The Greek label No Remorse in this period he is in a state of grace. After publishing the American heavy metal shots Show N Tell of The Ritual Has Begun and those of Night Stealer of the Spaniards Savaged it is now the turn of another album with the purest HM stigmata : Prequel To Madness of Canadians Traveler.
Active since 2017 and after the release of a demo the following year in 2019 they publish the homonymous debut that receives the well-deserved success among the fringes of the defender. It is from 2020. Termination Shock, their second official cry, which does not disappoint expectations and allows the band to play live often between Canada, the United States and Europe.
Prequel To Madness, Cd with a revisable cover – euphemism – by Dylan Barstad embodies their third publication and accompanies a sixteen-page booklet with all the texts and an overall photo of the Traveler in the two plants. On the finale, in addition to the well-known ritual techniques, a compilation of black and white shots depicting the band on tour, including live poses, backstage and various landscapes on the road.
Rather sparkling training, that of the Travelers, which has not missed some too many changes in the line-up over the years. At the moment these are the names of the five crazy canucks involved in the project: Matt Ries (guitar) e Jean-Pierre Abboud (voice), the only survivors of the original nucleus, followed by Toryin Schadlich (guitar), Jake Wendt (low) e Nolan Benedetti (drums).
What characterizes more than anything the sound assault of the Calgary complex is the eternal duel, not at all masked, of the two axes of Ries e Schadlich, a particularity that guarantees devastating power over the almost forty minutes of music offered inside Prequel To Madness. As well as other recently formed groups dedicated to the rediscovery in a modern key – mainly in the sounds, not in substance – of the eighties Metal, the influences of the. mammasantissima they are wasted like that. Without a doubt the Iron Maiden have been part of the path of Abboud, Ries & Co. since “Take The Wheel”- preceded by the intro”Mayday”- sounds like a piece from today would most likely play today Killers if by magic it should be published for the first time in 2024 with the voice, however, compared to the original, already a siren like Dickinson. Exercise in which. Jean-Pierre Abboud it does quite well, which is not at all simple. That Prequel To Madness both particularly thunderous albums are testified by the subsequent “Dark Skull”, From riffon carrier heard millions of times but always deadly and “The Law”, additional steel spider crab.
“Rebels of Heart”is indebted to the Hammerfall and is followed by the hymn “Heavy Earth”, son of Accept of Russian Roulette. Among the many influences of Canadians, the too. Stratovarius – “No Fate”- and the match is shot at the end”Vagrants of Time”/”Prequel to Madness”, yet another declaration of loyalty to the steel industry.
Inside Prequel to Madness i Traveler pull without redemption whatsoever from start to finish without giving up even a millimeter, strong with a prominent frontman such as Abboud, delivering to this 2024 an album that will make you talk about yourself for a long time still in the context of all the aficionados of traditional and traditionalist HM. For now, Canadians lack the magic that only the great ones can express but the future is undoubtedly on their side, just wait.
ROKKERSPRESS 