{"id":104055,"date":"2024-10-10T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T23:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104055"},"modified":"2024-10-15T09:56:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:56:22","slug":"album-review-patxa-just-heavy-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-patxa-just-heavy-metal\/","title":{"rendered":"PATXA – Just Heavy Metal (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PATXA
Just Heavy Metal<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMaldito (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Now, this is what I call a self explanatory album title, Just Heavy Metal<\/em>. Patxa is a dose of pure steel from the Basque Country, and this is their debut full-length album. The record features song titles like \u2018Children Of Metal\u2019, \u2018New Metal Blood\u2019 and \u2018Steel Soul\u2019, so if any album out there is going to prompt you to raise the horns and rock then surely it\u2019s going to be this one.<\/p>\n

Named after vocalist Patxa (aka Francisco Javier Navarro Ramos), the five-piece only formed last year so I was interested to see how this album panned out. \u2018Children Of Metal\u2019 opens up proceedings and it\u2019s immediately apparent that the production is a bit thin. Where I expected beef I got wafer thin chicken which results in a rather mechanical sound, meaning the instruments seem compressed and bereft of warmth.<\/p>\n

Even so, the Spanish band throws in a glistening mix of speed and power metal, at times bordering on the emphatic with \u2018Sacred Elf\u2019 which acts as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio and is built upon a foundation of stormy percussion. \u2018New Metal Blood\u2019 is as equally bombastic, trudging with its strong spine of bass and drum, but again the guitars refuse to catch fire, somewhat drowned in a frozen, colourless lake. I do, however, enjoy some of the mid-tempo moodiness, particularly the chugging Gothic atmosphere on \u2018My Spirit Ablaze\u2019 where the vocals boom like thunder.<\/p>\n

The galloping title track boasts the traditional vim and vigour you would associate with Iron Maiden and the likes before shifting gear towards a thrashier segment. It\u2019s all very clear and concise heavy metal that comes coated in a layer of sometimes unwelcoming ice that bridges the gap between classic heavy metal and Teutonic power, circa Grave Digger et al.<\/p>\n

A song such as \u2018Honey Drops\u2019 showcases the band\u2019s melodious streaks, although the vocals maintain their grit, and the same could also be said for \u2018Where Dreams Take Wing\u2019 which fuses Manowar with a less convincing Dio and Iron Maiden. It\u2019s still the usual galloping scenarios, brisk but formulaic, although how main man Patxa didn\u2019t start laughing during the music video for \u2018Steel Soul\u2019 is beyond me; just him in a dark misty room is the epitome of a cheap video, and it\u2019s a shame because it\u2019s a reasonably strong track in spite of the mechanical sound.<\/p>\n

This debut offering will no doubt pull in the crowds who like pure, if somewhat anaemic heavy metal. The power is here but just not as dominant in certain aspects, although if you can put that aside then Patxa may appeal.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PATXAJust Heavy Metal Maldito (2024)Rating: 6\/10 Now, this is what I call a self explanatory album title, Just Heavy Metal. Patxa is a dose of pure steel from the Basque Country, and this is their debut full-length album. The record features song titles like \u2018Children Of Metal\u2019, \u2018New Metal Blood\u2019 and \u2018Steel Soul\u2019, so if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5801],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-patxa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104058,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104055\/revisions\/104058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}