Label : Inferno Records
Review By Tony Cannella
From Bulgaria, Rampart are a band that play no-nonsense, pure, true heavy metal à la early Warlock, Crystal Viper and Running Wild. With their debut release “Voice of the Wilderness” the band features 9-songs and 42-minutes worth of passionate and powerful metal with an energy and enthusiasm that is quite contagious. The opening number “Under Control” proceeds to get things off to a rousing and headbanging beginning. Track 2 “Warriors” starts off slow in tempo, but soon shifts gear into just a great straight-forward metal track with some cool vocals put down by Maria, with her voice reminding me a bit of Kai Hansen from his early Helloween days, this song also features a cool chant along style chorus. I would never say that the songs on “Voice of the Wilderness” are dated, but they provoke memories of metal as it was from about 1981-’84, when I was just getting into bands like Accept, Saxon, Manowar and the aforementioned Warlock and Running Wild, the material on this CD has that same feeling and vibe flowing through the songs. The songs feature some crisp and clean guitar work from the duel axe attack of Yavor and Victor, the leads are especially impressive and one of the best things about the material on this CD. This is a pretty powerful CD for the most part, as songs like, “Voice of the Wilderness”, “The Flood” and the powerhouse closing number “Stay Aside” will attest to. Maybe Rampart won’t appeal to the nu-metal crowd or to fans who just jump from trend-to-trend, but for those of us who miss the denim and leather days of the early to mid-80s, than “Voice of the Wilderness” will no doubt become a welcome addition to our collection. It is always great when a band plays what they want and doesn’t bow down to the trends of a certain period or time and for that reason, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for a band like Rampart. In my opinion, this style of metal will always be timeless.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Under Control
- Warriors
- Voice of the Wilderness
- The Flood
- Desert of Time
- Orchrist
- Age of Steel
- Mirror to Dreams
- Stay Aside
Line Up
- Maria Doychinova – Vocals
- Yavor “Yatso” Kamenov- Guitars, Backing Vocals
- Victor Georgiev – Guitars
- Alexander “Sashe” Spridonov – Bass
- Borislav “Bobby” Glavev – Drums
Links