ALBUM REVIEW: Wanton Attack – Wanton Attack

Swedish duo WANTON ATTACK lay their hearts at your feet on their self-titled debut release. Made up of vocalist and drummer Micael Zetterberg and guitarist/bassist Niklas Holm, the pair offer up a slice of traditional metal that comes right from the source. With their inspirations and aspirations so in your face and on the nose, you have to be bought into the sound from the get-go to find any enjoyment.

For the vast majority of its runtime, Wanton Attack is a record that may as well be a time portal to the earlier days of traditional metal. The sound and style of MERCYFUL FATE engulfs the record and as a side effect, the tracklist features plenty of KING DIAMOND and IRON MAIDEN tendencies. Though it doesn’t have the irresistible songwriting and huge choruses of traditional metal’s forefathers, it does a good job of emulating this feeling and it’s believable that this band could have co-existed around the same time. With its great guitar work, fun vocal stabs and short but sweet under 30-minute runtime, the record does trad metal worship well and crucially doesn’t overstay its welcome. 

There aren’t many diversions from this formula but that’s expected given that it’s only seven tracks delivered in 29 minutes. Some tracks lean more into a thrash influence whilst others are full on trad metal until the very end. Aside from a couple of acoustic passages that really give the guitars some room to breathe and show off without all of the quite claustrophobic production, the only real breathing space is afforded in the album’s closer. Titled Arrogant Humanity, this three-minute instrumental track replaces the metal, aside from a few samples, with a John Carpenter–style synth lead. Again, the influence here is extremely on the nose and if you took it too seriously it would fall on its face, but it is fun to hear an extremely over the top Carpenter impression mixed in with a spiralling guitar solo. It’s good fun but it is a baffling choice to end the album on this note as it comes completely out of nowhere and then disappears. Simply put, it’s definitely an entertaining idea but it doesn’t fit.

As is always the case with an album that is looking to recapture a certain sound and place in time, the record’s biggest strengths come attached with a few weaknesses. For fans of the same style of traditional metal as WANTON ATTACK, this record feels like eating comfort food whilst walking somewhere that you know like the back of your hand. For someone wanting more than that who isn’t completely on board with riding that familiar wave, there isn’t a lot else here. If you aren’t into that scene and those bands already then this album won’t win you over to their side. It does a good job of exploring those old stomping grounds without ever embarking down a new path. 

Rating: 7/10

Wanton Attack is set for release on September 24th via No Remorse Records.

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