Hamerex are an English heavy metal band formed in 2004.

The album opens with an instrumental, two minutes of brutal crunching heavy metal that sets the tone for the rest of the album. ‘Life Or Death’ follows in bombastic style; a thumping romp, a catchy riff and vocals that sound like a cross between Phil Rind (Sacred Reich), Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) and Chuck Billy (Testament).

‘Inferno’ is a slow, heavy, doom laden song hinting at influences from such legendary bands as Black Sabbath and Dio. The mid tempo foot stomper ‘Edge Of Madness’ with its blistering guitar solo (midway through the song) leads into ‘The Extremist’, the fastest song on the album, very much Slayer-like in its arrangement, this is thrash metal as it should be.

Not wanting to be confined to just the thrash metal genre, the band diverse into the hard rock arena with ‘Mortuary’, a song heavily influenced by the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. with a catchy guitar riff and sing-a-long chorus, this is surely going to be a crowd favourite.

‘The Stranger’ carries on the hard rock influence. a slightly slower song, but with all the characteristics of British heavy metal. ‘Descent Of Angels’ rumbles along with power and pace proving just how brilliant a thrash metal band this is.

‘Night Of Samhain’ is an eleven minute heavy metal song reminiscent of any of Iron Maiden’s epic long songs. It hints at influences from many different genres of metal such as thrash, power, speed, doom and traditional British heavy metal. ‘Still The Wall Remains’ is a musical departure from everything else on the album with its acoustic guitars, soulful vocals and almost ballad-like feel.

Overall, a very good album that combines thrash metal, doom metal and hard rock with a superb growl-like performance, proving that British heavy metal is not dead.

Frenzy Fire
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