Saviours

Good Goddamage, Saviours have arrived with their fourth full-length. This hardcore/stoner/thrash/trashy rock band impressed from day one, with debut Crucifire taking Coliseum to the b-side of some under-produced NWOBHM single for some excellent results. Here, "To the Grave Possessed" finds the band more comfortable in their trad metal than ever; "Fire of Old" does the duelling guitar thing without getting hokey; and "Crete'n" may as well have come straight off one of the silverfish-bait-masquerading-as-'80s-metal-LPs in my closet, with its biker-scuzzy, vaguely melodic march being a thing of beauty. Closer "Walk to the Light" is a powerful, drawn-out and fully metal way to end the proceedings. The album's production is fuzzy, raw and natural, which is exactly the sound the music needed. The Sword open for Metallica while records like this blow the doors off dingy hellholes to 40 attendees? Go figure.