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CRIMSON STORM
Livin’ On The Bad Side

Fighter (2025)
Rating: 7/10

It has certainly taken these now Barcelona, Spain-based metallers a long time to get going. Crimson Storm was originally formed during 2009 by guitarist Lögan Heads in Sardinia, Italy, and yet it would be five years before the release of 2014 EP Motor City Maniac and then another 11 years until this debut full-length album.

Just over half an hour of music is offered here as Heads, together with Pau Correas (vocals), Aless Oppossed (bass) and Pol Esteban (drums), embarks upon a solid but familiar brand of metal whereby Correas tends to drift towards Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson too much for my liking. Even so, the musicianship is strong enough to prove that Spain, alongside Greece, is becoming the forerunners of modern day metal.

A majority of the songs presented are feisty and almost thrashy in their approach, particularly ‘Abuse Of Power’ which showcases the talented fury of Esteban as a sticksman. There are strong power metal hints on offer too and when Correas is able to escape the ghost of Dickinson then Crimson Storm become a different animal. ‘Headfükker’ is a speed metal juggernaut of the highest calibre as the clan channels Judas Priest at their most formidable.

Elsewhere on the album I smell wafts of Metal Church, MSG and mid-80s US power metal, but when the guys really start to flow there is such a smoothness, a warmth even, on the tones as they stride with glorious confidence. ‘Nightmare Deceiver’ is a catchy number boasting an early Mötley Crüe-styled melody, while ‘Speed Hammerin’ Metal’ speaks for itself as another raging belter. A rousing police siren rouses the audience for the fiery ‘Outrageous’, another hasty composition that fuses high energy instrumentation with Iron Maiden-esque croons.

Crimson Storm dares not to finish the opus with something grandiose. Instead, they stick to type with ‘Seven Days Of Mayhem’ that flushes through your system in three minutes as Spaniard Correas sings in his native tongue, which means the Bruce Dickinson comparisons are less evident.

Livin’ On The Bad Side really is one of those records that I didn’t expect to enjoy so much; it’s to the point pure heavy metal and you can’t really go wrong with that, especially when it’s played like this.

Neil Arnold

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