RAM | ‘Death’

It’s been hard work keeping up with the legions of Swedish teenagers releasing stirling heavy metal lately.

RAM, who come blazing out of Gothenburg with this, their third album, are a bit longer in the tooth, but they sound just as hungry and fired-up as fellow countrymen like Portrait and Enforcer.

They’ve got a reputation now that’s well earned, particularly in the live arena. Previous albums ‘Forced Entry’ and ‘Lightbringer’ ensured their name is now well recognised one at European metal festivals, where they appear replete with more leather and spikes than you can shake a copy of ‘Screaming for Vengeance’ at.

Indeed, if it wasn’t blindly clear enough from the gloriously Mad Max indebted video you’ll see below, their muse is 80’s Judas Priest and they draw deep from that well.

It’s a good one to draw from, but ultimately RAM take so many leaves from the boys from Birmingham’s book that it must be almost threadbare once they’re done.

Yet they do bear that mantle of Metal God acolytes with some aplomb. There’s a commitment to straight up riffing and solid songs on ‘Death’ that is striking from the first listen.

The back-alley danger of ‘Death…’ is a nice opening piece, full of lurid synths and laser-edged ambience. It’s hardly arrived before it’s blasted away by the chugging impact of ‘…Comes From The Mouth Beyond’.

We’re soon down to business as usual, with a twin guitar assault that is as satisfying as it is conventional. ‘Defiant’ sums up the band in many ways, laying on touch of rock-solid Maiden galloping and air-raid vocals that will warm the cockles of any headbanger’s cranium.

Dynamics are pretty limited, but this is satisfying enough that you shouldn’t overly care. There’s a bite and vigour to the vocals in particular that brings to mind vintage Accept and the commanding yowls of a young Udo Dirkschneider.

It’s particularly enjoyable when they do effectively slow things down, like on the jagged ‘Frozen’ - which brings to mind a shade of Queensrÿche drama.

It’s a fleeting moment, something that’s rather clumsily expanded on via an ill-advised ’sleeping population’ rant on ‘Hypnos’. Soon we’re back to the basics.

The only issue with RAM is that they’re a band who simply don’t seem too comfortable with these sort of dynamics.

Look at In Solitude’s latest for a group who breath darkness and depth into this style of metal, along with making your head bang. Ram aren’t interested in that, and as a result the slower sections and attempts at mood sound a little half-hearted.

That won’t be an issue for many. Without a doubt, they’re something to experience live, and the raw power that they display on the finer cuts here are something to be savoured.

Undeniably though, it’s not the leap to the metal forefront that some might have hoped for from the band at this point in their career. Especially given the fertile soil that this style of classic metal is enjoying at the moment.

Nonetheless, it’s a solid listen and the fanbase will find little to complain about as the gothic strains of ‘1771′ close the record. That you’ll reach for them over any of the other young rising bands at the moment is debatable - but at their best they can still kick, pound and chainsaw their way into your affections.

3.5 / 5 - Lorcan Archer ::: 19/01/12