Artist: Cloven Hoof
Title: Age Of Steel
Genre: NWoBHM
Release Date: 24th April 2020
Label: Pure Steel Records
Review Flash
Good evening Ladies, Gentlemen and readers in general tonight is gonna be old-school. Old-school you ask? Yep NWoBHM style old-school as I present CLOVEN HOOF! This is the bands 8th output since their formation in 1979 but hey they split in 1990 and reformed relatively late in 2001 (there were attempts to reunite here and there but it took a lot of time to get them back on the worlds radar). Lee Payne is the only original member of the band to still work under the name CLOVEN HOOF. Payne states that he thinks this is the bands best album to date, I cannot argue that this is really melodic, kick-ass record with nice arrangements and blistering vocals but I am not an CLOVEN HOOF expert so I just don't know if it is the best (it's pretty fucking nice though). Vocalist George Call (BANSHEE, ASKA, VIOLENT STORM, WARRION) does a great job and has a striking Metal voice (hitting highs and lows, sounds rough in the mids), the rhythm section is a well-oiled machine and guitars shine without dominating. The opener ‘Bathory’ will very likely be an absolute killer in the live gigs as it’s a hymn.
Conclusion: The title track ‘Age Of Steel’ even has fine keyboard arrangements. Check it out because I said so!
Rating: 8 / 10
