Straight to hell, through the stone thrown by David, with the head of Goliath, Heavy Metal is the final blow, the sharpened weapon for the swift smite. Some just cannot let go of the madness, of the insanity of the old days. Embracing is believing and there is nothing better that inhaling the sounds of past, particularly when it is channelled by British means. So here I go again, running through memory lane but only but trying to remember where I heard this one before, from where this here piece of old school came from, eventually I got it but it didn't matter, it has a mind of its own. This is the sophomore album of the British origin DISARM GOLIATH named "Born To Rule", via Pure Steel Records, signalling an intent, showing the worth of the old gods as JUDAS PRIEST and NWOBHM era of IRON MAIDEN while keeping the same melodic tones of others that came along later on as GRIM REAPER and STORMZONE. However, and I didn't mind that at all, DISARM GOLITAH also have the rude, lean mean, US Metal textures, in the vicinity of JAG PANZER, that affected the band's rather aggressive riffing and speeding throughout their release. So as you notice, this was a party for me. Well, generally speaking it was, but I wouldn't mind a better outcome.

Sinking down into the depth of the self-determining attempt for governance, DISARM GOLIATH tried to recapture the peak moments of the somewhat intelligent old British Metal type of riffing and rhythms. Though their material took a different trail into the rather more straightforward comfort zones of US Metal, those impressive old MAIDENish features such as diverse drumming and high calibre bass work, made some impact on their creations. Nonetheless, I believe that the lead guitar fret work actually did better than the former attributes I mentioned. Yeah I usually admire forthright rhythm guitaring, but boy those frantic soloing sure kicked my ass, probably the band's greatest achievement on this release. As for the vocal line, I would say rather impressive, not as steely as Rob Halford or depthy as Bruce Dickinson but more in the vein of high ends of other six pounders as Steve Grimmett or Harry Conklin and even a slight of the Marcolin howling from time to time. No doubt that this vocalist has a powerful voice, stretching his whole as a banshee or as a demonic inclination.

"Born To Rule", with its vigour an might, as I mentioned, walks the lines of providing a straight up traditional Metal, no trends, no modern gizmos, just the honest thing with a few bruises on the side. This release is certainly didn't turn out perfect as several of the featured songs just didn't get to me as "Betrayer" that seemed like a sound track similar to early VICIOUS RUMORS and METAL CHURCH but rather average, and the weird closing track "Raining Steel", that seemed rather unusual, especially in the singing rhythm that composed itself as an early ANTHRAX oriented. The chorus sounded victorious along with a MAIDENish kind of drumming and crunchy guitars, but still pretty vague to where it actually went. On the other hand, I did follow "Embrace The Abyss", which its intro is so similar to the old hit of GRIM REAPER "Rock You To Hell", damn I couldn't get enough with that high end shout. Charging as a heavier tune filled with classic type rhythms and exponential soloing, it ended up being a great tune for the commencing of this expedition. "Propaganda (Invasion Of Thought)" stomping as a melodic IRON MAIDEN oriented track with amazing display of high register vocalic action, the band made it sound so classic with fine line of GRIM REAPER riffing direction. "Born To Rule" is another straight up classic Heavy Metal cracker with a basic format but pretty promising as a lost 80s tune, a sure old JAG PANZER influenced song tending to get heavier. In a nut cracking shell, a fine display of 80s passion coming from the land where Metal was originated, great vocals, smashing soloing, more than the average material, needs a bit sorting due to some of the examples I listened to, but still a worthy for the taking.