Review by Sandre the Giant
When you see an album cover featuring a scantily clad, winged Grim Reaper valkyrie goth girl coming to destroy a small warrior, you’ve gotta take notice. ‘Rise or Fall’ is the new record from Japanese heavy metal warriors Risingfall and it looks to be absolute piles of fun before I even start. It is out now through Dying Victims Productions.
The instantly air guitar worthy intro to ‘Kamikaze’ is great, and when it kicks into this rough and ready NWOBHM riff I am ready to go. Combining classic heavy metal with a little bit of gritty thrash guitar tone, anthemic tracks like ‘English Motor Biker’ (probably my go-to heavy metal track for the rest of the year) or the galloping ‘Never Surrender’ are just fist pumping fodder for live crowds to go bat shit for. I do like Risingfall’s energy, the fact that ‘Rise or Fall’ has this rawish production which gives you real 80s metal vibes and the fact that their vocalist G Itoh has the kind of voice that resonates with the classic metaller inside us all. ‘Rock Fantasy’ is a bit weaker, reminding more of Europe-style hard rock than the Angel Witch/Diamond Head vibe they’ve gone for on the rest of the record, but they come blazing back with ‘Risingfall’ that absolutely fucking slays.
With the balladry of ‘Arise in the Ashes’ leading into the power metal majesty of ‘Master of the Metal’, ‘Rise or Fall’ is a shit ton of fun if you’re into classic metal and should immediately appear on end of year lists. I love Risingfall’s energy, their enthusiasm and their execution of anthemic metal laden with hooks, solos and a love for the genre. Massive, dumb fun for all the family!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063697592287
https://risingfall.bandcamp.com/
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 