ÜLTRA RAPTÖR – Tyrants

Getting the first long play released is a big milestone in any band’s history. Some bands don’t even need to do an EP, they just hit the studio and BANG! – and copies of their 10 track debut can be burnt right away. Other bands need years in order to deliver their first album that is longer than half an hour. One of those rising stars are the Canadian Metallers called Ültra Raptör. Formed in 2015, their debut EP saw the daylight three years later… and now they are back with their first full-length album. Here’s Tyrants, all the way from Quebec City.

The opening track “Missile (Metal Warrior” starts with an intro that brings nothing but… war to mind. Purely ballistic Metal with very Jon Oliva-like vocals. Their singer knows how to scream for sure. One might think Ültra Raptör are all about their crazy speed, but it’s easy to notice that there are also some really decent melodies there, combined with the rapid tempos in a beautiful harmony. Another thing worth mentioning is that it has a fairly Nordic sound to it. Quebec City may be nowhere near as far up north as Finland, but that doesn’t prevent it from being fairly cold a few months every year. The sound shouldn’t be therefore a surprise.

New songs come and go and it can be said that there’s also a lot of the NWOBHM sound to the songs of Tyrants. Faster songs interspersing with more steady and slower ones add a lot of diversity to the overall sound. The third song “Take Me Back” sounds like a mix of less known bands, such as Leatherwolf and less known songs by huge bands, like “Gangland” off Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast or “St Vitus Dance” off Vol 4 by Black Sabbath. And luckily, despite all those similarities to other bands, the guys at Ültra Raptör are not a rip-off. They do their thing and they’re really good at it. The dreamlike feel to most of the songs so far certainly does add some value to the band’s style.

And then it’s time for the fifth track, titled “Nightslasher”. Starting with a nice dose of Speed Metal awesomeness, it is very likely to be the most energetic track on Tyrants so far. And praise be upon Ültra Raptör for letting the listeners hear that beautiful bass! This song live is going to pull every crowd into a wild mosh pit, no doubt about that. If the first two and a half minute of this album sound badass, then it might be hard to come up with words to describe the second riff. Just like in Megadeth’s “Mastermind” or “Impaler” by Exodus, the breakdown/solo riff absolutely smashes it. That’s what most Metal fans want to hear! If, for some reason, anyone did not like the album and decided not to deal with it any more after the fourth track… they are missing out on a whole lot of Speed Metal fun.

It sounds like the more songs come, the more of a kick ass this record becomes. The following track “Gale Runner” is another hybrid of Heavy Metal and the 80s Power Metal. And there’s more catchiness there too, although it seems to reach its apogeum when the 9th track titled “Caustic Showers” blasts through the speakers or headphones. That East Coast Thrash sound is something Overkill wouldn’t be embarrassed to have in their repertoire. It may be the shortest track on the album… but hey, Ronnie James Dio was short too and everyone knows how METAL he was. Sadly, the next track up, titled “SpaceFighter (442 AlphaClass Pegasus SubC35.2)” – yes, that really appears to be the title – is the last one on Tyrants. Well, the longest song deserves the longest title, isn’t that logical? The Nordic feel from the first track strikes again… yes, this is a great way to conclude a great album.

Overall, Tyrants is something the guys at Ültra Raptör should be absolutely proud of. Some of these songs just are going to be an absolute blast when played live – hopefully intercontinentally. It’s hard to say whether Ültra Raptör are going to make a big revolution in the world of Metal or not… but as far as keeping its legacy alive goes, they’re definitely doing a good job. Perhaps they should consider touring with Enforcer – not only would that be one hell of a tour, but also a bit of freshness which is slowly becoming more and more necessary.