Well shit! I missed it again. I’m starting to think my love of nostalgia and focus on only certain bands and songs is NOT a good thing. Why what do you mean Brian? I missed another great band that’s been out for years, that’s what I fu*kin mean! High Roller Record’s, Swedish Power Metal Band, Ambush has apparently been around since 2013 and I’m just now finding out about it. I blame my (slow)podcast co-host Gomthog. How am I ever supposed to find out about these bands if you don’t speak up. I think he does this shit on purpose because he knows with great music like Ambush’s third full album Infidel, I’ll wipe the floor with his ass in The Great Metal Debate.
Ten amazing songs that present more like an album with 15 songs of music, Infidel is the third offering for Ambush and what an offering it is. Many times I listen to new music and it has that 80s metal feel but just lacks that special thing which puts it over the top for me. I often describe the songs as Old School style in and New School manner, or Old metal with a twist. Well 80s Power Metal fans welcome to Heaven… or Hell as it might be. Ambush with Infidel has created Old School 80s Metal with Old School 80s Metal style! It’s fucking amazing!
Power vocals by Oskar Jacobsson that would be labeled as normal but could scarcely be truly called normal permeate every song. He has his own powerful sound that has elements of so many great vocalists. There’s even one point on the title track Infidel where he belts out a Steve Grimmet, Grim Reaperesque scream! He has great pitch and volume and has that metal vocal quality I often label as gargling with rocks and glass! As a matter of a fact if I have a vocal criticism I want more of the screaming and try a growl or two. But then again that would take away from the 80s Metal authenticity…damn you artistic integrity. Why couldn’t you just leave 80s Metal alone.
But when it comes to the music of my youth and the songs that take me away from this world to a place of sweet chaos, jean or spandex pants, and lots and lots of hair, it’s always the guitars that bring me to the table. Adam Hagelin & Olof Engqvist without a doubt grew up sucking on the teat of all the guitar greats I did. Super high range riffs meted with power chords and blazing solos. Songs like Yperite (which is apparently a type of WW1 mustard gas), Leave Them to Die, A Silent Killer, Lust For Blood, and their most popular video off this offering… Hellbiter… are laced with staccato scale runs, diving and screaming tremolo, and are prominent on every song. I said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, the solos of metal, regardless of the instrument are the spices that season the stew of a great metal offering. As a matter of fact Hellbiter could be a Motley Crue tribute song with its quick strum rhythm and enticing solos that are reminiscent of great days of my youth. Music should challenge us, but the songs that take us to the best of times are crucial in any connoisseur’s arsenal, and with Infidel I am taken there.
Ludwig Sjöholm pounding out the bass and, Linus Fritzson committing assault and battery on the drums round out the musical vortex that is Ambush. Together they provide a backbone for the band that cannot move forward at the required speed without them. Oft overlooked the bass and drums are the heart of a band, the rue of that metal stew I referred to earlier. And with these two performing exceptionally I have tasted your stew of Ambush, and it was good. Ambushes Infidel rings my bell for an enthusiastic 5 of 5 stars.