Artist: Ghost Machinery 
   Title: Out For Blood
   Label:
Limb Music

The name of Pete Ahonen is synonymous with the band Burning Point, so what does Pete do when he keeps on songwriting but the songs don’t fit with what Burning Point are doing right now?  Well not one to let good songs go unwanted Pete takes these new songs and produces a band worthy of them, so Ghost Machinery is born.

The band took the world by surprise back in 2004 with the excellent 'Haunting Remains’ album, now six years later be prepared to be rocked once more with the quite stunning ‘Out For Blood’, a triumphant Power Metal release that once again highlights not just Ahonen’s songwriting, but also the tremendous vocals of Taage Laiho.  This album is a massive and I mean MASSIVE, blend of power and grace that will blow the Metal world apart.

The album get's off to a fantastic start with ‘Face Of Evil’. No fancy intro’s, not even a mystical haunting opener, it's straight into the full on Power Metal with Laiho delivering the goods from the off, with massive melodies from the guitars and the pummeling drum and bass lines that are the backbone of the whole Power Metal sound. A real corker of  an open.

There is no rest bite as the locomotive that is Ghost Machinery reaches breakneck speed with the title track ‘Out For Blood’.  Spell binding guitar licks get this one underway, before the towering vocal might of Laiho is unleashed.  A real metalheads delight for sure.

The entire might of the band is put on display with the excellent ‘Guilty’.  Huge rhythms built around another titanic vocal, before things switch with the highly melodic metal of one of my many favourites from the album ‘Blood From Stone’, with orchestral styled keyboards backing the immense guitar licks.  This is all capped off by a simply stunning vocal once again.

There is an air of classic metal around ‘Name Remains In History’, a more bass and double kick drum driven anthemic metal sensation.  All this before the almost folkish metal of ‘Fortune Teller’, a real revelation that shows the band have the multifaceted metal persona that keeps the album fresh.

The traditionalists will just love the towering riff-fuelled splendour of ‘Lost In Time’ on which Laiho shows what a great range he really has.  I regard this as his best vocal on the entire album.  Anyone can scream in the name of metal but to keep the tremendous melodies and power is a true metal singer in my mind and Laiho ranks up there with the best of them on this one.

The pace is picked by up with the ball buster ‘Sentenced To Live (In Paradise)’, an all guns blazing metal assault, then it’s the heady bass lines of another favourite of mine ‘Mask Of Madness’.  This is classic metal with a modern twist.

But what Power Metal album wouldn’t be complete without a keyboard frenzy and this album is no different as 'Eternal Damnation’ epitomizes the genre.  Massive keys mixed with a fiery drum beat and breakneck guitars, superb stuff.

The album closes in fine style with ‘Send Me An Angel’.  Again the keyboards play a big part in this tracks ambiance before the guitars and drums take over and unleash a torrent of metal to sweep you off your feet.

This round’s off one of the best Power Metal album I’ve heard this year and one that will once again send positive shockwaves around the genre.

Tracklisting:

1. Face Of Evil
2. Out For Blood
3. Guilty
4. Blood From Stone
5. Name Remains In History
6. Fortune Teller
7. Lost In Time
8. Sentenced To Life (In Paradise)
9. Mask Of Madness
10. Eternal Damnation
11. Send Me An Angel

                  

 

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