‘Rites of Passage’ is the debut album from British heavy metal band Hamerex. Some of the tracks have been released previously as EPs and demos.

There is an evident Slayer influence here, particularly in the vocals and the guitar riffs on tracks such as ‘The Headless Horseman’ and the guitar solo in ‘Hypnotise’. Luckily for Hamerex, they actually make this work. The highlights include ‘The Lycan’, which features a catchy guitar intro, great solos and an equally catchy chorus making it destined to become a mosh-pit favorite and ‘The Gates of Hades’ with its catchy guitar riffs.

The only disappointments are the title track and ‘Waste Away’ which both suffer from a case of mismatched backing and lead vocals which resemble howling at times. Good news is that the rest of the music is so good you can actually look past this.

3.5/5

Iza Raittila
Valkyrian Music
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