Germany has a very storied history in heavy metal, from the early days of the Schenker dynasty with Scorpions and MSG to the titans of the Teutonic Thrash Movement with Kreator, Sodom and Destruction.
Reuniting for the second time under the leadership of guitarist Axel “AJ” Julius with an almost entirely new lineup from their last record, Scanner make their long-awaited return with The Cosmic Race.
The album opens with ‘The Earth Song’, an Accept-style song that features some fantastic guitar work and sets up an aggressive thrashy tone that permeates through the entire record such as on tracks like ‘Scanner’s Law’.
The Cosmic Race is very much a throwback record in that it sounds very much like an 80s heavy metal record but with cleaner modern production. There are some absurdly heavy moments sprinkled on tracks like ‘Dance of the Dead’ and the aforementioned ‘Scanners Law’, the former being vaguely reminiscent of Overkill in places. This balances very well with the big bright power metal arena anthems such as ‘Warriors of the Light’ which itself feels like a Helloween track.
The epic ‘Space Battalion’ is a fairly progressive outing for the band as it shifts from Thrashy riffing to straight-up headbanger riffs complete with fist-pumping vocal lines. There’s a lot of variety in this track which makes it a highlight.
Efthimios Laonnidis’ vocals are at their best on the final track of the album, ‘The Last and First in Line’. His vocals are powerful throughout the record but it’s on this track that he showcases his Rob Halford-esque range as he hits this lower gruff register before soaring as high as he can go to match the guitar work a la Dissident Aggressor. The vocal break before the guitar solo has so much power and that just adds to the full assault this track offers.
This isn’t likely to win over new fans of European Power Metal but veterans of the genre will likely connect with the sci-fi concepts and huge power metal posturing. The Cosmic Race is designed for people who like their heavy metal to sound like it did back in the day and there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you’re looking for.
While you’re at it, check out Hypertrace from 1988 and Terminal Earth from 1990, two criminally underrated bits of German power metal that deserve more attention.
The Cosmic Race is available January 12th via Rock of Angels Records
