This band are from Lima, Peru and started life as a tribute act in 2006 and up until last year they were known simply as Blizzard – but there are umpteen bands called that! So that maybe the reason for the name change. That aside, last year’s tape EP ‘Conqueror of Destiny’ found favour with me, so I was keen to hear a full release, although judging by the battle scene of the artwork and the album title, I would have expected a studded fist depicted at least!
The instrumental opener ‘Conqueror of Destiny’ doesn’t disappoint and sets up the album perfectly, which I find is split in three parts, with some of the centre placed tracks having a slightly different character to the rabid heavy/speed metal assault for the first few and latter two or three tracks. ‘I’m On My Way’ is a perfect speed metal inspired juggernaut filled with soaring vocal pieces and energy to fuel your underground metal passion for some time to come in the future, if you know this band you’ll recognise it from the EP last year. The title track ‘Heavy Metal to the Vein’ is exactly what you would expect from such a title. A lot of the influence of this band is obviously classic Iron Maiden up to ‘Piece of Mind’, but I also find them similar to Italy’s Ruler when the speed is increased, although there are dozens of bands I could mention by comparison. All you need to know is that’s is good genuine heavy metal!
‘Nemesis (Feel My Strength’ sees a slight game change occurring as mentioned earlier. The dual guitar intro, the galloping style of the main track has a lot more maturity about it, thus presents the music in a stronger vein. ‘Ghost Rider’ is another track that featured on their previous EP, on the full album it bestows a definite slower pace in the 80’s US metal style and expels more concentration on strong vocal harmonies and the guitar solo has more soul rather than speed about it, something I actually never picked up on the previous version of the track.
Upping the ante in terms of speed comes my revenge, which has a touch of early Helloween here to keep it completely in traditional heavy metal boundaries. Although boundaries are made to be broken. I am pleased to hear that Blizzard Hunter do make stylistic variation and integration a part of their repertoire. By the time you are at ‘The Final Judgement’ the band have nailed the twin guitar assault, sorted out tuning of the vocal harmonies and got their heads down to show that they mean business rather than concentrate on speed and metal clichés alone.
So for the underground traditional metal fan, it’s a tough one really, there’s a lot of this music available, for the seasoned metal fan, you may pick holes and find comparisons to classic material but for all fans of this style it should be easy to enjoy the release. There is plenty of room for growth as the foundation is strong and the ideas are fresh.
(7.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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