{"id":105851,"date":"2026-02-20T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105851"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:01:03","slug":"album-review-zepter-zepter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-zepter-zepter\/","title":{"rendered":"ZEPTER – Zepter (2026) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ZEPTER
\nZepter<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHigh Roller (2026)<\/span>
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s another band channelling a traditional metal aesthetic and actually succeeding. I\u2019m often commenting on how the metal genre is getting clogged with throwback sound-alike\u2019s, bands aping the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal vibe in look and groove, but so many just look contrived. Zepter, meanwhile, are an intriguing bunch out of Austria and this is their debut full-length.<\/p>\n

To an extent, this is a typical High Roller Records release; had this been released in 1984 it would\u2019ve been one of those hard to find obscurities that only turned up in the import racks and swallowed within a packed genre. Oddly, there is still a place for this sort of stuffy rock as wispy vocals waft majestically over easy riffs like ghostly caresses.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a genuine pleasantness about songs like \u2018Hit The Streets\u2019, the gallop being so fluid and airy. The strong NWOBHM layering dominates as the foursome of Lukas G\u00f6tzenberger (vocals \/ guitar), Stefan Bolder (guitar), Tobias Hochwagen (bass) and Alex Nemeth (drums) briskly stride through their retro repertoire.<\/p>\n

The album gets off to a good start with opener \u2018Slasher On The Highway\u2019, and it\u2019s smouldering gallop bridges the gap between legendary Brit rockers Satan and Danish ghouls Mercyful Fate with a dash of Blue \u00d6yster Cult on top. \u2018The Slayer\u2019 is a big favourite of mine; reeking of vintage steel, it elegantly sweeps with such a breezy nature. Even if I\u2019m imagining things I still can\u2019t help but detect a whiff of the occult as seems to be a recurring theme with bands of this ilk.<\/p>\n

This is a record that isn\u2019t afraid to scuffle towards the lighter end of Saxon infused speed metal (\u2018The Exterminator\u2019) and more foreboding mid-paced tension (\u2018Dark Angels\u2019). That\u2019s the joy here, the lacing of mysticism and grubby, gritty British vim. The crisp guitar tone and burly drums come to the fore on the enigmatic traipsing of \u2018Everlasting\u2019, coupled with some truly swashbuckling axe work on closer \u2018The Lords\u2019 and Screem cover \u2018Lonely Night\u2019.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a wholesome album that bristles with an electricity even if at its core there\u2019s such a strong air of familiarity, but if you like your metal fleet of foot, concise, occasionally stark but crackling with arcane melody then Zepter is just the tonic.<\/p>\n

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

ZEPTER Zepter High Roller (2026) Rating: 8\/10 Here\u2019s another band channelling a traditional metal aesthetic and actually succeeding. I\u2019m often commenting on how the metal genre is getting clogged with throwback sound-alike\u2019s, bands aping the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal vibe in look and groove, but so many just look contrived. Zepter, meanwhile, are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5754],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-zepter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105851","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=105851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105852,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105851\/revisions\/105852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}