Year : 2024
Style : Heavy Metal , Power Metal
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 119 mb
Bio:
Heavy riffs, catchy melodies and technically demanding lead guitars are the trademarks of the Munich heavy metal band Reverend Hound. Although Munich - unlike Hamburg or the Ruhr region - is not necessarily regarded as one of Germany's heavy metal centres, Bavaria now has a band that wants to catch up with the big names in the scene.The band was founded in 2004 under the name Savage by guitarist Thomas and bassist Nicolas. Two years later, after some searching, the line-up was strengthened by the exceptional Franconian drummer Reinhold Schneider. From then on, his precise, powerful and intelligent playing formed the foundation of the band's sound. With Roland, the band also recruited a singer with a high, clear voice, thus clearly distancing themselves from trends such as nu metal or metalcore.In mid-2007, the position of second guitarist becomes vacant, leaving Thomas as the only axeman before Sebastian takes his place in November. From their first rehearsal together, the two musicians work together brilliantly and the band's sound becomes a whole lot heavier.In June 2008, the band was forced to make another line-up change, as singer Roland had to leave the band due to work commitments and was immediately replaced by Sebastian, the former frontman of Fallout. Thanks to his raw, thrashy vocals, the duo sound heavier than ever and still manage to combine this energy with catchy melodies. Due to these drastic changes, the quintet decided to drop the name Savage and renamed themselves Reverend Hound - a name taken from the video game "Fallout 3", which was also popular among the band members.In 2011, bassist Nicolas, one of the longest-serving members, left the Reverend Hound line-up because he could no longer identify with the band's sound. As he had already been replaced by The Prophecy bassist Markus for six months due to an extended period of study abroad, it was clear to the band that no other candidate could be considered as Nicolas' permanent successor. The differentiated playing of the new bassist drives the band towards more filigree songwriting, which is clearly noticeable on their second album "Release The Hounds".When "Release The Hounds" was finally released in 2015 after several delays, the line-up carousel had unfortunately turned again: with singer Sebastian, who wanted to spend more time with his family in the future, another member of Reverend Hound's first line-up had left the band. Instead of searching publicly, the band decided to look around in their immediate surroundings and recruited Wolfgang Gräbner, known from Serum and the metal cover band Maidenhead, one of the best heavy metal singers in Bavaria.With Wolfgang on vocals, the sound of Reverend Hound diversifies once again. Whilst old songs are enhanced by his characterful vocals, the new material is written explicitly for his voice. This is also noticeable in the audience response: This is followed by several appearances as support acts for bands such as Myrath or Night Demon as well as at underground festivals such as the Metalheadz Open Air or the Chainbreaker Festival, through which Reverend Hound are able to win over a large number of new fans. The band's crowning moment came in summer 2017, when they had the great honour of opening one of the two main stages at the Metal Days Open Air in Slovenia.In 2018, Reverend Hound celebrated their tenth anniversary, which culminated in an official birthday party at the Munich club "Soundcafé", where the band also took some of their first steps. The band also focussed more on writing new songs last year.In 2019, Reverend Hound were determined to finally release a new album! Unfortunately, as is so often the case, this failed for a variety of reasons ...2020 - 2021: The global coronavirus pandemic did not leave Reverend Hound unscathed. While the band worked continuously on their next album, the risk of infection and lockdowns made it impossible to make rapid progress with the recordings. Of course, this was anything but good for the general "morale in the band" and so drummer Anton decided to leave the band in 2021.2022: Without a drummer and no prospect of live performances, Reverend Hound continued to work on the completion of their next album. When it seemed that the band would have to rely on session drummers in the future, they finally found a worthy candidate for the drum stool in Brazilian Jack. With a breath of fresh air in their sails, the band began to make new plans and returned to the stage at the "Lok" in Freimann in December after more than two years of abstinence.2023: Determined to finally complete their next album, Reverend Hound started the year full of drive: after years of delay, the record was finally sent to Dan Baune's (Lost Sanctuary, Devil's Train) "Noise Foundry Studios" on 1 January for final mixing and mastering.At the same time, the band once again found a new drummer in Andy (Soulhunter, The Roxx) after personnel disagreements, who quickly joined the band. With a stable line-up and a finished album in the bag, Reverend Hound went in search of a label. After tough negotiations, the band finally signed with Metalizer Records.In 2024, what has been a long time coming will finally be good, as a release date for the third Reverend Hound album has been set.
