Artist: Triaxis
Album: Rage & Retribution
Label: Rocksector
Release Date: 8th October 2012
For Fans Of: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Nightwish, Symphony X, Joe Satriani
2012 has been a very good year for British metal, with quality new albums emerging from all corners. With Welsh five piece Triaxis releasing their second studio album Rage & Retribution, their first since deservedly getting a record deal with Rocksector Records, hopes were high that they would continue the output of quality British metal into the last few months of 2012.
For those readers unfamiliar with Triaxis, their debut album from three years ago Keys To The Kingdom very much had the feel of a traditional power metal album. Rage & Retribution on the other hand feels like eighties bay area thrash combined with Seventh Son era Iron Maiden and had a child with modern Nightwish, in a wonderful merger of all of what’s good about those various types of music.
All of the instrumental work on Rage & Retribution is very impressive, but the work of guitarists CJ and Glyn is a serious contender for the best six string performance on any album this year. From numerous riffs that will induce involuntary headbanging to some absolutely stupendous solo’s, for lovers of high quality guitar work this album will make you feel like your birthday and Christmas have come all at once. Under Blood Red Skies (no connection to the Judas Priest song) and The Butcher are just two examples of songs with riffing and shredding to thrill fans of artists from Metallica to Joe Satriani, as well as giving some of their modern contemporaries like Sylosis a run for their money.
Over in the rhythm section, Giles on drums and Owen on bass underpin the fast pace of the album with metronomic precision and timing that some musicians in much larger bands would struggle to achieve. As fantastic as all the other members of the band sound on the album, vocalist Krissie manages to trump the lot of them. Her pitch control is phenomenal and the range of notes achieved on songs such as Black Trinity puts her in the very top bracket of female metal singers anywhere in the world today. In particularly, her ability to hit the high notes in such an effortless fashion on multiple occasions is very impressive. On this evidence, she could take the vacant Nightwish position and do it in her sleep (on the newer material anyway).
Aside from the already mentioned tracks, Triaxis have produced several more that are worthy of drawing to the readers attention. Album opener Sand & Silver is a great way to begin proceedings with every member of the band given opportunity to shine, with the solo particularly impressive. Reunion will have many a long haired metaller circle headbanging with gusto (and is another first class performance from Krissie), but the pick of the bunch may be the albums’ closing track Some Things Are Worth Dying For. It is a seven and a half minute epic in the vein of some of the true classics and could easily in years to come be Triaxis’ Hallowed Be Thy Name style anthem.
It’s safe to say, Triaxis have not only produced an album of the highest quality, it is a quality that maintains all the way throughout the album which is an achievement accomplished by few. This is a modern metal album to treasure, and if Triaxis don’t gain a lot of exposure and fans from this, it will be one of the musical crimes of 2012. Brilliant.
