ScreaMachine – ScreaMachine

ScreaMachine Album Cover Art

ScreaMachine – ScreaMachine
Frontiers Music srl
Release Date: 09/04/2021
Running Time: 45:25
Review by Simon Black
7.5/10

Most of the material I get sent to review that hails from the shores of that wonderful nation Italy tends to fall into either the Power, Progressive, Symphonic or Operatic sub-genres and I had started to wonder if these were the only styles of Metal that had a market over there. Of course, I am wrong (and it’s all the editor’s fault as he chooses what I listen to), so when I received this delightfully fresh slab of good old-fashioned Rock’n’Roll influenced Heavy Metal today I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s rough, it’s raw, it’s gutsy and it’s refreshingly good, with twin harmonised guitars coming out of every bar, galloping rhythm lines aplenty, plus some blistering lead work and a soulful, no frills, powered vocal delivery. The Metal is definitely of the traditionally influenced NWOBHM and German ends of the spectrum, but it’s not sounding dated or derivative and has the freshness of a band who know what they liked in their parents record collections, but know what works for a modern audience. Not that these are fresh faced newbies either – this may be a debut album, but the musicians involved are all experienced hands with a good history of delivery in acts such as Stormlord, Kaledon, and Lunarsea dating back to the 1990’s. That experience shows well, as there is a maturity in the song-writing and sound that has the fresh energy of a project that they all clearly dig…A lot! They’ve also dragged in an impressive roster of guests as well, with guitar turns from Steve Di Giorgio and a whole bunch of Italian shredders, plus a vocal turn from Avantasia and Firewind singer Herbie Langhans, but frankly the core five-piece at the heart of this are more than capable of delivering the goods on their own.

Vocalist Valerio Caricchio has a powerful presence in this act, with a solid rough round the edges delivery and a hint at a little top end screamage where it’s needed, creating the impression that he could take the wallpaper off if he chose to, but it’s not what they wanted in this instance. The album flies by quite quickly and if it has a down side it is that most tracks are very much of a similar tempo, and a little more variety in tone might have offered a broader appeal, but as far as straight ahead riff based Metal goes, it can’t be faulted.

‘The Metal Monster’ (Official Video)

TRACKLISTING:
01. Demondome
02. The Metal Monster
03. The Human God
04. Darksteel
05. Mistress Of Disaster
06. 52Hz
07. Wisdom Of The Ages (Feat. Steve Di Giorgio and Herbie Langhans)
08. Silver Fever
09. Dancing With Shadows
10. Scream Machine

LINE-UP:
Valerio “The Brave” Caricchio – Lead Vocals
Francesco Bucci – Bass
Alex Mele – Guitars
Paolo Campitelli – Guitars
Alfonso “Fo” Corace – Drums

LINKS:

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Simon Black and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

Leave a Reply