Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2025 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
CELEBRATING 18 YEARS!
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
March 2025
- W.E.T.: Apex
- Alliance: Before Our Eyes
- Ginevra: Beyond Tomorrow
- Phil X & The Drills:
Pow! Right In The Kisser - IQ: Dominion
- Heart Line: Falling Heaven
- Gotthard: Stereo Crush
- Defender: Dying To Live
- Streetlight: Night Vision
February 2025
- Robin McAuley: Soulbound
- Perfect Plan: Heart Of A Lion
- Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
- Mantric Momentum: Alienized
- Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
- Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
- Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
- Dream Theater: Parasomnia
- Tyran: Tyran's Oath
- Saber: Lost In Flames
January 2025
- Wildness: Avenger
- The Ferrymen: Iron Will
- Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
- Bonfire: Higher Ground
- The Big Deal: Electrified
- Landfall: Wide Open Sky
December 2024
- After Lapse: Pathways
- Illusion Force: Halfana
- Powell-Payne: Voilá
November 2024
- Sunstorm: Restless Fight
- Storace: Crossfire
- Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
- Lionville: Supernatural
- Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
- Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
- Lonerider: Down In The Dust
- Seventh Crystal: Entity
- Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
- Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
- Impellitteri: War Machine
- Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter
Paincraze: Hellbound
Paincraze: Hellbound
Heavy/Thrash Metal
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Independent/Self-promotion
www.paincraze.com
www.myspace.com/paincraze
Review: Craig Hartranft, 10.14.2009
If you caught my review of the latest offering from Twinspirits, then you may recognize Paincraze lead vocalist Goran Nystrom. But don't expect progressive power metal from Nystrom and Paincraze. No, their debut disc, Hellbound is pure heavy metal metal with strong thrash elements that could easily put them along side early Metallica or even Annihilator. But this comes as no surprise as Nystrom and other members count those legends as influences. I might even add that there is little organized Motorhead assertiveness on a song like Napalm. It's all good as Hellbound is a powerful album that displays, once again, that the old school is relevant and still kicking ass today.
Paincraze work their metal magic with deft creativity. Barreling along like a runaway steam, songs like Black Day, No More, and Hurt rush full speed with strong riffs, massive rumbling bass lines, and some clever melodic hooks within this granite-like heaviness. On the aforementioned No More and the later So Be It alludes to some modern metal nuances by concocting a song based on strong riffs (and throwing in a few growls for flavor). Adding well-directed energy, ambitious and stinging guitar solos enliven every song with highlights on I'm Grateful, No More, and Napalm. Indeed, for lovers of the real deal and all things true metal, Hellbound is a kickass album from Paincraze.
In Short
For lovers of the real deal, Hellbound is a kickass album metal from Paincraze.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
New & Notable
Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]