TAILGUNNER “Guns For Hire”
By Dr. Abner Mality
If this album was any more British, it would come with an order of fish and chips...or maybe tea and crumpets. TAILGUNNER is a new band making a noise and just a couple of seconds into this album, it’s pretty clear they’ve got IRON MAIDEN on the brain big time.
The MAIDEN and NWOBHM influence is extremely strong here, mixed with a bit of a modern power metal feel from bands like HAMMERFALL. You have to be really good to avoid sounding like a bad knockoff and fortunately, TAILGUNNER know what they are doing. I can’t say there was any one colossal song that knocked me for a loop...although last track “Rebirth” comes pretty close...but taken as a whole, “Guns For Hire” is just a pleasing true metal album where everything hangs together well and the songs compliment each other.
Opener “Shadows of War” and the title track are so traditional they’re almost painful, with Craig Cairns smooth vocals cutting through the fog. He’s not as histrionic as a Dickinson or Halford, but he never misses a note and sounds “right” on every tune. With “White Death”, we get a lot meaner song that has thrash overtones to it. Although there’s no ballad on the album, “Future’s Lost” and “Blood for Blood” lean more into the melody, with definite HAMMERFALL vibes and almost AOR vocals on the chorus. “Crashdive” is a good “chugging” tune, but the best is saved for last, as the 8 minute plus “Rebirth” comes close to the majesty of MAIDEN’s epics in their middle years. Fortunately they don’t overdo things like recent MAIDEN tends to do.
Just a solid piece of British steel from a new band to keep an eye on.