I have followed this band from their debut release and thus have been genuinely pleased with the level of development of this West Midlands based band. Reading some of the PR material that pin points the opener ‘Embrace the Night’ to being similar to Grim Reaper songs is very true and accurate. The vocal scream and even the guitar melody touch a nerve with older Grim Reaper material and Steve Grimmett’s vocal style is clearly something that is taken on board by Disarm Goliath’s Steve Bell.
Continuing on the path of traditional heavy metal and even some minor NWOBHM melodic riffs, Disarm Goliath tease and please you with ‘Who Rules the Rule’. This in itself is made for the stage, although that’s one thing lacking about this band, their live outings are very few and far between unless reasonably local, hopefully this will be rectified after this release. As much as I like this ‘Cry of the Banshee’ does become a little bit repetitive, a little annoying, the vocal range seems that little too high and they subsequently scream at you towards the tail end of the track, but hey, it’s all heavy metal right! Of course, by being true to heavy metal of old, this is a vinyl only ltd to 500 copies edition on this label, the album was actually self-released independently last year by the band on other formats.
This is a brief release at around the mere 36 minute mark, but what there is…is on the whole enjoyable and truly metal with twin guitar harmony attacks and rip roaring riff assaults flowing track after track. There is something for every old school metal head on this release/album, down to earth tracks beat like the lifeblood of the musicians themselves and overall the album completes a history lesson in both key musical delivery with hallmark vocals and subsequent deliverance. ‘Born to Rule’ is a very vibrant metal release, it will keep the horns raised high and the hangovers coming for many a year to come and I do hope that more promotion and touring duties will be borne out of this fist raising, headbanging slab of art from near the birthplace of heavy metal itself.
(7.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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