ALBUM REVIEW: Air Raid – Fatal Encounter

AIR RAID from Sweden bring forth their fourth album of traditional Heavy Metal worship via High Roller Records on February 24th.

Kicking right in with melodic but biting riffs atop walls of fearsome drumming and met by chants and glorious leads, it’s obviously that Air Raid have come to slay old school style. The powerfully delivered vocals and instrumentation have a strong rhythm with plenty of power across the board to deliver their thunderous music. Playing as an extremely tight unit with a high end production gives Air Raid are very formidable sound that is ultimately that of a very professional band. Perhaps they could have left a bit more grit in there without harming things, but I think it is fair to say they are shooting for the stars and have a very good chance of success based upon the records opening tracks which seamlessly blend melodic Heavy Metal full of anthemic choruses with tons of shredding face-melters.

Their straight Heavy Metal often incorporates elements of Power Metal and things such as synths to give a bit more dynamics to their sound which lends to the catchier side of their music without getting in the way of the hard hitting riffs and drums or piercing vocals. There are contrastingly stripped back moments where they can comfortably rock out to some simple ideas in the vein of early Accept or Judas Priest before putting pedal to the metal and going full shredding mayhem. This balance plays to both sides of the bands strengths in a way that hits hard, fast and without mercy while making sense from the standpoint of listening to a record rather than a mash-up of ill-fitted songs. Halfway through we get some nice neoclassical guitars which are tightly played and don’t stick around too long to get annoying, making for a cool interlude before the Heavy Metal continues.

After a few more tracks, the record is done. The real standout track for me was “Lionheart” which has such a brilliant energy to it, though all of the tracks bring something to the table. Softer pieces like “Edge of a Dream” give a bit of emotion to things while keeping plenty of bite still in the mix and not losing their edge. “Fatal Encounter” definitely has plenty of anthems on it that will make for really killer live tracks, a setting I feel I’d definitely enjoy the band in, maybe more so. I think the record was a bit too clean-cut and could have kept a bit more roughness to it, but that’s probably more of a reflection on my tastes and from a producing point of view, the sound is obviously wonderful. That said, it’s not ruined for me by any means and overall I dug what Air Raid offer, which is exhilarating and easy to get into Heavy Metal with an AOR angle very clearly influencing them too. Objectively, I think they have achieved exactly what they set out to achieve and deserve praise for it.

Air Raid is a force to be reckoned with. Their songwriting and musicianship is top-notch and the production, artwork and feel of the music does not let them down. My main criticism is there probably isn’t much we haven’t heard before, but with some of these NWOTHM bands that doesn’t have to be an issue at all. At the end of the day Air Raid play killer Heavy Metal, which is what you want from a band like this. Part of my scoring metric is originality, but this aspect aside, there is tons to love about this record and I certainly recommend it to fans of the NWOTHM sound who prefer a tighter, more high-end production to the grittier underground mix. Guitarists especially are gonna be blown away by the monstrous shredding all over this thing, and that’s not to say the rest of the band can’t keep up. These are some seriously talented dudes who make music that’ll always be fun to bang heads and pound fists to.