Underrated Metal Bands #8: Stormzone

Thanks to this album review on Angry Metal Guy's blog, I discovered a new band! Hailing out of Belfast, Northern Ireland is a heavy metal band called Stormzone. Formed in 2004, the concept for this band was simple: keep a traditional 80's heavy/power metal sound while writing catchy, fun metal tunes.

One of the big things that caught me about this band was vocalist John “Harv” Harbinson and his great vocal range. His voice is very reminiscent of 80's NWOBHM vocalists like Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). Their musical style is very similar to those bands from that era as well and never goes past that. They sound like they belong in the 80's, especially with their flashy guitar solos, soaring power chord riffs, and high powered vocals. It's great to see a band keep a traditional 80's metal sound like this. Very few bands can pull this off nowadays since metal has evolved so much into what it is today with all of the diversity there is. This group has released two albums so far. Their latest album is Death Dealer, which is highly recommended for those who want to hear some classic sounding heavy metal. The Angry Metal Guy did a great review on that album. Make sure you check out his blog as well. He has great reviews and insight on metal!

Granted Stormzone's sound is extremely retro and very dated, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea. But this band intentionally did it that way for a reason and it works so well with how they sound! If you are into old school heavy metal, this is a band you need to hear! A very good find and I wish them the best of success!

One more thing, these guys are going to be at Wacken this year, so make sure that you can go see them and many other metal acts there as well! I am sure it will be one hell of a concert series there! ROCK ON! \m/



Here are a set of links:
Stormzone's Myspace
Stormzone's last.fm page
Angry Metal Guy's Blog
Wacken 2011 Main Band List

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