ELM STREET hail from Melbourne in Australia, and simply said, on “The Great Tribulation” they play Melodic Metal with Hardcore style vocals with added little snippets of Speed and Thrash Metal. That does sound as a very interesting mix, doesn’t it? Well, you are right, it is, and ELM STREET has no trouble at all in making all these ingredients in a very nice musical soup. The band were formed in 2008, and released a few albums before, “Barbed Wire Metal” in 2011 and “Knock ‘Em Out… With A Metal Fist” in 2016. In between these two they also produced an EP, which was called “Heart Racer”(2015). Since then they have had another EP see the light of day, “Blood Diamond”, which was released in 2019. Let’s put it this way; they are not the most productive band on earth. Let the quality of the music on “The Great Tribulation” be the judge on the fact if the rather long waits are justified.

Opening song “Seven Sirens” is a song that has a good vibe, a great groove and a full body. What I do hear is a lot of METALLICA influences. Not a problem, if you incorporate them into your music properly. And that is exactly what ELM STREET have succeeded in doing. The rest doesn’t have that obvious connection, but I do hear DOKKEN, JUDAS PRIEST and SAXON pass me by from time to time. And lo and behold, after my initial reservations I have to admit that the voice of Ben Batres fits like the proverbial glove. All this put together makes "The Great Tribulation” a very fine album to listen to.

What does bother me slightly though, is the fact that the songs seem to be thirteen to a dozen. Too much alike at times, not distinguishable enough. They don’t stick, and that is just what good music is all about; it enters your brain and doesn’t let loose, but engrains itself in your memory and tries to come to the foreground at any possible moment. Unfortunately most of the songs just leave my memory once they have been played. And that is a pity, as they are very pleasant to listen to. I really don’t know how ELM STREET can remedy that. But a review is just a personal opinion, so if you like what you read in the first two paragraphs, really give “The Great Tribulation” a listen. Maybe this is just your cup of tea/coffee/beer/booze?