Artist: Metalsteel
Label: Self-released
Release: 2007
Metalsteel! The youngest (not anymore) Slovenian heavy metal band is back after almost exactly two years with a new record, their third, titled “Bad In Bed”
There’s a noticeable change in “image”, which has swung hard from the clichéd “power metal look” to the side of “badass dark hard rockers” of the kind that rolled out of New York in the late eighties, back when some of the members of the band under review were still swimming around looking for an egg. But don’t let that fool you, because in musical skill and experience, these guys and the girl are almost fully on par with the “big boys”!
One more thing had my imagination running wild before this little record came out. Recording to tape. A forgotten method that the greatest masters of hard rock used to rely on, and that was supposed to add to the quality music and give my ears even more pleasure. Yeah, right. The production is actually the album’s biggest minus, because for the most part it sounds to me like the record (the drums especially) was recorded inside some cardboard box, and that robs it of a big chunk of its power and charm. Full credit and hats off to Metalsteel for being able to record an album in one go (I’m certainly not capable of that at the moment ), but with the weak production, instead of a total victory they ended up with a lukewarm “tape for the sake of tape” effect, not tape for the sake of a better sound. Better luck next time, then!
Now on to the main ingredient of the album: the music! This time the music is the most varied of all Metalsteel releases so far. Clichéd heavy metal is only detectable in traces now, replaced by elements of glam (White Circle, Poletiva v nebo), thrash (Free Your Mind) and more modern metal (No Faith), all held together as a cohesive whole by Beny’s recognizable vocals, which we’ll come back to later. This time the instrumentalists take the spotlight, and the one to single out is bassist extraordinaire Matej, who, just like his namesake playing guitar for the pop-rockers I.C.E., has grown into one of the greatest masters of his instrument in Slovenia. The bass lines throughout the whole record are worthy of the great masters of the low end, à la Steve DiGiorgio and Billy Sheenan, although Matej’s style is quite different from that of the aforementioned duo. On top of that, Matej has developed a distinctive low “backing vocal” that gives some of the songs even a bit of a gothic flavor. The guitar work, handled as always by Beny and Rock the Shock, is excellent; we hear rhythms and solos interweaving the entire time, and it’s all done tastefully, without any excessive “shred-wanking”. The drums, which have been the band’s Achilles’ heel until now, are decent this time, with no standout moments, but Daša is rising to the band’s level and does her job more than solidly, both by adding rhythms and with good transitions. The biggest leap forward, though, is in the lyrics, which are much more down to earth this time and tell it straight, no sugarcoating, about drugs (White Circle) and the flaws of the modern world (No Faith). Why write heavy metal lyrics in English (with all due respect to the mother tongue) is brilliantly demonstrated by the ballad Memories and its Slovenian twin Spomin. While the English version is downright excellent, a heartfelt love ballad, the one translated into Slovenian (which even won Song of the Week on Val 202) strikes me as flat-out disgusting. Beny’s vocals guide the listener through the whole record as the band’s most distinctive element, and they’ve also become one of those “love/hate” voices. Technically there’s practically nothing left to complain about, but in my opinion he needs a bit more of that proper juicy rocker color, which comes with the years anyway.
“Bad In Bed” is a landmark record for the band. Metalsteel have grown up and looked toward other kinds of music, leaving clichéd heavy metal behind. For many fans (me included) this shock had a negative effect at first, but after a few spins I can promise you the record isn’t bad; it’ll be interesting to see where the Metalsteel ship steers in the coming years.
Lineup
Beny Kic – guitar, vocals
Rok Tomšic – guitar
Matej Sušnik – bass guitar
Daša Trampuš – drums
Production
Sašo Kisovec
Track list
1.Bad In Bed
2.Free Your Mind
3.White Circle
4.For The Sake Of Religion
5.Summon The Beast
6.Poletiva v nebo
7.Heavy Metal Girls
8.No Faith
9.Želim si te
10.Memories
