Review by Vladimir on September 2, 2024.

From Cleveland, Ohio comes a new blood in the form of the heavy metal band Tündra, following the footsteps of current great bands in the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal such as Eternal Champion, Visigoth, and Night Demon to name a few. Even though the band is still relatively fresh and shaping their sound as they go, they released their independent self-titled EP Tündra on August 23rd, 2024, containing reworked versions of their three songs from their last year’s demo. It’s always great to see someone preserving the sacred flame of various ’80s European and US heavy metal bands, and in such it gives great hope that this might be something worth checking out. Is it though? Let’s find out… 

The three tracks which are 'Grim Reaper', 'Hell’s Heroes' and 'Voices Are Calling' are quite solid examples of very simplistic but catchy heavy metal full of rock-hard riffs, energy, and uplifting vibes. All three tracks are fun to listen to from start to finish, offering very little that can still be enjoyed if you are into old-school heavy and power metal that was equally epic and intense in its delivery. The strongest out of the three would definitely have to be 'Voices Are Calling', especially for its bass solo in the intro, and how it serves as a nice build-up to the upcoming devastation that follows and then brings the house down with its powerful mid-tempo attack that’s so simple yet effective in its overall execution. 

Songwriting may be simple and straightforward as it gets for traditional heavy metal, mostly due to its quite simple song structures, but nevertheless it works out pretty well in my opinion. When it comes to the style of heavy metal that Tündra incorporates, you can hear various influences coming from bands such as Heavy Load, Gotham City, Visigoth, Accept, and such, all in all, classics that left a big mark in the golden age of music that was the 80’s. This EP may not offer much apart from three simple but enjoyable songs, however, I think that they are on a good path to make something so incredible and beautiful for the world to embrace. The riff work is fairly solid, yet I personally feel like it’s not quite there yet, because even though they do give a pretty good time, they still feel like one step back from delivering that strong punch in the guts the way I like it. From the production standpoint, the EP is far superior to their demo from November 2023, and the sound is pretty clear and organic, although the final result is still a bit thin and just missing something to get it just right. 

Even though this EP is a brief joy, it is a very strong start for a band that rightfully took its first step and is focusing on expanding it even further in the near future. I believe that this is only the calm before the storm, or perhaps the tip of the iceberg that will be explored far deeper as the band progresses. Nevertheless, if you are into classic epic heavy metal, check out the band Tündra and see what it has to offer. 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10