{"id":106204,"date":"2026-08-21T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=106204"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:00:23","slug":"ep-review-barracuda-barracuda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-barracuda-barracuda\/","title":{"rendered":"BARRACUDA – Barracuda EP (2026) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BARRACUDA
\nBarracuda EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2026)<\/span>
\nRating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Sounding very reminiscent of defunct U.S. heavy metal band Satan\u2019s Hallow, German five-piece Barracuda\u2019s debut EP is certainly one for the rockers. Straight up hard rock is on the menu here \u2013 a no frills but fluid and punchy outing full of energy led by the vocals of Elli Fox. Forget complexity, Barracuda flirt strongly with New Wave Of British Heavy Metal aesthetics, briskly galloping like early Iron Maiden alongside the understated meandering of Night Viper, Traveler, Crystal Viper and Wolf.<\/p>\n

So, nothing new on display here, but there\u2019s a stark quality to each riveting turn even if clich\u00e9s are all too apparent. Even so, the frosting of 80s speed metal gives this EP extra vim as \u2018Bringer Of Hellfire\u2019 rattles in on a punky bass line from Flo Fait and some seriously deadly axe action courtesy of sisters Flo and Sandra Schmau\u00df. As a team they race through the tracks, adding at times an Acid-styled zip combined with the more recognisable Iron Maiden styling, especially on \u2018Vengeance Is Mine\u2019.<\/p>\n

Everything else beyond the axe work is effective, particularly the drums of Daniel Riedel whose tidy efforts are rather modest but come to the fore on the hasty \u2018Running Hot\u2019 and the more thunderous \u2018Gods Of Metal\u2019. The NWOBHM spine is forever present; a steely, nostalgic scaffold that shows its full strength on the driving namesake track \u2018Barracuda\u2019.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed this EP but I expected a bit more oomph in the vocals, and to be quite critical, they seem better suited to a hard rock covers band. There\u2019s no identity to the voice, and because the general sound is rather routine and familiar, Barracuda tends to drift in and out of consciousness. By no means is this is a mediocre release, but Barracuda is a band that could do with a few tweaks to truly bolster its accessible framework.<\/p>\n

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

BARRACUDA Barracuda EP Self-released (2026) Rating: 6.5\/10 Sounding very reminiscent of defunct U.S. heavy metal band Satan\u2019s Hallow, German five-piece Barracuda\u2019s debut EP is certainly one for the rockers. Straight up hard rock is on the menu here \u2013 a no frills but fluid and punchy outing full of energy led by the vocals of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6042],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-barracuda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106204","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=106204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106205,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106204\/revisions\/106205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}