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This Means War

      
         
         
         
     
             
Bakken are a heavy/power metal band from the UK formed in 2011, releasing their debut album 'Death Of A Hero' in 2012. This gained the band a huge amount of popularity, with their energetic live shows going down a storm. The band released the 'Worldwide Genocide' E.P. in 2014, with the next few years an uneasy period for the band with a number of line-up changes. Come 2018, the band started writing for their second album 'This Means War', due for release in 2020.    
             
Combining thrash metal style riffing with the melodic side of traditional heavy metal, 'This Means War' is a forty minute thunderstorm of epic proportions. Prepare for a neck breaking, bone snapping, fiery blast of metal that takes no prisoners, and moves Bakken nearer to the worldwide heavy metal stage. The title song 'This Means War' - and before you all start wondering, no, it's not an AC/DC cover - opens the album in frantic style, Charging forward like a herd of elephants on a rampage, 'This Means War' is a crushing thrash powered slab of heavy metal. Picking up the pace and powering on, 'Cold Blooded Murder' assumes the mantle of melodic thrash metal, you know the style - Metallica brought it to the world in the mid eighties. 'Cold Blooded Murder' is a frantic romp of blistering riffs and thundering drums. Just what the head banging doctor ordered...    
             
...and on a repeat prescription! 'Star Machine' adopts a more mid paced rhythm, a melodic march, yet retains the albums overall thrashy feel. Bakken have just unleashed a furious opening triple salvo that is gonna turn heads wherever it is heard. With an increase in the power, pace and energy levels, 'Evil Walks This Way' is a bombastic slice of heavy/power metal. The kinda heavy/power metal that iconic German metallers Rage pioneered in the eighties and have been delivering to the world for almost four decades. 'This Means War' (the album) deserves a place on the shelf right next to Rage. At over six minutes in length 'In Requiem' brings a "black album" era Metallica feel to the album. Mid tempo and massively melodic, 'In Requiem' has an epic atmosphere bordering on the cinematic as it resonates with a lighters in the air feel. 'In Requiem' acts as the albums pivotal point, the halfway mark, the calm before the storm...    
             
...a storm that rages on with the NWOBHM influenced 'Two-Edged Blade'. Think 'Powerslave' era Iron Maiden and you'll get the idea. A highly melodic romp, 'Two-Edged Blade' has a catchy and sing a long able chorus that a concert crowd will be ecstatically happy to sing along to. And oh my God - the pace increases ten fold with the explosive and high velocity galloper 'We Fight'. It's time for violent head banging as 'We Fight' motors on frantically. What a rollercoaster ride through the genres of thrash, power, and traditional heavy metal this has been. Bakken have served up a treat with their sophomore album, and there's still one song left to go... With a diversion from what has gone before, 'Storm Angels' begins just like a power ballad, with mellowness and a huge acoustic feel - before Bakken's trademark heavy/power metal influence comes crashing in. 'Storm Angels' is the albums most mid paced offering, yet is still very heavy with an awesome power metal feel.    
             
Overall, a thumping journey of intense yet melodic heavy/power metal, Bakken deliver forty infectious and addictive minutes of thrash tinged heavy metal.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Bakken    
             
Review is also featured at Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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