Sweden’s Air Raid has a relatively short,
but already impressive career. With their first EP and album, both of which
were on Stormspell Records, they put forth great songs filled with hard-hitting
riffs, catchy melodies (both vocal and guitar) and fantastic musicianship. It
was, in my mind, a big blow when the band lost their first singer. He had a
very distinctive voice, unlike any other singer I’ve ever heard. With that
said, the band’s new singer, while not being quite as unique, is equally
talented (just hear how high the note he hits at the end of “Bound to Destroy”
is). And his performance on “Point of Impact”, along with the rest of the band’s,
makes for a great ride.
This album is a short, but sweet ball of
energy. The band is usually playing uptempo, and though they don’t reach absurd
speeds, they move fast enough to give your neck a good workout. The riffs on
this album are your standard heavy/speed metal affair, with the occasional exception ("Wildfire" has a very Megadeth-esque sounding technical riff that crushes). Though this style has
been done many times before, you definitely won’t feel as though you’ve heard
these riffs before. Perhaps most importantly, Air Raid knows how to take a riff
and a vocal melody and turn it into a hook. All of these songs become quickly
memorable, moreso in the sense that you’ll recognize all of the choruses on
your second listen, rather than that the song will come to your head just from
looking at the titles.
As mentioned above, one of the things that
really makes “Point of Impact” so good is the voice of Arthur Andersson. Sure,
he has the technical ability, but so do a lot of metal singers. The reason
Andersson is so good is because he’s able to channel a lot of emotion into his
performance as well. You can hear from the inflection in his voice when he hits
certain notes that he’s really feeling the music and providing the best
possible complement to it. His voice itself is not dissimilar from other
Swedish heavy metal singers, which is also a good thing.
Overall, “Point of Impact” doesn’t really
have a weak point. As much as I enjoyed Air Raid’s last record, I’m thinking
this album might be better. It doesn’t quite have the same high points, but it’s
far more consistent. There isn’t a single bad track on here, and the band is
clearly well versed in how to write heavy metal by taking songwriting elements
that sound great without overdoing them. There are harmonies, great riffs,
wicked solos, upper-range vocals, and just a ton of enthusiasm for metal. There’s
really nothing more you could ask for in an album.
Highlights
"Bound to Destroy"
"Madness"
"Wildfire"
Final Rating
4.3/5 or 86%.
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