What comes into your mind when you hear the word ram? There are probably many things that spring into your mind but I'm sure the one you think of the most is the animal with that name. Let's face it, those horns on it's head can really hurt you if you're not careful so going up against one of them is pretty damn stupid. The horns on a ram may not be as lethal as a bulls but they can still be pretty painful if they hit you. In short, rams are an animal you do not want to piss off so what if you name your band after one of them? The answer is the feature of this review which is a Swedish Heavy Metal band who just so happen to be called RAM.

Formed in 1999 in Gothenburg in Sweden, this quintet of Heavy Metal musicians released their first EP in 2003 followed by their debut album two years later in 2005. Since then they have released two splits with other bands, one single and three more full length studio albums with the newest one "Svbversvm" being the subject of this review so let us dive into it shall we?

Clocking in at around 50 minutes across 10 songs, the new album from this Swedish Heavy Metal quintet definitely has a lot going for it in a game of insane heaviness. The reason I state this is, well, as you may have already predicted, this is an album chock full of your traditional insane fast paced heavy metal melodies. That is never usually a bad thing as it can often mean a record is good but balancing out savagery with clarity is important.

Fortunately the songs on this album are good at doing that as the music is indeed heavy, but fortunately there is good clarity in the melodies and the production. This means you can enjoy every single riff, solo and note being played plus every drum beat and bass line. This is most notable on the albums first five tracks including the opening "Return Of The Iron Tyrant", the lead single "Eyes Of The Night" and "Enslaver" to name a few.

About halfway through there is a suspense building keyboard instrumental called "Terminus" before the heaviness kicks back in with the rather cool sounding "The Omega Device (MI III)" followed by a few more cool Heavy Metal numbers including "Forbidden Zone", "Temples Of Void" and the closing title track.

So far it may seem like I'm giving this album a good amount of praise but alas, it ends here as there is only one thing that bugs me. If you know me then you'll know where I am going with this but if you don't then I shall speak. It's, you guessed it, the vocals.

I will give the vocalist points for the effort and punchiness of his vocal delivery, but everything else sounds off to me. The reason why it does is because I think at times, he focuses too hard to make his vocals sound as heavy as possible, to match the heaviness of the music.

That's not too bad I guess if you're trying to make your vocals sound as heavy as the music, but sometimes I think it's done a bit too over the top at times as there are points in which I cannot really hear the lyrics very well. Also the performances comes off as a little forced at times, and this shows on a few songs where the vocalists pushes his voice just a little bit too much but overall, it's not too bad as it could be worse.

The new album from RAM is not too bad an album as it can be an enjoyable Heavy Metal listening experience, thanks to the clarity of the melodies and the overall heavy feel of the music. The only thing that loses it a few points is the vocals which aren't too bad, but they could be a little bit better but otherwise, this is an enjoyable album. Give this a listen if you aren't too worried about the vocals, as this could be what you are looking for if you are a hardcore Heavy Metal fanatic.