Review: Traveler "Self-Titled Release"

    Screaming through the galaxy with a classic metal vengeance of super sonic metallic force, Canada’s Traveler offers a scorching full-length debut release looking to consume the heavy metal universe with glorious sounding riffs and triumphant sounding vocals.

    Speed metal and power metal fans will be rather pleased with this release, as the band demonstrates strong songwriting skills and skillful musicianship. The band’s singer, Jean-Pierre Abboud, also known for his work in the band Gatekeeper, does a tremendous job presenting the lyrics with a high soaring vocal delivery. Along with Jean-Pierre’s amazing vocal abilities, the twin guitar attack of Matt Ries and Toryin Schadlich proves to be a lightening fast force of riff making fury. I also thought the rhythm section comprising of bassist Dave Arnold and drummer Chad Vallier, packed a mighty punch on each track to help establish a bold and bombastic sound.

    The album’s production and overall sound is full of relentless heavy metal energy which is very consistent on each song. You know you’re in for a ripping heavy metal experience when the opening track, “Starbreaker,” bursts out of your speakers like a starship screaming through the cosmos fueled by an atomic sounding main guitar riff. The vocals add an extra emphasis of epic heavy metal attitude and Jean-Pierre has an unbelievable range that does not sound forced and seems to come natural when he hits those high notes. After the opening track ended I liked the transition into the next song, “Street Machine,” because the music maintained such a passionate and fierce edge. Traveler does a great job not settling for generic and simplistic riffs and comes up with these arrangements that convey a high level of profound energy.

    Track three off of the album, “Behind the Iron,” is a very Maiden-esque type song that utilizes the two guitar attack extremely well. The way that the vocals compliment the melodic guitar compositions is perfectly executed and keeps delivering until the song ends. Other songs worth mentioning are, “Fallen Heroes,” “Mindless Maze” and “Speed Queen” with probably “Mindless Maze” being my overall favorite song off of the album. From the soothing intro guitar arrangement to the epic chorus section to the mind being lead guitar parts, I felt like the song was extremely well written from start to finish. Traveler combined all the elements needed to write a stellar heavy metal song that does not disappoint in the least bit, or sounds poorly slapped together like what you hear from most classic metal worship bands who spend more time on their album artwork than their songwriting skills.

    Traveler is yet another great example of a band paying homage to classic heavy metal, while forging their own path by writing some exciting and powerful pieces of music. The band’s self-titled debut release is a recommended listen for fans of classic heavy metal, speed metal, power metal or people who want something to bang their head along to while raising their fists in the air. Better not pass this release up, because the way Traveler is going right now, these guys are going to be coming at the heavy metal world faster than the speed of light and you don’t want to miss out!



Traveler "Behind the Iron" :

Traveler Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/travelerheavymetal/