Most metal fans tend to view Norway as the country where black metal reigns supreme, however there is one band from Norway that back in the late 80’s put out a spectacular power/speed metal album. The debut full-length release from Artch, “Another Return,” is true heavy metal hidden gem featuring some skillful musicianship, excellent songwriting talents and all around solid production. Fans will have the opportunity to get their hands on a remastered/re-issued copy of the album via Hammerheart Records with a release date set for March 17th of this year.
Originally released in 1988 through Active Records, the album has gained a strong cult following over the years. Even though Artch never really gained significant recognition amongst the mainstream metal audience, the band’s debut album has sort of kept their story alive by setting an example of how to create an all around powerful sounding heavy metal release. The first time I heard, “Another Return,” was probably about ten years ago and I could not believe how exceptional the album sounded from start to finish. Taking elements from power metal, speed metal and thrash metal, the band comes up with these dynamic sounding pieces of metal music that grabs your attention right from the start.
When listening to the album, you hear this mix of melodic sounding arrangements similar to that of Iron Maiden, along with the thunderous riff style to of Saxon and other NWOBHM groups. The song, "Another Return to Church Hill," is a truly amazing offering of triumphant sounding heavy metal that begins with an utterly bombastic sounding introduction composition. The creative lyrics, crushing guitar riffs and high soaring vocals provided by singer Eric Hawk, all come together perfectly in telling this epic heavy metal story. Throughout the album the guitar riffs sounded unbelievably HEAVY with tracks like, “Loaded,” “Promise Land,” and “Shoot to Kill,” being some of the most deafening tracks off of the album.
Even the band’s more ballad like track, “Where I Go,” conveys such raw and monumental emotion that captures your attention as you listen to Eric’s voice compliment the mesmerizing acoustic chord progressions. My favorite song off of the album is the final track, “Reincarnation,” because of the crazy lightening fast guitar riffs as well as the killer sounding bass playing. Plus, I liked how Eric’s vocals also took a more aggressive tone to match the more thrash like guitar arrangements. Again, this album can appeal to a wide variety of metal fans, and a song such as “Reincarnation,” really taps into that mixture of power metal and thrash metal.
In the end, I am thrilled to see Hammerheart Records working with Artch to bring back this album and make it available for fans to own on CD and vinyl. Without any doubt, “Another Return,” is an album that vividly captures the confident and relentless spirit of 80’s heavy metal music. Even though an artist like Harry Styles is winning awards right now for making horrendous music while wearing a dress, I highly doubt that his fans will be buying his albums years later. The dedication and passion that went into writing such a strong sounding album like, “Another Return,” is definitely why after so many years this album is being made available again for metal fans to purchase. No matter the trend, no matter what the mainstream critics say, bands such as Artch will continue to carry on just like how heavy metal has endured for so many years and continues to inspire new generations of diehard headbangers.
Check out the song "Another Return to Church Hill" :
Hammerheart Records website:
