This is sheer 80’s Heavy Metal joy for fans of the pure stuff. Canada’s Recker someone manage to harness the power of Priest the grit Anvil along with a pinch of Danzig/Manowar to top t all off. Sure it’s a throwback, sure it’s simple in structure and rides the cliches into the turf but its still a great album. Hailing from Vancouver I guess the Anvil influence is always on the cards but its unavoidable as Rich Recker holds both the guitar and mic here and phrases his vocals rather like Lips. Close your eyes on tracks like ‘King’ and Lips could be singing.
Elsewhere with just eight tracks there’s not a huge amount to get stuck into but the pay off is there ain’t a dud either. And whilst its all rather one paced they mix it up a bit with ‘Hellhound’, the best rack here (and the single) battling off the pacey ‘Light It Up’ for the crown. I’m also rather partial to ‘Something Wicked ( This Way Comes)’ and you feel that if they could work on their lyrics a bit – either toning them up or making the cliches even more solid they’d do well. Good album.
Track List: 01. Manifest Destiny | 02. Hellbound | 03. King | 04. Nation On Fire | 05. Something Wicked (This Way Comes) | 06. Dark Days | 07. Light It Up | 08. Let Us Prey