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Waves Of Steel

      
         
         
         
     
             
Mandragora are a female fronted heavy metal band from Peru forming in 2007, releasing the 'Steel Metal' demo in 2010. The band released the two song E.P. 'First Attack' in 2014, with the 2015 album 'Steel Metal Attack', a compilation of the songs featured on the bands demo and E.P. The bands first full length studio album 'Waves Of Steel' was released in 2017, featuring seven new songs and two re-recorded songs from their demo.    
             
Effects laden and atmospheric, the opening instrumental 'Waves Of Steel' sets an epic vibe as it builds towards the opening barrage, the charging 'Dead Souls' thundering along at pace. The five piece South American band display all the traits of the classic sound of traditional heavy metal, screaming guitar solos, galloping rhythms and a catchy sing a long style chorus. With a huge British heavy metal influence, 'Siren' is a hard rocking, heavy hitting and infectious romp. Raise your fists in the air and get your heads nodding, this is gonna be good. Heavier sounding guitars gets 'Hell Night' going, sounding a lot more menacing than the opening two songs. The catchy sing a long chorus style may be a little formulaic, but it makes for a great opportunity to sing a long and be a part of the band. So, get the lyric booklet out and learn those words...    
             
Picking up the pace, 'Demon Owl' is very much guitar led and is a raucous journey of riffs and rhythms. The continuous head banging would take its toll on lesser mortals, but for the die hard heavy metal fan, we are just getting warmed up! 'Demon Owl' is catchy and infectious and a definite favourite off the album. With a huge Iron Maiden feel about it, 'Abraxier' rolls into sight and trundles on. The sound of the NWOBHM evolution from the mid eighties is brought to the fore as 'Abraxier' strides on, delivering the best melodic heavy metal performance on the album. Changing pace towards the latter stages, 'Abraxier' thunders to a close.    
             
The familiar buzzing guitar sound of the NWOBHM genre, breaths life into 'Planet Of The Silver Crown'. Up tempo and full of energy, 'Planet Of The Silver Crown' is a relentless rampage of heavy rocking, traditional heavy metal. For a band on the other side of the planet to the UK, where the NWOBHM genre originated from, to deliver an album sounding like it came from the UK, is a huge compliment. Mandragora have done a great job with this album. Tempo and energy levels rise up high as 'Steel Metal' romps into view and sets a scorching pace as it races off at high velocity. A heavy metal anthem if ever there was one, 'Steel Metal' is a ferocious flurry, with a chant style chorus to boot. The album is brought to a close with the hard rocking 'Some One', featuring a distinct Judas Priest vibe.    
             
Overall, full on and infectious traditional sounding heavy metal that will have heads banging all around the world for a very long time to come.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Zineaholic PR    
             
             
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