SCREAM MAKER
SCREAM MAKER -”Land Of Fire”
By Iron Sheik
Straight out of the 20s with a sound akin to the L.A. hair metal sound of the 80s ,SCREAM MAKER's new album “Land Of Fire” rips through eleven tracks. Even though all the bands usually associated with the 80s hair metal scene are from the USA, Poland's SCREAM MAKER play in this vein as if they were originally part of it. An homage to a scene that brought harder edged rock to the forefront.
At first, the lead singers voice sounded odd to me as if he is just learning enough English to sing the songs. For all I know he has spoken English all his life and just has a natural inflection. By repeated listens of “Land Of Fire” I had adjusted to his vocal delivery, and now I do not mind it.
Opening “Land Of Fire” with a roar is “Perpetual Burn”. It is a burner for sure. It rages with a great twin guitar attack leaving scorch marks on the ears. “Zombies” starts on a mellower note and that is not a bad thing. It builds to an acoustic interlude, and the guitar solo stems from it. These guys remind me of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing in their prime. When “A Nail In The Head” starts full throttle it makes the previous track seem like a ballad. They proclaim they will make you kneel, make you crawl, and they are succeeding at it. Now we are on our way with “The Rider” that insists we burn, burn, burn forever! “See The Light” speeds along bringing us to the closer which is “Below”. It starts at a slower pace stating they are hungry for Heaven and stuck here forever. Are they referencing Hell?Don’t bet against it. It has a real cool guitar solo that fades out closing the album.
All in all it was a great 48 minutes putting me in mind of JUDAS PRIEST(British Steel, Vengeance, Faith, Painkiller, Firepower eras), MALICE(License To Kill), and HELLOWEEN (Keepers 1 & 2) with only a few bumps along the way. Being album number four it does not surprise me they have toured with the likes of JUDAS PRIEST, PRIMAL FEAR, SAXON, NIGHTWISH, SLAYER, MOTÖRHEAD and MEGADETH over the years. They are a great fit with all those bands, and it will be interesting to see who they tour with in 2023/24. They have the potential to break out of the level they are at because SCREAM MAKER and “Land Of Fire” are that good.