AIR RAID are a Heavy Metal band from Goteborg, Sweden, who are about to release one of the best Traditional Heavy Metal albums of the decade! "Point Of Impact" is an album filled with choppy and powerful guitar riffs, intensively strong vocals, heart pounding drum beats and groovy virtuosic bass lines. It screams traditional heavy metal from start to finish and I loved every moment! It's clear that these guys take a lot of influence from the big names of the 80's such as IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and SAXON, but that being said, AIR RAID have been able to write music that stands out for what it is and not sound like a 'rip off' to those 80's bands, or sound like an amateur band trying to recapture that era.

"Point of Impact" wastes no time and bursts straight into "Bound to Destroy" with a small drum solo followed by some bass playing, which reminiscent  of "Overkill" by "MOTORHEAD". This is a great song and a good choice to have as the opener because it really shows what these guys can do! I want go into any huge detail but some of the vocals in this first song alone could easily give singing titans like Rob Halford and Michael Kiske a run for their money!

"Madness" takes a more mid tempo approach to begin with and opens up with some cool and flashy lead guitar work. Once again, AIR RAID delivers the goods with a very catchy IRON MAIDEN style chorus. "Victim of the Night" is next and is definitely one of my favourite tracks on the album; It opens up with some atmospheric clean guitars and soft melodic singing which build the tension well before exploding into the rest of the song full of harmonised riffs and more brilliant singing from Arthur Andersson. This song always seems to get stuck in my head for hours after I listen to this album!

"Wildfire" is another fast paced song with consistent double bass drumming courtesy of the mighty Dave Destructor and you will definitely find yourself yelling that 'wildfire' at the top of your lungs when the infectious chorus comes around for the second time! Arthur still keeps surprising me on every track with his vocal range and abilities too; he has one hell of a great voice!

"Flying Fortress" is the instrumental of the album, and has every musician high on their toes full of complex rhythms and structuring whilst Andy and Johnny solo to their hearts content one after the other. There are also little bass lead breaks too which is pretty awesome. This is a great display of the musicianship within this band; they're very talented guys and tight as a band.

"Vengeance" is next and has more of a classic power metal feel to it; a little reminiscent to early HELLOWEEN material. It's another well-structured track full of energy and intensity with more amazing vocal melodies, I seriously can't stress enough how brilliant Arthur's voice is!

"The Fire Within" is another mid tempo one and has some great harmonised riffs and lead lines. It's one of the more chilled out songs on the album, which isn't a bad thing at all; as much as I love the relentless speed that's showcased on most of this album and in metal in general, it's nice to kick back to a mid-tempo track like this and just groove along to it. The diversity of rhythms, speeds and structuring is also what makes this album great!

"We Got the Force" is the last and longest song of the album and brings things to a close very well; it's an anthem of a heavy metal track which once again lets you know that AIR RAID have the force and willpower to take the earth by storm as future titans to our beloved genre. After just a few listens, "Point of Impact" is already one of my favourite albums this year, most definitely in the top 10! I highly recommend that you buy this album, I promise you will not regret it!