The Metal scene of Portugal earned a lot of worldwide attention after the coming of MOONSPELL back in the middle of the 90's. And the country of Tejo river revealed a very good scene with many bands of every Metal genre the readers could think of. Still today Portuguese bands appear with good releases, as the Speed Metal quartet WANDERER, from Porto. And their first album, "Awakening Force", shows a good work.

They're playing a Speed Metal in the same vein of names from the past, when this specific genre appeared on Germany and the neighbors countries (as Belgium and Netherlands). Explaining: it's a faster form of playing an energetic form of traditional Heavy Metal (especially influenced by NWOBHM). Obviously the quartet must evolve and have a long way to go, but for now, their talent is clear to the ears. André Ribeiro (the band's guitarist) is the one who mixed and mastered the album. It's not bad, trying to emulate the organic sound of the past. But their music needs a more powerful and aggressive sound, because the search for something organic and clean made things sound a bit hollow. It's clean and can be understood, but it could be better.

All the bands features sound in a very good way on the songs, but Nuno's vocals still need to mature more (he has a good voice, but he needs to explore more of its possibilities). For now, songs as the energetic "Oblivion" (very good guitar riffs and chorus, indeed), "Spellbound" (another very good set of energetic and fast melodies, with a good work from bass guitar and drums), "Freedom's Call" (here Nuno's voice works in a good way, maybe for a nasty and aggressive posture), "Dark Age" and "Winds of Death" are the ones that shows a strong latent potential on this quartet.

Personally, I believe that WANDERER will mature and reach a higher level in the future. For now, "Awakening Force" is a good first coming, and deserves to be heard out loud.