I'm not going to lie. I thought I'd been sent a promo by the glam metal band Warrant, and I really wasn't too sure why as I've never been that big of a fan of that sort of style. Imagine my pleasant surprise when it turns out to be a thrash metal album from an 80s German band that happened to share the same name! Admittedly I'd not actually heard of them until now, but their new album Metal Bridge is something really special!

The album opens up with an instrumental intro before slamming into the heavy riffage of "Asylum" and this is a great start to this album. The vocals are approached in my favourite way for this style, with plenty of grit yet also with a good sense of melody! The riffs are really awesome here, 80s attitude with a modern chunkiness, supported by a really powerful rhythm section. "Come and Get It" solidifies the bands approach with yet more awesome riffs and vocals here.

This album has so much to offer in its 64 minute running time (that includes the bonus material) especially as far as thrash metal albums go. There is plenty of the standard fare of high speed numbers but the band injects their own substance into it with some great vocals and guitar parts that separate them from the average, such as on "You Keep Me In Hell" and "Nyctophobia." WARRANT also bring a bit more to the table with tracks like "Blood In The Sky" which has an awesome bass intro with stabbing guitars leading into a really irresistible groove later on.

I won't say too much about the new versions of their classic tracks, as I'd much rather let fans hear that and really make their own opinion of the bonus tracks!

The production is exactly what you'd want from a release like this, punchy modern techniques enhancing the band's classic approach to songwriting.

Metal Bridge is a great album from Warrant, with some great musicianship on display and some really great songs; this is an album for fans of pure thrash metal with no bullshit.