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Blood On Fire

    
       
       
       
     
             
Dhaliax are a heavy metal band from Spain formed in 2015, releasing their debut album 'Blood On Fire' in 2019.    
             
Featuring a three pronged aural attack - power metal, hard rock and thrash metal - Dhaliax serve up a sonic battering of intense yet infectious thirty five minutes of metal. The debut album consists of eight songs, each one a corker, offering the head bangers of the world a glorious opportunity of a neck muscle workout. Opening with the atmospheric build up of the one and a half minute instrumental intro 'The Name Of Death', Dhaliax launch their album proper with the rabid 'Mercenary'. Fast paced and a little aggressive, 'Mercenary' is "foot on the monitor" heavy metal to head bang to. The glorious sound of traditional heavy metal rises high to the surface, and combined with a melodic edge, 'Mercenary' is an intense and infectious opening gambit. Increasing the intensity, 'Dragon Lover' is a power house romp of out and out ballsy metal with a mighty punch hard enough to knock out the most resilient of boxing champions. And all that with just the right amount of melodic intent to keep the songs catchy and sing a long able...    
             
At over six minutes in length, 'Chandrian' is by far and away the longest song on offer, and is a monolithic monster of the epic and glory styles of metal. British stalwarts Iron Maiden are renowned for their epic longer songs, with Dhaliax adopting the mighty Maiden approach with 'Chandrian'. Truly epic. Title song 'Blood On Fire' turns the pace and power up a few notches - fairly blasting along at high speed. Head banging will become furious, foot stamping venomous and the mosh pit a blur as the head bangers of the world let themselves go to a very fine tune. The mix of power metal, hard rock and thrash metal is just right - Dhaliax calculating the formula to precise measurements.    
             
'Evil's Slave' adopts the iconic guitar sound of the NWOBHM movement, powering on like a hard rock/heavy rock rampage. In fact, 'Evil's Slave' is the nearest the album comes to rock rather then metal, but in no way does it feel like it doesn't belong. Such versatility in a new band is great to see. Pace returns to the album in emphatic fashion with the speedster 'Your Last Breath'. A pummelling rhythm gives 'Your Last Breath' a kind of rough and ready aura, as though it just stepped out of a thrash metal album. Final song on offer 'Guitar Cry' is a full on and highly explosive riff laden romp, and brings an end to a very good album. At only thirty five minutes in length, 'Blood On Fire' is a little short by modern day standards, but what it lacks in length it sure as hell makes up for in oomph and energy. If you're looking for a quick blast of intense and heavy, heavy metal, go get 'Blood On Fire'.    
             
Overall, a cracking mix of power, rock and thrash elements, 'Blood On Fire' is an intense and infectious listen.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
             
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