Out of nowhere they came and blew my mind with their force of NWOBHM-sounding album.
The young guys and girl in TAILGUNNER from the UK have only been together as a band for almost two years but one of the founders Thomas Hewson, bass, really knows where he wants to go with their music. Let’s dive into this monster of a debut.
I must say that it is a killer production with great sound and they have had some help from Olaf Wikstrand, the singer and guitar player from ENFORCER, with engineering. The music is similar to what ENFORCER plays, full-on Heavy Metal.
The album starts with “Shadows Of War” and what a kick-ass song to begin the album with. Great guitar intro that goes over to an epic metal song. You can hear their influences from Iron Maiden.
“Guns For Hire” is a galloping song and we get a great vocal performance from the singer Craig Cairns. I can’t wait to sing along to this live. It has a great guitar solo as well.
The fast track “White Death” is next. It has an old-school thrash feeling to it, like early Metallica and Megadeth. The next song “Revolution Scream” is a more melodic metal song. One of the best songs in my opinion with a great chorus and a nice guitar solo.
“Futures Lost” picks up the tempo again with another great chorus and galloping guitars. If you like early Iron Maiden you will love “New Horizons” which has a great chorus and blistering guitars once again.
The Second Half:
“Warhead” has a Running Wild feel to it and is excellent galloping metal and yet another great chorus. “Crashdive” is one of the first songs they released before the album. It has some great harmony vocals in the chorus.
“Blood For Blood” starts with dueling guitars once again sounding like Iron Maiden but it is not a rip-off. The album closes with the epic, 8.40-minute-long song “Rebirth“. It builds up with guitars and I am sure this will be an epic live song as well. I get the feel of old-school Tokyo Blade here. It is another great metal song.
All in all, this is one hell of a debut album and as they are all still young I really hope it goes down well with the metal community and the band will have a long and exciting career. This is the future hope for Heavy Metal. I hope to catch them live at any of the Swedish festivals in the summer of 2024.
If you are into bands like Iron Maiden, Helloween, Running Wild, Tokyo Blade, Enforcer, Ambush, Tygers Of Pan Tang etc you have to not only listen to this, I command you to buy the album and support the band!
The band:
Thomas Hewson – Bass
Craig Cairns – Vocals
Zach Salvini – Guitars
Sammy Starwood – Drums
(Rhea Thompson) – Guitars (were not playing on the album but are now their second guitarist and she is awesome)
Check out more of my reviews: MetalMike71
Tailgunner Online: FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
Tailgunner live review: TAILGUNNER – COTW Festival 2023 (by The Meister)
