Review: Arctic Flame “Shake The Earth” (2012)

Reviewed by David Pearce

Artist: Arctic Flame
Album: Shake The Earth
Label: Skull Crown Records
Year: November 28, 2012

Track Listing

1. Man Made Man
2. Two Sides Of The Bullet
3. Last Chance
4. Call In The Priest
5. Ride Of The Headless Horseman
6. Hangman’s Prayer
7. Slaves to the Alchemist
8. Run to Beat the Devil
9. Rain
10. Seasons in the Cemetery (Garden of Stone)

Arctic Flame was formed in 2001by drummer Mike Paradine. After their first gig as support for Thin Lizzy in a small club in New York City, the band continued a relentless performing schedule through out the tri-state area. Soon after the band started opening for several national and international bands such as Motorhead, Overkill, Helloween, WASP. It was a one of these shows that guitarist/producer, Jack Frost (Savatage, Seven Witches) saw the band and showed interest in them. A deal was struck and the band found themselves in Gear Studios, owned and operated by DD Verni (Overkill) recording their début album, “Primeval Aggressor”. The album was released on April 8th 2006 by Battle Cry Records of Germany the same date the band played their first metal festival at Keep It True VII. To date, the album has sold out and is out of print. Once again finding themselves opening for national acts such as Gamma Ray and Helloween, the band entered the studio to record “Declaration”. The band was focused on a more raw straightforward metal sound than the first album. Pure Steel Records released the CD on December 8th, 2008. Word spread fast and Arctic Flame was invited to appear at festivals in Holland and Bavaria. Unexpected line-up changes caused a slight set back for the band in late 2010, but after a short search, Michael Clayton Moore was found on vocals and original bassist, Jeff Scott had returned. Along with Sebastian Garcia on guitar, and Mike Paradine behind the drums, the band is back on solid ground and is ready again to blaze a path for more metal. Though the band has seen various line up changes, the mission has always been the same…to continue the tradition of performing true metal. And with the sound of the new songs, the band is upholding that tradition. 3rd album “Guardian at the Gate” will be released in April 2011. The bands new album “Shake The Earth” in which Skull Crown Records released on November 28th 2012, which is the bands 4th album.

The album starts off with Man Made Man. This song has some absolute great heavy riffs and solos, the vocals are spot on and the heavy drumming keeps the beat to perfection a perfect start to the album. The Second song is Two Sides Of The Bullet, this starts off with a strong galloping riff that gets my head instantly nodding. It is a typical old style rock song. This is the type of sound that got me into metal in the first place – crisp guitars, sound good strong vocals and good hard drumming, a great song. The Third and Fourth songs on the album are Last Chance and Call In The Priest. Both of these sounds take me back to when I first heard the great sound of metal. Good solid drumming, quality crisp vocals, with the occasional metal scream to give it added power and high quality guitar work just makes me want to rock all day. The Fifth song on the album is Ride Of The Headless Horseman. Again, the galloping riff hits me together with some quality solos and the unique sounding vocals is something that sends shivers down my spine with delight. The Sixth and Seventh songs are Hangman’s Prayer and Slaves to the Alchemist. These songs just reinforce my belief about the band – the songs are technically perfectly done, as the solos are a joy to listen to and the vocals are mesmerising. As for the riffs and the beat of the drums, they really do get your head banging to the rhythm. The Eighth and Ninth songs on the album are Run To Beat the Devil and Rain. The song Run To Beat The Devil has again got so much to it, where do I begin? The vocals are fantastic, the riffs and solos are a joy to listen to, a quality song. Rain, wow! I have always said that metal bands do the best ballads in the world and when you hear this song you will see why. The lyrics gave me goose bumps just listening to them. These are the types of songs that I myself think shows how good a band is, when they can go from a classic heavy rock sound to an amazing ballad like this. It also fits on the album so well it is amazing. The final song on the album is Seasons in the Cemetery (Garden of Stone). The song starts off with church bells ringing in the distance, then the keyboards come in which the producer, Dave Manheimer played, which set the tone for the rest of the song. The song is slower than the other songs on the album, but it is still an absolute cracking song – it has a lot of passion in it, the way the lyrics are being sung. The guitars have a mesmerising sound to them it is something I could quite easily sit down and chill to with a nice cold beer. It is a quality song which I could listen to all day. It also has some quality guitar solos, which makes it a perfect finish to the album.

Overall

This is how a metal album should sound! The band has got the classic sound and given it their own twist on how they want it. They blew me away with the absolute quality the album possesses. It takes me back when metal was metal, with galloping guitar riffs and superb solos and vocals that would send shivers down your spine with delight and drumming that pounds you into mercy. There were a couple of surprises in the album in the form of a couple of ballads. But they were that good and they went so well with the other songs, it made it even better than it already was. These are a band that I would definitely have in my collection and I will be going out to buy all their albums, because these guys really do rock and they do it well. I would love to see them in the UK on tour, their style would go down amazingly well with the metal community over here. It is one of my favourite albums that I have heard this year so far and it is one that I will highly recommend to any of my friends. Great Work!

10/10