Ignitor-Road of bones

Cruz Del Sur
2007

I remember hearing a number of bands between say 1986 and 1990 who played a very solid style of metal or real metal as some purists now refer to it. These were the kind of bands who wore black leather and were highly influenced by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, Accept and the like. There are still a few those bands like that popping up today. Austin, Texas based Ignitor are one such outfit who have no problems embracing the metal of the past and making it their own to some extent. They have been around for a few years and they released an EP three years ago. Their new album “Road to bones” is very much rooted in a sound that was popular twenty some years ago. In addition to the influences I listed above, I would also say that their sound is reminiscent of Grave Digger, Abattoir and Damien. Vocalist Erika belts out the lyrics with a fair amount of force and at times has me thinking of former Agent Steel wailer John Cyriis. Largely the music is medium tempo with a minimum of pace changes. It’s so 80’s real metal that after a few songs you might start to envision yourself wearing blue jeans plus worn, white Nike high top leather shoes with the laces untied and a tight black shirt with some band logo on it. Still I think that the female vocals and straight ahead approach help the band to put some touches of their own on this album as while. I have two gripes though and I think they likely need to be addressed for this band to move beyond where they are. The first is that the guitar at times seems very low in the mix and this type of music desperately needs this key instrument to be at least even with the other instruments. The other problem is that although the guitar chops are good, they tend to glide on rather than come ripping into the song. They need to be a little sharper and perhaps more prominent and this isn’t just a production issue either. However this is a strong outing from a band who have managed to draw on both known and more obscure influences.

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