Russia’s Blazing Rust was a find made possible by the “Masters of Metal” series of releases that have come out recently, in particular Volume 2 that came with Warlok, Carriage and Oath of Woe. This is traditional heavy metal, done the right way. There’s plenty of nods to the NWOBHM era and a strong melodic application in terms of the powerful and emotive vocals with essential ripping guitar riffs that crop up over the course of this debut album.
The two demo tracks that also featured on that compilation album, that being ‘Time of the Brave’ (which owes a lot to Leatherwolf) and ‘Blindfold’ (which to me is ‘Wicker Man’ Maiden mixed with modern Soldier (UK)). However, I must highlight the newly recorded tracks as these are pretty special. They don’t jump out and grab you mind you, but they are solid and make you work out proper 80’s metal style. ‘Shimmering Dawn’ is mid paced, kind of like early Saxon, then you get to the speedier ‘Dying World’. The faster tunes are where I find most favour with this band, as a personal preference I might add, there’s nothing wrong with the slower tunes! Going back to ‘Dying World’ there are few different dynamics. Time changes and song emotion varies, a really nice touch, there’s something for everyone. The same can be said for ‘Witch’ that has plenty of DIO references and when the pace quickens later through the track, we’re back to Maiden and Priest.
Overall a strong sense of quality comes from this album, Igor’s vocals are great and have a stunning strength for the melodies. The twin guitar work matches the smile you get from hearing the seasoned greats of metal whilst the rhythm section is mixed great and is an ever present force. With the likes of Iron Driver, Blazing Rust are putting Russian traditional metal on the map on par with other countries of late, after initially finding demo material this debut album is a strong effort indeed. Traditional metal festivals of Europe take note, Blazing Rust are a force to be reckoned with.
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
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