From the town that brought you Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill comes Salvacion, a four-piece trad-metal outfit that dashes the requisite Iron Maiden-ish guitar harmonies with a palpable smoky haze. Way More Unstoppable is the band’s second release, behind 2010’s Going To Hell, and while I haven’t heard that one, this one effects a serviceable mash-up of raucous hard rock and straight-ahead classic metal, if not quite to perfect results.
Salvacion tempers their celebration of the mid-80s with a stoner-rock tinge in the rhythms and riffs, in some of the slower moments and in the band’s noticeable swagger, not to mention the boozy rawk lyrical content of the likes of “Thou Shall Rock,” “Epic Beer Run, “ and “Skullsplitter.” Opening track “Thou Shall Rock” rides a fun riff beneath those perpetually intertwined guitar leads, though it does establish the band’s weakest link in the competent but nondescript pipes of vocalist Nick Sponsel. Stoner rock bands can often get by with handing vocals off to the best-voiced member, but to succeed, trad metal demands a commanding presence on the mic. Sponsel’s snarling clean tones fall in the middle, closer to the former, and in doing so, they force the songs to rely solely upon the riffs when there should be equally hooky vocal lines. Still, thankfully, the band can certainly muster some solid riffage, even when the songs don’t quite hold up around them – the otherwise forgettable “Dog In Heat” sports nice interplay between the twin guitars and the bass, while “Skullsplitter” alternates between a speedy main riff and a bouncy bar-rock groovy chorus. Still, Salvacion’s songwriting salvation is the instantly catchy “Faster Than Hell,” the best and most complete offering on hand, though the album-closing “The Wretch,” does certainly end the affair on a swinging high point.
All in all, Way More Unstoppable is a fun enough listen, though it certainly isn’t mandatory. And it should be noted that, what they may lack in originality and depth, Salvacion makes up for in audible enthusiasm – all of Unstoppable rocks and rumbles, even though a significant part of it doesn’t leave much long-lasting impression. If I may be permitted a brief moment of wandering imagination, I picture these guys as Wilmington, North Carolina’s definition of awesome local opener, the one you see first onstage at almost every club show you attend. In the moment, beer in hand and amps screaming in your face, they’re fun as hell, and you know the chorus to a couple of tunes and maybe a kick-ass riff or two here or there, and at the end of the night, you got rocked pretty solidly and that’s almost all you remember about them. And you know what? There’s really nothing wrong with that, at all.
