{"id":104705,"date":"2025-03-28T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104705"},"modified":"2025-08-07T13:50:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:50:40","slug":"album-review-stealth-metal-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-stealth-metal-force\/","title":{"rendered":"STEALTH – Metal Force (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

STEALTH
\nMetal Force<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nWitches Brew (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The album title is certainly fitting for this online magazine and the cover art is better suited to 1984, such is its cheesiness. When I see this sort of art work I wonder if Stealth is attempting to look retro, or simply the illustrator isn\u2019t very good. Whatever the case, Metal Force<\/em> is the debut full-length album from this Italian outfit that formed in Verona in 2019, releasing two demos the following year.<\/p>\n

Actually, Metal Force<\/em> is a bit better than the cover art suggests; the trio of Ryan Heavy (vocals and drums), Rich Rascal (guitars), and L.C. Hammer (bass) churn out speeding heavy metal dredged from the clogged lakes of the 80s. Ryan\u2019s vocals are a rather primitive squawk that warble rather tepidly to the sound of his own tumultuous kit slaps. However, the bass tone is what holds this together providing a solid spine to the overall sound that is something akin to a speed metal meets punk vibe; generic, predictable and yet no doubt appealing to those who seek a bit of 80s nostalgia. The trouble is, why sound like something which back in the day would have been so disposable?<\/p>\n

The opening title track zips with haste but the guitar is just a fuzz ball, and none of the tracks make much of an impact however many times you play it. The harsh fact is that this is lower league metal, but it\u2019s charm lies in its cheesiness and there are a few exceptions here: \u2018Release The Fire\u2019 is a solid speed metal number featuring an ugly guitar but admirable Stone Age drumming, while \u2018Fast To Madness\u2019 stomps like a punky AC\/DC.<\/p>\n

The guitar sound is greasy, the skins thud and the feel is of a stuffy Teutonic-cum-UK rattle. Throw in Venom, old Accept, Destruction<\/a>, Exciter etc. and that\u2019s what Stealth mimic, but with \u2018Night Creature\u2019 there\u2019s a sizzling AC\/DC tempo as the band sleazily traipse like drunken vandals in the night.<\/p>\n

This is back alley rock and barroom biker metal all rolled into one. \u2018Downtime\u2019 is Angus Young on speed, \u2018Comfort Woman\u2019 a drooling dash of leathery junk, and it\u2019s no surprise that a cover rendition of the AC\/DC classic ‘Dog Eat Dog’ slides on here too. I\u2019ve given this album several listens and it\u2019s obviously limited in its appeal, but if you like smutty speed metal then Stealth might just add that extra layer of grime to your unwashed dishes.<\/p>\n

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

STEALTH Metal Force Witches Brew (2025) Rating: 6\/10 The album title is certainly fitting for this online magazine and the cover art is better suited to 1984, such is its cheesiness. When I see this sort of art work I wonder if Stealth is attempting to look retro, or simply the illustrator isn\u2019t very good. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5889],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-stealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104705","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=104705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105511,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104705\/revisions\/105511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}