Album:
Sometimes a promo cover or title compels me to take a chance and grab it though I know nothing about the band. Such was the case when I spotted Reverend Hound bobbing about in the sump. With a name like that, art like that, and a title like Deal in Steel, how could I move on without fully investigating the pedigree of this altered beasty? These little-known German mongrels play a style of metal that owes a great debt to Accept, Grave Digger, and Primal Fear, and on their third album, they aim for a slick, ear-cropping blend of classic Germanic metal, NWoBHM, and aggressive speed. This means fist-pumping riffs, wailing vocals, and arena-ready choruses. That should sound like a good time and if it doesn’t, you’re too grim and serious for fun so get the fuck off the pooch porch. Now, let’s examine how much dog poundage we’re dealing with.These puppers come out swinging the krautpower on opener “The Night” with oodles of chunky, punchy riffage and many an Accept-ism powering the war charge along with tasty bits of old school power metal. As the guitars sizzle and derange your blood pressure, the feisty vocals of Wolfgang1 Gräbner bring the black leather and glittering steel as he wails and kills, swinging from Udo to Halford with several stops in between. It’s a muscular, take-no-prisoners song loaded with commanding leads, classic harmonies, “Painkiller”-esque dueling solos, and a chorus that’s big and beefy. “Hounds of the Sea” is more of the same and highly entertaining, dotting classic Iron Maiden harmonies around its 7-minute saga. It’s a bit too long, but the writing is consistently sharp and hooks are everywhere. The high point arrives with “Days of Wrath” where the dogs are really let out. It’s the kind of tune you just can’t get enough of and I’ve had this thing on replay for days. The guitar work is so tight and intense, the vocals are so right, and that chorus is a brain-eating ear destroyer. Bad. Ass.Elsewhere, “Glory” drops the titular commodity in truckloads with a shield splintering style more in line with 80 trve/epic metal than typical Teutonic fare and it works bigly and muchly. The touches of Maiden are the iron croutons on the Manowar t-bone, and the whole song reeks of Conan’s unwashed loinclothery. “Seeds of Faith” demands that you endure an 8-plus minute classic metal epic full of big riffs and powerhouse vocals, and endure it you will because its thrashy, Artillery-esque energy and magnetism are so electric and addicting. If this came out in the 80s, I would have blasted it non-stop until my cassette tape died an unnatural death. Things close with another 8-minute monster called “A Cry for Light” and it delivers a satisfyingly ginormous parting shot, loaded with heroic fret-board work and do-or-die vocals with scads of Brainstorm influence. There are no bad songs here, but a few like “Rain” and “Fallen Angels” hit just a bit less heavily, though the speed metal onslaught of the former is certainly enjoyable. The occasional bloat that worms into certain tracks is not dire and the writing is hook-centric enough to endure it, but you could definitely hack a minute off “Hounds of the Sea” and “Seeds of Faith.” At just under 52 minutes, Deal in Steel doesn’t feel overly long since the songs exude enough wattage and intensity to keep the listener locked in throughout.I’m quite impressed with Wolfgang Gräbner’s vocals. He’s heavily accented but his delivery is righteous in a rough, slightly unpolished way. The man can roar and enjoys doing so, but never gets to the point where you want to wap him in the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. When he croons on slower moments he sounds a lot like Accept’s Mark Tornillo, but once he goes off the rails he lands somewhere between Paul Di’Anno and Diviner’s Yiannis Papanikolaou, which is a good place to crash. Thomas Meyns and Sebastian Weinstock really go all in with tons of adrenalizing riffage and slick harmonizing. When they aren’t peeling your eyelids off with big riffs they bring you all the Maiden-esque moments you could want. It’s the guitar work that really sells the material and keeps you glued to your speakers from one song to the next. They know how to tear it up in the classic metal way and they have me eating out of their hands on every spin.It’s always a blast to try an unknown band and get your melon splintered by badass tuneage, and my melon needs stitching because these dogs can hunt! If you want your traditional metal served with a big shot of roids and an overbite, this is the kennel for you. When you Deal in Steel, you best bring your iron game. These rabid woofers sure as Hell did. Good boys!
Line Up:
Wolfgang Gräbner - Vocals (2015-present) - See also: ex-Serum, Maidenhead, ex-ACE
Thomas Meyns - Guitars (2008-present) - See also: Demons Dream, ex-Savage
Sebastian Weinstock - Guitars (2008-present) - See also: ex-Savage
Markus Brendel - Bass (2011-present) - See also: ex-The Prophecy
Andi Lorenz - Drums (2023-present) - See also: The Roxx, ex-Atisha, Soulhunter, ex-Pikes Edge, ex-Meroe, ex-Nightfall, ex-Paris Tango, ex-Point Zero, ex-Redeem, ex-So Dark the Night
Tracklist:
01. The Night 06:40
02. Hounds of the Sea 07:08
03. Days of Wrath 04:56
04. Glory 05:53
05. Seeds of Faith 08:36
06. Rain 05:53
07. Fallen Angels 04:41
08. A Cry for Light 08:03
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
