Marauder - Metal Constructions VII (Pitch Black Records)

Greek veterans Marauder know a thing about fist-pumping, headbanging metal. On their first album since 2016 and with a new vocalist in tow,they prove that time and again on their new album.

Metal Constructions VII is basically pretty simple in ambition – give the fist-banging, headbanging masses what they want, then give it to them again – and if you’ve ever owned a patch-encrusted denim cutoff then tracks like Under Her Spell are going to get your blood boiling from the get go. This isn’t exactly meat and potatoes metal – the protein and the carbs have been deconstructed, slightly, and elevated for the more discerning palette – but it’s pretty straight forward and, for the most part, Marauder deliver on their promise to, erm, construct some metal.

New vocalist Tassos Krokodilos – you may remember him from Greek metal doyens Spitfire – brings a classy sheen to material such as Nightfall that places the band in the top echelons of the Euro power metal scene in 2023, challenging the likes of Primal Fear for Euro metal honours with a classy, riff-heavy sound that’s doesn’t break any new ground but also doesn’t take any prisoners – probably just how the majority of the band’s fans like it.

If you like heavy metal as it used to be played – hard, heavy, with a spring in the step and a song on the lips – then it’s hard to see how you could put up any sort of credible defence against tracks like Erase. Everything – from the rumbling rhythms of four stringer Thodoris Paralis, through the lithe and lissom percussive interjections of session sticksman Nick Samios to the intricate, smile inducing partnership of guitarists George Sofronas and Andreas Tsaousis, is designed to create feelings of intense pleasure in the listener; never mind that there is not one iota of anything remotely resembling ‘new’ or ‘innovative’ here, Marauder came to bang some heads – and that’s just what they do, time and again.

‘Metal will never die!’ roars Krokodilos on the thumping, would-have-been-a-hit-in-1984 anthem Rock Fighters, and you know what? When there are still bands like Marauder going about their business, you wouldn’t want to argue with such a statement. And we should all give thanks for that. Great stuff!