Translated from the original French
Wouaw!! Here is a compilation that really brings together guitar talents at the top level... WHITECROSS opens fire with a really colourful track, "Shakedown". Just listen to the very talented Rex CAROLL, considered the best WM guitarist. Breathtaking!!!
BRIDE makes the floor take off, with its excellent "Hell No" (We will not go to Hell, Hell no!!!) BRIDE really is the heavy/thrash band par excellence. "Hell No", a very good sample of the style... SAINT offers us an instrumental track, "The Returning". The new guitarist, Dee HARRINGTON, does a crazy job on this track. On the drum side, John PERRINE is also at the top level and could well become one of the best WM drummers... "The Returning", without doubt one of the best tracks on THE AXEMEN!!!
FORCE 3, formed from ex-members of 100% PROOF (one of the pioneers of WM), comes back to us with "Warrior Of Light", a fairly melodic heavy, but while remaining fairly weighty...!
LIGHTFORCE, our Australian white metaller friends, draws us into a thrash/speed style, not at all disagreeable...!! With "Babylon", a track of more than 7 minutes, LIGHTFORCE has dared to quote a passage from the Bible (Revelation 17:1 to 5) in the intro. Without doubt the best lyrics in the WM world alongside VENGEANCE RISING, ETERNAL RYTE, LEVITICUS... LIGHTFORCE, a band without compromise!!!
And now, let us come to my favourite track, "Covered By Blood" by JERUSALEM... This track is quite simply superb..., lyrics that grab you ("Covered by the blood, cover my heart and my soul, covered by the blood of the Lamb"). YEAH!! "Covered By Blood", a track in the line of "We're Gonna Take Europe" ("Dancing On The Head Of The Serpent", see AMR no. 3). JERUSALEM, a heavy band just as I like them. DANIEL BAND with its "Party In Heaven" does not really thrill me... Seventies hard, in the AC/DC style... DANIEL BAND has done much better... Oh well, each to his own taste...!
ROSANNA'S RAIDERS, with its hard FM, offers us a really blistering track, "Serve Someone"...
NOVELLA... Well now, a newcomer to WM..., who could well get himself noticed very fast. Very classy pop metal... Although NOVELLA is new, they already have the sound and the quality. We shall talk about them again... Until then, you can already listen to "Running Home"...
SCARLET RED presents us here with a really "hot" track, and that in both senses of the term... "You Live Fast", a precise and clear heavy... Danis's vocals are perfect, although one would all the same have wished for a little skid... "You Live Fast" talks about suicide ("You live fast, you die young,...") SCARLET RED, a band to follow very closely...!
To conclude, BJORN STIGSSON (lead guitarist of LEVITICUS) arrives in force with "Come Together", an ultra fast heavy... Wow, that speeds!!! The lyrics of "Come Together" give us an eyeful: "We all come together, we all live for the King..." Bjorn STIGSSON, a guitarist on fire for his God...
In short, THE AXEMEN is a very good compilation which brings together good bands, with on top of that a message of Life... Only small criticism: PURE METAL, with THE AXEMEN, could have offered us one or two unreleased tracks... All the same...!!!
Other coverage for this album
Heaven's Metal #19Reviewed by Doug Van PeltNovella, Novella, Novella. Pure Metal has discovered a repentant Journey. Jonathan Pagano has a great, great voice in the Steve Perry class. This is a commercially viable band that could really go far in the secular rock market, farther than Stryper. The only thing that could hold 'em back is the fact that Jonathan sounds so much like Steve Perry and, of course, if they don't crank out several…
