STEELWING – Lord Of The Waste Land

After amazing performances by bands such as Enforcer, Helvetet’s Port, and lately the Wacken Metal Battle contender Katana, it is safe to say that NWOBHM is certainly back and for good, but its point of origin is now Sweden and not England. Steelwing, another young Swedish band that would and should deserve lots of attention, takes its seat to the side of those mentioned bands. With their debut album, Lord Of The Wasteland, under the band’s new label NoiseArt Records, Speed Metal and NWOBHM come together with the result being various enthralling melodies.

Sometimes Steelwing is very close in their approach to the NWOBHM moniker of Enforcer, yet, if you want more force and speed, while counting less on vintage, you should check out Steelwing. Moreover, if you want to get a kick out of the old Maiden style while in full throttle, Steelwing is again your answer. Lord Of The Wasteland can be regarded as “tough” in a way, however, due to the band’s melodic intellect, their ultimate speed brings out the best of what these young dudes have to offer.

Going back to their influences and material, Maiden are an obvious influence, while much-needed NWOBHM stands in the midst of peaking for a way in. During several moments it seems as if Steelwing took much more than just influences from Maiden, however, they didn’t come this far to be copy cats. All their written material seems to be arranged carefully. The structures of the songs are similar to the newer version of Maiden as the band went towards the direction of longer tracks with more passages and melodic verses. To their gain, that element found in Lord Of The Wasteland made them even stronger.

Steelwing didn’t invent something new on their fresh trip to the Metal world, however, their way didn’t hurt them as it provided a smooth kick for a hopeful and successful career. Lord Of The Wasteland is a great album and reminds of better Metal times.

Highlights on the tracklist

1. Enter The Wasteland
2. Headhunter
3. Roadkill (…Or Be Killed)
4. Sentinel Hill
5. The Illusion
6. The Nightwatcher
7. Under The Scavenger Sun
8. Point Of Singularity
9. Clash Of The Two Tribes

Lineup

Riley – Vocals
Roby Rockbag – Guitars
Alex Vega – Guitars
Skurk – Bass
Oscar Astedt – Drums