I'm going to forego any bullshit and just tell you right off the bat that this review is not going to be very good. This is going to be another one of those reviews where I struggle to say anything, because the music itself isn't particularly enticing or amazing. Basically, AIR RAID seems to be channeling something along the likes of EXCITER, JUDAS PRIEST, and I guess you could say IRON MAIDEN. In essence, it's just straight up Heavy Metal.

The problem therein, is that this sort of thing has been done and done better by other bands thirty years ago. I know this is an unfair judgment to make, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say. I'm not biased against any particular genre as much as I am biased against "me, too!" bands that want to just mimic some other group without really bringing anything new to the table.

But I want to dissuade you from the thought that I am just being an unfair douchebag, because I really am not and also because no one seems to like me when I say something negative. The music itself is decent enough. The vocalist certainly has the windpipe to belt it like a banshee when it stubs its toe. All the individual pieces of the band work fine, and do the genre justice. Fans of typical Heavy Metal will certainly be pleased, and I won't shit on you for that. Yet, the simple fact of the matter is that you're currently looking at a band of no outstanding merit. It's not ground breaking, and it doesn't really reinvent or resurrect a lost genre. It's not very complex, and the riffage is fairly rudimentary in its overall quality.

So, I feel like an asshole now. This is by no means a terrible band, or even a bad one. And I would certainly call them good, and go on record as saying I enjoyed listening to "Night Of The Axe".

Sadly, had they been born thirty years earlier, I get the idea that AIR RAID would be gods today. Sucks for them, I guess.