KERRIGAN
KERRIGAN "Bloodmoon"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Despite the very Irish sounding name, KERRIGAN are actually from Germany and favor a style with tons of twin harmony guitar and NWOBHM melodic grit. Most German traditional metal bands wind up sounding like ACCEPT or HELLOWEEN, but these guys are actually a lot closer to such NWOBHM obscurities as WOLF, TRESPASS and CRUCIFIXION. Of course MAIDEN and ANGELWITCH also get touched on as well.
Melody is always in the forefront of this band, even when they are blasting out speed metal bangers like "Eternal Fire", "Child of Sin" and "Forces of Night".. The twin guitar harmony is always there, sometimes sounding like early MAIDEN, sometimes like THIN LIZZY. The lead vocals are high and kind of sweet, a lot like Kevin Heybourne of ANGELWITCH. Some of the vocal lines are pretty close to AOR and honestly, some of them are too sugary for me. A little more grit wouldn't have hurt in this department.
The band actually shines a bit more on more mid-paced and epic stuff, like the very catchy "Against The Westwind" and "Hold The Banner". The riffing tends to be more original and gripping on these tracks, but nowhere better than "Pull The Trigger", which is just so cool and hypnotic with its intense groove and powerful chorus. This is where KERRIGAN really make their mark.
For a debut, this is pretty good stuff. I see some room for improvement, but those who love heavy metal the classical way will find little to complain about.