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Hail To The King

    
       
       
       
     
             
Voodoo Circle are a hard rock band from Germany founded in 2008 by guitarist Alex Beyrodt (Silent Force, ex Primal Fear), the bands current line-up completed by singer David Readman (Black Eye, ex Pink Cream 69), bass player Alex Jansen and drummer Markus Kullman. 'Hail To The King' is the bands seventh album following 'Voodoo Circle' (2008), 'Broken Heart Syndrome' (2011), 'More Than One Way Home' (2013), 'Whisky Fingers' (2015), 'Raised On Rock' (2018), and 'Locked & Loaded' (2021) - and features twelve songs across more than an hour of some of the heaviest hard rock you're ever likely to hear this year! The band are in phenomenal form, pounding the ground hard with so much intensity, nearby buildings are crumbling into ruins! And with a sound, a modern appreciation of legendary bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow and Whitesnake, Voodoo Circle are intent on keeping the jaw dropping aura of seventies and eighties hard rock well and truly alive.    
             
The new album opens with 'Lay Down Your Loving', the band quickly into their stride to shudder the ground with immense force, every listener around the world feeling the ground vibrations emanating from the German hard rockers - the seductive sound of seventies/eighties hard rock pouring outta 'Lay Down Your Loving' like water pours over a cascading waterfall! A barnstorming opening to grab the attentions of a worldwide audience, the album marches on with the highly Whitesnake-ish 'Let It Rock' - the sound of the legendary British rockers flowing from both the music and the vocals! And for anyone like me who was around at Whitesnake's pomp during the early eighties, the similarity of 'Let It Rock' to the bands sound of that era is spookily eerie! But then it is the intention of Voodoo Circle to keep the old school rock sound alive - and on the evidence of just the first two songs, I'd say it's more alive now than ever before! And the bombastic oomph emitted by 'On The Edge' is fucking phenomenal, the band hitting with so much force, planet Earth is gonna be knocked off its axis! Seemingly powered by thunder, fire and brimstone, 'On The Edge' is one of weightiest slabs of hard rock I've heard this year.    
             
What a sensational threesome to launch your new album with, Voodoo Circle hitting the sweet spot with extreme accuracy, 'Sweet Little Sister' - and no, not a cover of the Skid Row classic from the bands self titled debut album (released in 1989) - is a blues rock infused hard rocker with just as much oomph, energy and drive as everything heard so far. The old school rock sound the band have is spot on to the one I first heard over forty years ago at the turn of the eighties, yet Voodoo Circle aren't a retro rock band! Hell no - there's plenty of modern day influence to be heard too, 'Hail To The King' appealing equally to both old and young fans alike! Not to mention the new generation coming through too, the band dropping a gear along with a few ounces of oomph to settle into a smooth swagger as 'Castles Made Of Glass' strides across rock territory with shoulders back and head held high, the level of elegance shooting right through the roof! The intensity of the album since it began has been perfection, the band pounding the ground harder than ever as 'Stand Your Ground' wobbles walls and reduces buildings into ruins with an emphatically bombastic barrage of hard rock! The mighty mid tempo stomp is incredibly powerful - I dunno about Voodoo Circle knocking planet Earth of its axis, the German outfit are gonna knock it into a new fucking orbit!    
             
So get ready for a new living environment readers, where everything in sight is made of hard rock and only Voodoo Circle are playing on the radio - hail to the new kings of rock! And maintaining the phenomenal foot stomping attitude of the previous song, 'Black Country' might even be stomping harder - the introduction of a Southern rock swagger alongside the bands bluesy hard rock leanings plants yet another incredible dimension on the bands sound! And even though Voodoo Circle are a proud rock band, their sound is gonna have heavy metal fans peering over the border wall to see what all the fuss is about - the excessive excitement emanating from the rock world attracting the interest of a very wide audience! And you know what readers - I'm beginning to run out of superlatives to describe the bands music, and there's still five more songs to come! The first of which 'Billy's Song', maintains the albums recent foot stomping fury, the great seventies/eighties rock sound brought forward forty years and made even greater by the German four-piece - 'Hail To The King' a sure fire certainty for top places in a multitude of end of year rock polls! And if not, what a travesty that'll be - 'Strangers In The Night' bringing a rougher, tougher, hustle and bustle feel to the fore, Voodoo Circle not losing any of the albums immense melodious intent! Nor any of the sky high infectious level either, the band keeping a tight hold on listeners attentions and not letting go!    
             
And with three more songs on offer, why would you wanna go anywhere else? I know I'm staying right here, 'Hail To The King' marching straight into ballad country with 'All For One' - or so you would think from the songs first fifty seconds or so, the band having other ideas by proceeding to hit the ground with a bounciness not heard before! The more uplifting nature here has both party and driving anthem written all over it, Voodoo Circle launching everything they have in their vast arsenal of rock at every listener, fan, follower, rocker and metaller on the planet! The energy level surges forth once more as 'The Sound Of The Eagles' enters the fray with an amazing story telling vibe, the bands root rock sound booming louder now then ever before, the band maintaining elegancy and majesty at out-of-this-world heights! Now there's an old saying that everything must come to an end, and so does this album with the title song 'Hail To The King' - one final hurrah to ensure the band remains prominent in the upper echelons of the worldwide hard rock scene. And what a song, 'Hail To The King' (the song) roaring through the gears to deliver a finale fit for a king - the power, pace, energy and drive all at maximum as Voodoo Circle end their seventh album on a tremendous high.    
             
Overall, a sensational hour of ground shuddering hard rock with an immense infectious level that grabs you right from the start and doesn't let go.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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