REALISE TRUE METAL IS YOUR GOD…

These words, uttered by vocalist Andreas Larsson without a hint of irony on opening track Choose Your God, are undoubtedly words to live by, a fine design for life, and, as Chapter IV unfolds across thirty nine minutes of unfettered headbanging bliss, it’s clear that Twins Crew do just that.

Named for guitar playing brothers David and Dennis Janglöv, this is a band that offers nothing but pure, burnished steel, played with wild-eyed fervour and unshakeable belief, and if you hold similar values to the band it’s hard not to be caught up in the side-free glory of it all. Choose Your God opens proceedings with a Manowarish stomp, Never Stop Believing as a distillation of the first three HammerFall albums… I’m sure you’re starting to get the picture.

If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that Twins Crew are so concerned with carrying on the flame of true metal that they forget to inject a bit of their own personality into the songs; Everything is executed to perfection, and if you caught an earful of any of the tracks in passing you’d be intrigued enough to listen further to find out more. But you never really get sense of who the band are as musicians, beyond the fact that they’ve listened to a lot of Wolf Hoffmann and Adrian Smith along the way to becoming the artists they are today. Only on the ballad, Without You, does this state of affairs change, and here the band really do hint that there’s a few more strings to their bow…

Still, it probably doesn’t do to over analyse too much; At the end of the day, Twins Crew have mastered this particular genre – particularly the brothers Janglöv, who consistently impress in the guitar department – and, all misgivings noted, they’ve certainly made a little patch of it their own. And, as you sing along, gormless smile swathed across your face, to the infectious Warrior Of North, I’m pretty sure you’ll be pleased they have.

Chapter IV is out now.