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Kissin' Dynamite

Addicted To Metal

Written by: PP on 27/07/2010 22:15:45

"We are addicted to metal / we are addicted to steel" are the opening lyrics to Kissin' Dynamite's new album "Addicted To Metal", while someone (presumably Thor) is hammering away on an anvil on the background. Yeah, they don't exactly leave room for any doubt about which genre these guys belong to. This is heavy metal alright, and just when I've hacked the genre down to the ground in my previous review, I'll have to eat my words because Kissin' Dynamite deliver the genre with so much ballsy attitude that even Motörhead would be proud of them.

On surface, it's the same stuff as every other band in the genre is doing. Big, power metal-esque riffs and vibrato vocals everywhere supplemented by some echoing gang shouts on the background. But it takes but one listen to realize that Kissin' Dynamite know how to write catchy hooks and good choruses to lift the band above so many of their contemporaries at ease. Some reviews have even hailed these guys to be on par with the likes of Edguy, Accept and other seminal bands in the genre. Certainly, listening to balladic power metal track like "High Enough", or the Iron Maiden-esque guitars on "Love Me Hate Me", it's difficult not to agree. Maybe that's why "Addicted To Metal" occasionally feels like a tribute album to the 80s greats: just listen to the Judas Priest influence and pay attention when the band revisits the almighty Scorpions.

So original this record is not. But it doesn't always have to be if the songs are good, and that's clearly the case on this album. Maybe it's far from being an outright classic, but after having plagued my ears with same-sounding identikit bands for a couple of years in the genre, Kissin' Dynamite at least feel like they're one level above the rest of the German scene.

Download: Addicted To Metal, High Enough, Hysteria
For the fans of: Judas Priest, Scorpions, Accept, Edguy
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.04.2010
AFM Records