{"id":94138,"date":"2022-06-19T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=94138"},"modified":"2022-06-30T19:58:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T18:58:18","slug":"ep-review-tailgunner-crashdive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-tailgunner-crashdive\/","title":{"rendered":"TAILGUNNER – Crashdive EP (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAILGUNNER
Crashdive EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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After a trio of solid singles, English metalheads Tailgunner throws together an EP which basically features the three singles and a track called \u2018Crashdive\u2019, which is also the title of this outing.<\/p>\n

There seems to be a bit of a stir around these guys, but for me I\u2019m still on the fence due to the rather irritating early Iron Maiden semblances. It\u2019s not a bad thing, but I feel that Tailgunner (I guess the clue was in the band name) needs to find its own identity \u2013 even the cover art reeks of Megadeth<\/a>\u2019s Vic Rattlehead.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say this isn\u2019t solid metal, but throughout the four tracks there is a derivative gleam with the band sort of going through the motions like some old 80s metal band still flogging a dead horse.<\/p>\n

Sure, \u2018Shadows Of War\u2019 is anthemic, there\u2019s a meatiness to the vocals, the axe work is nimble and fiery, and, hey, the bass and percussion sound fresh. Meanwhile, \u2018Guns For Hire\u2019 speeds nicely, \u2018Revolution Scream\u2019 is just too \u201cnew\u201d sounding for my liking, and the title track features some nice riffage, lead work and melody. Yet, damn, there were hundreds of bands like this in the 80s that couldn\u2019t make the limelight, and yet who knew it, decades later the mimicry of such acts is suffocating. However, I\u2019ve no doubt these guys will garner a following, particularly in Britain because this is how the scene works \u2013 people jumping on bandwagons, and more so if they are relatively new to the scene.<\/p>\n

Tailgunner sort of operate in a field that runs from early Iron Maiden to, say Metal Church. If they can construct tracks like \u2018Crashdive\u2019 more often then I can see myself along for the ride, but the cheesy flag-waving anthems have been done countless times before.<\/p>\n

I understand that young bands \u2013 particularly those that weren\u2019t around in the 80s \u2013 love to pay homage, but among the piles of beer cans, denim jackets and devil horns there\u2019s still space to inject your own character. Naysayers to my words will say \u201cbut it\u2019s still good metal\u201d, \u201csupport the scene\u201d etc., and I\u2019m all for that, but in a world of disposable heroes it\u2019s all too easy to be relegated to pub band status and I just don\u2019t want these guys to be just another watered down imitation. I\u2019ll pass full judgement when the album emerges.<\/p>\n

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

TAILGUNNERCrashdive EP Self-released (2022)Rating: 6.5\/10 After a trio of solid singles, English metalheads Tailgunner throws together an EP which basically features the three singles and a track called \u2018Crashdive\u2019, which is also the title of this outing. There seems to be a bit of a stir around these guys, but for me I\u2019m still on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4862],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-tailgunner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94138","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=94138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94140,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94138\/revisions\/94140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}