{"id":94686,"date":"2022-07-29T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T23:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=94686"},"modified":"2022-08-04T16:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T15:50:58","slug":"album-review-raptore-blackfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-raptore-blackfire\/","title":{"rendered":"RAPTORE – Blackfire (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

RAPTORE
Blackfire<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nDying Victims Productions (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Triumphal March To Hell\u2019 has to feature one of the best album introductions I\u2019ve heard for a long time, and thankfully the metal majesty continues its path on this blazing sophomore offering from now Barcelona, Spain-based metalheads Raptore. Originally formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the band have emerged after a six year album silence to blow the speakers, with founding member Nico Cattoni (vocals and guitar) now joined by Jamie Killhead (guitar), Cristian Blade (bass) and \u00c1ngel Smolski (drums).<\/p>\n

This is scorching, wild, frenzied heavy metal straight from the 80s, and sounding like it is an undiscovered gem from that era. If you\u2019re not moved by the chanting opening track, then return to your coffin because Raptore just smokes from beginning to end.<\/p>\n

\u2018Prisoner Of The Night\u2019 contains some infectious \u201cwho-oah\u201d gang chants, but first and foremost it\u2019s a fiery, speeding metal extravaganza where Nico Cattoni sounds like his singing for his life, almost ready to break but just about keeping his pipes in check to the scalding axe work.<\/p>\n

Raptore is going alongside Germany\u2019s CobraKill and Finland\u2019s Emissary just for its never say die attitude and swagger as the title track comes surging like a steaming fusion of Exciter and, say, Wolf. And there are almost glammy tinges too in part, but nothing lightweight, just a brooding menace unleashed with furious axe work and primal percussion.<\/p>\n

I guess if you like stuff like Enforcer you\u2019ll dig this. It\u2019s power-cum-speed metal that\u2019s snappy and leathery, somehow harkening back to the early days of blitzing thrash, like original Anthrax, but there\u2019s also strong hints of Accept. \u2018Devil Ascends\u2019 is a riotous, speedball concoction of utmost fury, while \u2018Demon\u2019s List\u2019 begins with a killer retro synth, nodding drum and clanking bass before chugging with enough fire to set the house ablaze.<\/p>\n

Other influences I hear are Dokken and old Scorpions, but ultimately it\u2019s something meatier, something faster and streetwise as \u2018Death\u2019 gallops on steely licks of aggression, the bass thumping as a tight vein sneaking through the wasteland. If it was the mid-80s I\u2019d imagine this being one of those elusive imported items you accidently stumble across in some dingy record shop, but once on the turntable you\u2019ll be lighting black candles and drawing the band logo on your denim jacket to boast of your discovery.<\/p>\n

For swirling solos, crunching, speeding riffs and an all-out metal assault, do not overlook Blackfire<\/em> \u2013 a record sure to reduce your ears to ash.<\/p>\n

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

RAPTOREBlackfire Dying Victims Productions (2022)Rating: 8.5\/10 \u2018Triumphal March To Hell\u2019 has to feature one of the best album introductions I\u2019ve heard for a long time, and thankfully the metal majesty continues its path on this blazing sophomore offering from now Barcelona, Spain-based metalheads Raptore. Originally formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the band have emerged after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4919],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-raptore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94686","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=94686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94687,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94686\/revisions\/94687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}