Discounting a 2015 four-track Ep, this is the debut from LA area traditional metallers, who have an affinity for early Iron Maiden. Four guys and a woman on bass, the eight songs clock in a hair under a half hour, with only two eclipsing four minutes and aptly entitled ‘Rush Of Thunder’ completed in 2:35. Lots of hype currently surrounding the band, as recently voted "Best new old school band by the LA Weekly and the disc was mixed and mastered by Olaf Wikstrand (Enforcer, vocals). Don't mean much without the chops to back it up, so let's investigate.

Carlos Gutierrez utilizes gruff intonations and high pitched vocals, much more of the latter, hence the comparisons to Paul DiAnno. ‘In The Arms Of The Devil’ sees him repeatedly scrape the stratosphere. However, truth be told, it's really the bass galloping and twin lead rhythms that drive home the Eddie-isms. ‘Lost Angels’ opener is a mid-tempo number that could have been a Killers outtake, so the quintet announce their intentions right from jump. Towards its conclusion, it speeds up. Although ‘Let Go’ begins as another paean to Steve Harris' outfit, they try to establish their own territory, including a mini-Banshee wail from Gutierrez, only falling back to familiar British patterns come the last guitar break. The speedy title cut comes closer to Wikstrand's outfit than anything else, but still unable to completely shake the influence of a certain six-string tandem (before they were augmented to a trio). Judas Priest guitar crash introduces aforementioned vocal rodeo ‘In the Arms Of The Devil’. If there's a blatant Iron Maiden track, it's high energy ‘Midnight Sinner’. Plenty of guitar interplay on ‘Rush Of Thunder’ despite the short duration and follow-up ‘Endangered Dreams’ offers more deliberate fretwork, to start, before racing to the faded out finish. ‘Tomb Of Thoughts’ finale is probably the least Maiden-ish. Over too quickly, but good to hear an American act taking a cue from overseas. Worth checking out!