Hear me out folks, I want your undivided attention here. Just close that Facebook window for a bit. You see, when a moderately well-known label puts out a (great or not) new album, they are going to give it a decent push and will make sure copies are available at a few stores. And we're always ready and looking forward to what our favourite labels are planning to put out. But the greatest joy as a nerdy metal fan and a reviewer occurs when we're taken completely by surprise by a new discovery. Colossus is such a band.

Hailing from Raleigh, New Orleans (yes, the land of CoC. Jeez, can we move on already?) Colossus treads a familiar ground as far as influences go, but the output is something else. Starting out as a bunch of kids from a variety of background but with a sole mission to play guitar dominating old school metal, their first album here is some of the most brilliant bunch of songs put out this year.

They have their love for the muscular heroes and the cool 80s films, but what made me sit up and pay attention first is their unmistakeable power of three gigantic Gibsons locked on to each other and screaming from each side of the speakers, and often the third guy providing a stunning counterpoint to the other two mofos. With all three equally able and playing everything ranging from epic solos (that build-up to something big), to trade-offs, to gorgeous harmonies, to just playing some manic crazy shit. Not to mention the riffing, because driven by some top-notch classic riffing and melodies, their songwriting is basically what makes it all so telling and superlative. It's infectious, ballsy, epic, spontaneous and works wonderfully on repeat listens.

Drawing from standard order classics like Maiden, Priest and the ilk yes, but the end result puts them in the same field as current masters of this style like Slough Feg, Bible of the Devil and Hammers of Misfortune. The vocals range from the raw Mike Scalzi (Slough Feg / Hammers) to Maiden's (Paul Di Anno and Bruce Dickinson) and as and when required, there are these conveniently placed Halford screams.

The songs are really strong, and after two months of playing this to death, I hear no weak points whatsoever in this. The centrepiece is the fifth song Willow, a ten minute epic based on the under-rated 80s fantasy of the same name. If the rest of the songs are like superb weekend getaways, Willow is like a journey that an Israeli kid makes before he does his tenure in the army. One of the superior elements in music for me are harmonies. Take a good melody, and when it's aided by harmonies, it's just a few times better. Colossus have mastered the art of using harmonies in their music. They know when to provide them to add to the tension and drama of the song, and when not to. While this is an out and out guitar-freak-out album, there are some very key vocal harmonies that makes a song like Willow and others on this album instant classics. On Willow, all they have to stress upon and harmonise is the word “Dynasty” and it turns the chorus into instant gold.

The clear underdogs in the band is the rhythm section though. They let the guitar heroes take the centre stage and the vocalist do his thing in style, but they're lethal in their own right. The bassist, while keeping the solid groove during the riffs and locking with the drummer, he lets out a few tasty licks with his potent tone every now and then.

The admirable chemistry these chaps possess with such a precise mix, makes every song a winner and it's really senseless to do a song-by-song review. They have a mindblowing song about Bubba Zanetti ferchrissakes. This is downright special.



Label: Nice Life Records
Year of Release: 2008