EP REVIEW: Ready For Boarding – Stormhunter

It’s a brave band that decides to cover Antisocial for an EP. Germany’s STORMHUNTER do a perfectly respectable take on the TRUST classic, but they cannot avoid comparisons with the ANTHRAX version. They use the original French lyrics, but those melodies are inescapable. It’s impossible to listen to without picturing Scott Ian stomping round a stage and including it here was a mistake, it detracts from an otherwise perfectly enjoyable power metal EP.

The other three songs are all original material and here, STORMHUNTER impress. Crown Of Creation for instance is classic power metal; boasting some high speed guitar riffs, a rhythm section that sounds like a thousand warhorses galloping into battle and a chorus made for bellowing. Two Beers (Or Not Two Beers) follows and is a good old-fashioned drinking song. It’s very light-hearted and should go down an absolute storm (pun not intended) in beer-gardens during festival season. It’s a song about fun times with steins of lager and could only be more German if it came with a free pretzel.

Sharp Invaders is the last of their own work and is standard speed-metal fare. It’s not as fun as the previous two songs, however there’s some nice vocal harmonies in the chorus and they do sound like they had a blast recording it. STORMHUNTER are an optimistic bunch, there’s no po-faced introspection or darkness to be had. Ready For Boarding is pretension-free and an uncomplicated, rollicking good time.

Again though, the Antisocial cover was a mistake. It’s become so synonymous with the aforementioned thrash legends that there is no feasible way of escaping the vast shadow they’ve cast. STORMHUNTER wind up resembling a band doing a cover of a cover, even if that wasn’t their intention.

That said, as a short statement of intent, Ready For Boarding works. The first track is a glorious quest in shining armour, the second is a post-adventure booze up and the third is a daft bit of fun to round things off. And if ANTHRAX didn’t exist, the cover would be perfectly fine too. This EP is a nice snapshot of what they can do, even if it does make you want to put State Of Euphoria on as soon as it finishes.

Rating: 6/10

Ready For Boarding is set for release on December 18th via G.U.C./Metal-Store24.

Like STORMHUNTER on Facebook.