Axxion (pronounced Action) is a new Canadian metal band heralding stereotypical alter egos as common in traditional metal circles. You may know of Alison Thunderland (drums, vocals) and Sir Shred (lead guitar, vocals) as ex-members of Skullfist, so you can kind of guess what you will get musically. I actually find a lot of similarity to Sweden‘s Enforcer here, there are touches of speed and traditional metal mixed about all over the place, especially prevalent on tracks like ‘High Bars‘. The catchier, more classic metal style comes into fruition with a track like ‘Hard Rockin‘ but for as much as I like this and all its Cauldron/Dokken comparisons, the high vocals are a little out of key, or in fact they don’t have enough projection to pull off some of the notes attempted, a common feature of the younger bands.
‘Fireheart‘ will remind you of Skullfist and the thing I find interesting on some of these tracks are the vocal melodies akin to that of the sunset strip scene of the 80’s, but that’s great in my book, why not, when it sounds good, use it. If you like the already established traditional metal bands of late then this is another addition worthy of note but it does suffer in some places with a loss of power from the vocal delivery, but all in all, yes, I can see the appeal, but it misses a trick in the overall production which could still have been a heavier, punchier sound without losing the classic appeal or feel that this band are clearly emulating, however, ‘Wild Racer’ is a good starting point none the less.
(7/10 Paul Maddison)
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