Age Of Fear - Storm Force

Now here's an interesting one that fell onto my lap. I very often get followed on Twitter by various unheard of bands that are looking to spread awareness and exposure. I get it, they're hungry, and they wanna get their names out there in any way they can. Out of respect for the aspiring artist and difficulty to make it in the industry, I always listen to their record on YouTube (if they have one) to determine if they're worth a follow-back. Now these guys came into my radar just yesterday, and admittedly I'm not as well-versed in the world of Canadian metal as I probably should be, so I had not yet heard of the group called Storm Force. Full disclosure, upon getting the notification I was followed by "Storm Force" I thought it was perhaps a 80s cover band that may have gotten their name from one of those obnoxious Facebook posts that pairs a word with your first and last initial. Or maybe they sat around in a circle and got high like That 70s Show, and one of them just said to the others "Yeah, man, we're gonna take the music world by STORM... We're gonna be a FORCE to be reckoned with, we just need a cool name..." To which his buddy replied, "Wait a minute, bro, I got it."

Mean jokes aside, I gave their debut record Age Of Fear a listen. Building into the first track "Because Of You" is a rather engaging intro, a cool and original riff that is very reminiscent of classic hair metal, mixed with some of the speed metal that came later with bands like Dragonforce. Wait, Dragon-FORCE? Am I sensing a theme here? Sorry, anyway the first track caught my attention. While it was not anything mind-blowing, it was rather catchy, and a decent start for a new band's first record, so I continued on. The instrumentation showed promise, yet I found the vocals to be rather uninspired, like he was just doing an impression of some of his favorite vocalists and had not quite found his sound yet.

The second track is what locked me into it. The record's title track, "Age Of Fear," showed much more promise and passion than the previous one. The vocalist was locked in, the beat and riffs were just, put simply, more fun. They were right to name the album after this track, though you know me by now I would've preferred they name the record after themselves. Later on, the vocalist was not as locked-in, making the chorus to "Dirty Vegas" sound a lot like "Dirty Bagels." Nevertheless, I finished the album and decided I had to talk about it.

Ultimately, as a whole the record was a fun casual listen. While I find myself in no rush to see these guys perform live, I'm glad they fell onto my lap yesterday. I have a lot of respect for them and what they are trying to do. The 80s hair metal scene is one of my favorite movements in music history, and these guys feel as though they are trying to revive it in a way. Maybe without the glitter and leopard print, which is fine with me. Moving forward I'd like to see them work on their slow songs a bit more, as the ballads on this record just didn't resonate with me at all. In fact, I'm even sorry to say one of them towards the end of the album was just plain bad. It happens, not every guitar-driven band can write a good slow song. AC/DC stopped trying way back in the 70s, and Van Halen's worst song of all time is "How Many Say I," an Eddie-solo ballad which he grumbles and mumbles his vocals over lazy piano. I'm not by any means saying Storm Force's attempt at a slow song belongs in the garbage bin with "How Many Say I," but it's certainly a track that I am in no rush to revisit. While it wasn't a perfect record, I find myself glad having listened to it, and I am interested to see where these guys go from here.

Age Of Fear - Storm Force

01 - 24 - 2020

1. Because Of You

2. Age Of Fear

3. Breathe - Words

4. Ember Rain

5. Ride Like Hell

6. Dirty Vegas

7. More Than You Know

8. Marshall Law

9. Different Roads

10. Ringside

11. Weight Of The World

Favorite Track: Age Of Fear

Least Favorite Track: Different Roads

Rating: 6.0