S.A.S.: Warlords

Review

Only LP from this Melbourne act who were for a short time one of the states premier heavy metal bands almost managing to eclipse the likes of contemporaries Virgin Soldiers & Bengal Tigers. The music is solid traditional metal with great lead guitar work from Simon Crofts who's virtuoso playing is certainly a great asset to the band. Proceedings commence with stand out cut Deadly Blessing, a galloping metal attack with the chorus utilizing stereo panning to great effect (listen with headphones). The vocals of Rene Smit are in the midrange - clean but not shrill falsetto or too much gravel. Nuclear Attack sits on a grooving riff almost for the tracks entire duration, Destiny is an 80's punch you fist in the air stomper. Side A closes with a highlight in Whispers starting with an almost Def Leppard Pyromania like intro riff, evolving into a laid back moody number with great melodic guitar lines backed with true metal atmospheric chanting, escalating into an outro of great guitar soloing incorporating both feeling and shred - a real treat for the air guitarists. Side B kicks of with cock rocking ode to dirty woman - Easy Girl complete with an in your face chorus that pulls no punches, Wolverine is driven by a Maiden 2 Minutes To Midnight styled riff backbone, the catchy Don't Waste My Time is musically simple hard rock but excitement is added by some more great guitar work similar to album closer and mid paced title track Warlords. A simple nothing over the top LP, conservative cover design & no wimpy ballads - just 8 traditional heavy metal tracks which will please collectors looking for some quality no bullshit metal music from the land of OZ.

Tracks
1) Deadly Blessing
2) Nuclear Attack
3) Destiny
4) Whispers

1) Easy Girl
2) Wolverine
3) Don't Waste My Time
4) Warlords