No, this isn’t the California hair band that topped the charts in the late ’80s…this is the older, harder WARRANT out of Germany, who released some speed/thrash albums in the early ’80s. Like almost any metal band that has ever put out a record, they’ve reformed after decades out of commission and are back in action with The Speed Of Metal.
The thing that struck me about this version of WARRANT is that they don’t seem to exclusively be a speed-oriented band. Early tracks like ‘Cut Into Pieces’ and ‘Demons’ really cut loose with a blitzkrieg of thrash metal, but that’s not the template for the whole album. I seem to remember the old WARRANT stuff being pretty much raw speed. Even though the album title indicates such, there’ a lot of straight, traditional metal in PRIEST/ACCEPT/MAIDEN mode on tap. For example, ‘Falling Down’ is true metal with plenty of melody…singer/bassist Jorg Juraschek has a tuneful voice more suited for power metal, though he still has bite.
You can really spot the traditional leanings of the band in their cover of SWEET’s ‘Windy City’…a real novel choice to be sure. The longest cut on the album, this isn’t thrash at all and unfortunately I found it a bit on the tedious side. Tracks like ‘Cry Out’ and ‘Salvation’ put speed back in the picture but also have plenty of melody. An old WARRANT track, ‘It’s Up To You’, is updated here and sounds almost like a DOKKEN cut! Not what I was expecting.
It’s enjoyable enough and very well executed, but I can kind of see why WARRANT didn’t have the big breakout that the likes of DESTRUCTION, KREATOR and HELLOWEEN had. Fans of melodic speed metal and oldschool power metal should enjoy this the most.
Review By: Dr. Abner Mality
WARRANT
The Speed Of Metal
Massacre Records