CD Review: Ignitor - Year of the Metal Tiger
MVD Audio
All Access Review: B+
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| Ignitor - Year of the Metal Tiger 2012 |
None of the major media outlets in this country ever picked
up the story, which is surprising considering the omniscience of the 24-hour
news cycle. Apparently, though, CNN and Fox News don’t send war correspondents
to hell to brave fire and brimstone in the pursuit of the truth as to what
exactly happened when Ozzy Osbourne battled the devil for the soul of heavy
metal and rock and roll. No, the only account of this epic duel is found on
Ignitor’s thundering new seven-song record, Year
of the Metal Tiger. As he did in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Satan,
who seemingly never tires of testing musicians’ bravado, again gets his
comeuppance, this time receiving a good thrashing in “Heavy Metal Holocaust,”
the rugged bulldozer of an opening track to Year
of the Metal Tiger, a fiery album of traditional, hot-wired metal that’s
intensely passionate and utterly authentic. Spoiler alert: In subduing the beast, Ozzy is
saved from certain doom by someone from his past. Any guesses as to who it is?
So, what to make of Ignitor, these Texans who declare
themselves to be, “… warriors and fighters united in metal” in “We are
IGNITOR,” the song that brings Year of
the Metal Tiger to a smoldering conclusion. Formed by ex-Agony Column
guitar shredder Stuart Laurence in 2003, Ignitor – now featuring JasonMcMaster, known best as lead singer for ‘80s metal court jesters Dangerous
Toys, on lead vocals – Ignitor flies the “true metal” flag as high and as proud
as can be, positioning themselves as battle-tested Spartans defending the faith
of their forefathers, namely Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Accept and others of
their ilk. But, are they serious? Are they perhaps going a little overboard in
their zeal for metal? Or is Ignitor’s tongue firmly embedded in its cheek? It’s
hard to know for sure, what with the whole bizarre Ozzy vs. Satan thing –
although what a legend to be passed down through generations of metal
fans. What is unassailably true about Ignitor is that its burning, rampaging
riffs – almost thrash-like in nature – are powerful and weighty, and as for Laurence’s
lyrics, delivered with such bravado and edginess by McMaster, they are tremendously entertaining.
Whoever “The Kaiser” is he makes Dos Equis’ “most
interesting man in the world” look like a milquetoast accountant who’s never
left the suburbs. And when McMaster, in no uncertain terms, states, “Give me a
woman that loves the brew and I’ll conquer the world” – “So sayeth the
Kaiser/the hammer of truth” – there is little doubt that "The Kaiser, this face-melting backdraft of incendiary guitars and serrated vocals, will do
exactly that. Wonderfully intertwined dual guitars wrap themselves around the
intro to “The Kaiser” before a battery of ripping guitar riffs pounds away at ruined
ramparts of melodic majesty. Enter “Beast in Black,” riding cyclonic blast
beats and turbo-charged guitars into the fray, while “Raiders from the Void” slams
a battering ram of hard-hitting drums and meaty riffs into McMaster’s Udo-like
caterwaul.
That’s Ignitor, always doing the unexpected. And they do it
with speed, clutching hooks, dynamic tempo shifts, unrelenting heaviness and winning
honesty. When McMaster’s ragged screech can’t quite hit those high notes,
there’s no fixing the mistakes, and that makes them all the more dangerous and almost reckless. They gladly
leave those errors in if it adds an element of unpredictability, so rare in today's manufactured rock and roll, to Year of the Metal
Tiger and their work is better for it.
-
Peter Lindblad
