You wake up screaming, it was all a bad dream. Or was it? As consciousness returns and you soak in your surroundings, you realize things are awry. Where are you, what is this place? That's when you hear the sound - a deep, bestial, savage noise. Terror enters your body and panic overtakes your sense of reason. Without any familiarity of your surroundings, you flee away from approaching monstrous clamor. Running seems futile as the primal shrieks close the distance almost instantly. Your footfalls are frenzied but it is to no avail, behind you the pursuing nightmare's hot breath nips are at the back of your neck. You try for one last burst of energy, straining with effort but suddenly the agonizing pangs of sliced flesh are felt at your backside. Claws and fangs tear at your being as you are overwhelmed by the sinister beast we call HEAVY METAL. Good day everybody, this week we have a killer. "Balance Of Power" by ACID DEATH. A Greek band that is apparently long time veterans and stalwarts of their respective scene (Horns to them!).

I'm going to assume that the majority of the people reading this (Hi editors!) will not be familiar with this release. Oh man, you were missing out. Listening to this album was like finding an antique sword in a treasure chest; it's an unexpected reward and a deadly piece of Metal! Fans of the 80's to 90's era Death and Thrash sound will immediately be familiar with it and will find a lot to enjoy. Production-wise age shows, it's a gritty recording that still maintains a fierce, raw intensity. It's a sound as battered as your patched denim battle vest, you hooligan.

There's an ominous horror-styled intro where a choir and piano play a tune of possible doom. From there we get a nice spooky lead for an intro which paves the way for a frenetic berserker rush of a riff. I was immediately impressed. The music here is pit-worthy, head-banging certified, air guitar-friendly, and Satan-approved. The songwriting is not just insanely aggressive; it also features a welcome level of complexity and variance that makes this a repeated worthwhile listen. The drums are a little muted and the cymbals sound a little tinny, the guitars can sound a little fuzzy, it's obvious this isn't a high-budget production release but this is even more proof you don't need any of that to make killer music. The speed, the energy, the demonic growls, the brain-melting guitar work, it all tears through your head like an armor-piercing round.

Standout songs are all over the place, frankly. "Apathy Murders Hope" is a great song title and the song itself is a relentless salvo of sonic mini-gun rounds. "State Of Paranoia" is a slightly unsettling instrumental that turns into a stoic voice reciting cryptic lines. "Death From Above" has killer Thrash riffs that seemed to have been created in some kind of top secret Heavy Metal laboratory by leading riffologists. The standard bearer of this crusade however, would be "Twilight Spirits". It slays from a heaviness perspective, features some impressive technical tempo changes, and has solos that would sit comfortably on a noodly Power Metal track. This is a short release but it hits like shrapnel, quick and brutal.

There are several classics from this era that this would fit right in with. For fans of: old SUFFOCATION, THE CROWN, PESTILENCE, MORBID SAINT, early SADUS, KREATOR, DEICIDE, DEMOLITION HAMMER, and HYPNOSIA. Yes, it's that level of intensity. "Balance Of Power" is musically, a relentless assault that beats the weak to death with a hammer and keeps swinging until the remains become a gruesome paste.