VANLADE seem like the sort of band that could have been huge if they had hit at the right time. Back in the heyday of bands like JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN, VANLADE would have nestled in rather nicely and probably built up a large following extremely quickly. Unfortunately this sort of music isn't exactly promoted and pushed to the front any more and bands like this, no matter how good they might be, are sadly overlooked.

Anyone who is a fan of the old school heavy metal power with high somewhat cheesy vocals, will absolutely love this band. After two albums of original work, "Wayward Sons: Masters Of Time, vol 1" is a clear tribute to the bands that inspired them, being an EP of only six tracks, all of which are covers. The EP starts strong, with a fantastic powerful version of "Barracuda" by HEART. It takes the original, and dials the energy up to 11 which works really well. "Fire In The Sky" by SAXON is a largely forgettable song from a great band, and while VANLADE does do a decent job of it, it's still a rather dull song. "Never Say Die" by BLACK SABBATH is a great interpretation with cool dual vocals due to the guest appearance of Tyler Loney from SPELLCASTER.

Seeing the tracklist, there was one song I was truly skeptical about. Anyone who covers RUSH has a hell of a task ahead of them, fortunately VANLADE do a great job of "Bastille Day", making it more classic heavy metal rather than the typical prog RUSH sound. They make it their own, while still doing justice to the original. "Riding On The Wind" by JUDAS PRIEST was alright, but they didn't really do anything special with it, not altering it too much from the original. This may be in part due to vocalist Brett Blackout Scott having a similar vocal style to the legendary Rob Halford. This is in no way a bad thing, it just means that with covering a JUDAS PRIEST song, it's not going to be vastly different from the original. The final track "Carry On Wayward Son" by KANSAS...I'm trying to be subjective here. The original is such a classic iconic song, it's a hell of a risk covering it, even when altering it and speeding it up like VANLADE have done here. They do a good job here. The vocals suit the sped up version quite nicely, and the guitar solos are completely on point.

As a big fan of each and every band covered on this album, it was always going to be hard for me to look at it for what it is. It's a fitting tribute to a bunch of great bands that helped pave the way for bands like VANLADE. Each song is performed well, and for most of them, have a bit of a twist where they make it their own. I genuinely hope that there will be a volume 2, as I look forward to seeing what other bands they will pay their respects to. As a covers album, and as an EP to tide us over until the next full length album, this is a decent effort from these boys out of Kansas City.

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