Continuing 2024’s trend of high quality trad metal releases coming seemingly from all quarters, please welcome Los Angeles denizens Intranced, and their very metal debut full length, Muerte Y Metal!

The title gives you an idea of what lies in store should you decide to take a dip into Intranced’s waters; Featuring Mexican and Argentinian members in their number – singer James-Paul Luna opens the album singing Reyes De Las Tinieblas in his native tongue, to which he returns later on in the title track and Entra La Tormenta – the band’s vigorously trad stance often echoes names from the Motherland like Baron Rojo and Muro, but for the most part this is simply high quality, melodic heavy metal with a minimum of frills but a huge surfeit of headbanging possibility.

Ex White Wizzard man Luna has a great voice – think a more metal Paul Shortino and you’re in the right postcode – and he impresses throughout. The Thin Lizzyish I Dunno Nothin‘ sees the whole band firing on all six, but close inspection to album as a whole finds this state of affairs to be the rule rather than the exception.

The Spanish language numbers lose nothing to the Anglo-trained ear; The title track in particular blasts out of the speakers with all the pomp and ceremony of Dio in their prime; Pre-Thundersteel-era Riot are another constant in the background of Intranced’s music, and if all these teasers and hints are building a picture in your mind of an album you feel you really should get involved with – don’t let me disabuse you of that notion…

Fili Bibiano has a guitar tone to die for – ‘Pure Campbell‘ is a phrase the boss man used when he passed this album to me for perusal – and his economic but hard hitting style fits the essence of the music to a tee, whilst hard hitting rhythm section, bajista Nico Staub and bateria Ben Richardson (I see what you did there-Ed) set their controls for the heart of the solar plexus early on and don’t shift for the duration; This is proper heavy metal, played and sung properly – and you’re gonna love it, trust me…

Muerte Y Metal releases on June 7th.