Review by Vladimir on February 26, 2024.

Grab your beverages and light your cigars folks, it's time to break the chains! The topic of this review will be covering the colombian black/speed/punk metal band Strike and their second full-length album Break The Chains, released on November 20th, 2023 via Evil Spell Records.

Strike provides a very filthy rock 'n roll driven music with elements of blackened speed metal mixed with punk and traditional heavy metal. For the most part, the tracks on this album have the head on traditional speed metal approach with the usual aggressive riffing and d-beat drumming, while some deviate by being oriented towards a more mid-tempo style that express a more catchy side of their music. Some great examples that incorporate an effective use of that wicked black/speed metal fused with punk are 'Capital City' and 'Black 'n Roll, Hate & Destruction', both of which are incredibly catchy and uplifting tracks that deserve extra credit for adding nice bonuses. The third track 'Black 'n Roll, Hate & Destruction' includes an audio recording of Lemmy saying "Believe in rock and roll, that is the only religion that never lets you down" in the song's very ending, whereas the fifth track 'Capital City' has some guest appearing musicians such as James McBain of Hellripper who contributed a bit of his vocal duties. On the more heavy metal/punk and rock 'n roll side, you could probably give tracks like 'Don't Trust, Don't Believe'. There are only a couple of instrumentals on this album, the bluesy sixth track 'Luciferian Blues' and the surf rock/Dick Dale oriented eight track 'Satanic Surf Noise (Q. Tarantino Rock 'n Roll Tribute)' with audio recordings from various Quentin Tarantino movies, both of which give a short but nice break like a glass of cold refreshing beverage before you jump into action. As a bonus, you also get a bonus track 'Unholy Devotion', but if you were lucky enough to have bought the Evil Spell Records physical CD release of the album you will also get a bonus live track, that being the cover of the Greek black/speed metal band Omega's song 'Evil Rock 'n Roll'.

It is a very simple album to follow along with straightforward but effective songwriting that offers plenty of it, even through very minimal work in terms of the overall musicality. I'd say that the songs give a very moderately solid output that is balanced to make everything feel catchy but without going too extreme or too soft. Although I can sense that some people might complain that the punk and rock 'n roll elements feel a bit forced or way too forefronted than it should be, I personally don't think that either of the two really do any damage to the songs and I don't think that they thinned out the band's output, but rather made it more entertaining. One of the highlights of this album next to the riffs is the bass, which provides plenty of dynamic and engaging basslines, and since it has some nice overdrive to it, that just manages to give the songs an additional amount of steel. The cover art depicting the wall-crushing biker goat warrior with Snaggletooth-like tusks, spikes, bullet belts and chains, is a very simplistic idea but stylistically pretty good, despite feeling just a bit generic for this kind of music. As for the sound production, I don't think I could add more than saying that it does the album justice by giving it a very nice and organic sound.

Overall, I'd say that this was a fun little experience worth a go, especially for me who is very enthusiastic when it comes to black/speed metal bands who worship all things oldschool. If you are a fan of bands like Midnight, and you like to see some rock and roll action, give this one a spin and enjoy!

Rating: 7.7 out of 10