Finland’s Satan’s Fall caught your humble interlocutor’s attention recently via the gift of their hugely entertaining video clip for the track Juggernaut, a superbly propulsive slice of Accept-styled trad metal (incidentally it’s better than anything I’ve heard from the upcoming Accept album, snippets of which Sentinel Daily editor Scott Adams has been teasing me with recently) that has been causing quite a few heads to start banging uncontrollably over on YouTube of late.

As an entry to the band’s repertoire it’s perfect, although the fact that it’s also the best track on the band’s new album Final Day may lead to a few feelings of deflation and disappointment from listeners keen to check out the rest of the band’s material. That said, there’s plenty of music on offer here of similar quality; There Will Be Blood updates the trad style to include some punishing double kick from Ville Aatsinki but surrenders none of true metal’s proclivity for melody and memorableness. Is that a word? It is now. Similarly Retribution and The Flamekeeper will keep spirits up with refrains that’ll nag at your brain for hours after you’ve heard them, placed front and centre in the brain by the immensely likeable vocal presence of Miika Kokko, whose ear-friendly mix of Dirkschneider and Hofer proves to be a real boon to the band. It’s always exciting to uncover new talent, and Kokko would appear to be an exciting world-class metal vocalist in the making.

Of course this wouldn’t be a top-draw trad metal attraction without a gun pairing on guitar, and Lassi Tiainen and Tomi Mäenpää fill that role very well indeed throughout. Have a look at that video for proof!

The band are keen to point out that they are forward-thinking lyrically – it’s not all trad metal tropes and dungeons and dragons – but the fact remains that their chosen style of aural assault and battery remains rooted in the mid-eighties… And you won’t hear any complaints about that from me!

Final Day is out now.