Me: “You know what the world definitely does NOT need right now? Another modern throwback metal band with a singer mirroring Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford or King Diamond.”
Friendly dog: “I hear you, brother. But how about a modern throwback metal band with a singer that mirrors John Bush? What do you think about that, you two-legged sumbuck?”
Me: “Well, yeah, that would be… That would be different and great. So… when did you learn to talk, and how are you my Lyft driver?”
~World folds in on itself~
Right. Here we have Power Surge, a brand new modern throwback heavy metal band that eschews the current “classic fantasy metal” / Manilla Road fixation AND the temptation to mimic vocalists who’ve already been mimicked beyond reasonable human endurance in favor of delivering an absolutely tasty ode to—above all else—Armored Saint, including a singer who sounds amazingly similar to the great John Bush. This is significant because: 1) Despite what some might have you believe, not all trad metal sounds alike, and 2) Armored Saint is awesome and remains a fairly untapped resource in this year of our lard two thousand and twenty-five.
What I didn’t expect, though, was an end result that, despite being lighter and brighter than my usual fair, still managed to wedge itself into the folds of the brain. Songs like “Can U Deliver,” “Over the Edge,” “Book of Blood,” et al. were all mightily melodic, straightforward and CATCHY, and that’s pretty much been Armored Saint’s key to success across four decades of fairly regular activity. Well, that and always, always, ALWAYS managing to kill it from the stage. (Why yes, lads, u do indeed deliver.)
Glory be! It’s precisely that straightforward full struttin’, catchier than Texas measles Armored Saint vibe that Power Surge nails to a tee on Shadow’s Warning, and the band sweetens the pot further by pinning a touch more speed and aggression to the formula, which in turn conjures impressions of the more modern face of Saint that resulted in the very excellent Punching the Sky towards the close of 2020.
Honestly, I was a bit thrown by all of this at first blush, because based on the band name and that electrified album cover, I was expecting an ode to the thrashing authority of Overkill and their classic 1987 release Taking Over, a record that not only featured a song called “Powersurge,” its cover artwork appears to have been a model for what we see adorning Shadow’s Warning. NOPE: Thrash is sidestepped here in favor of pure classic metal that bridges the gap between hard rock and the NWOBHM, with a modern tune-up that jumps from the speakers like a bright, snappy bolt of lightning that’s just begging to be cranked to inappropriate levels.
And yes, obviously vocalist Roko Nikolić (who also happens to play bass for epic doomsters Elusive God—watch for their new album) greatly augments that Armored Saint vibe by sounding so much like John Bush that we may need to check to make sure their respective family trees don’t share roots. That gritty but not too gruff approach to singing is a perfect companion to radiant, high energy galloping like this that likewise emphasizes flashy leads and an overall attitude that hurtles the listener back to a time when heavy metal wasn’t just obsessed with the darker side of the game 24/7.
Oh, and the Balkans! Perhaps it’s a little strange to underscore the following, but the fact that Power Surge is NOT actually comprised of a crew of 20-somethings from Los Angeles with an undying obsession for everything from Ratt to Lizzy Borden to, yeah, Armored Saint is actually a minor wonder in and of itself. Instead, we have members here hailing from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, not to mention nearby homeslices Czechia, and the collective’s appreciation for that pocket of our world and its contribution to classic metal—much of which is largely unknown to many of us Stateside (Divlje Jagode, Pomaranča, Legija, Warriors, et al.)—also plays a part in the overall success of Shadow’s Warning. In fact, the track “Carry On” here is a cover from the sole Warriors self-titled 1983 record, rounded out with guest spots by two members (guitarist Vlad Invictus and vocalist Dejana Garčević) of Serbian power metallers Claymorean.
Is Shadow’s Warning the right fit for you, hero of the heavy metal wastelands? Well, obviously those who regularly cram the works of Armored Saint into their ears should move to the front of the line, but beyond that, the record is a potential windfall for essentially anyone who appreciates a classic form of heavy metal that flirts with hard rock and maintains a straightforward verse-chorus-bridge-great-solo-slam-it-home structure that’s always within earshot of F-U-N. Remember fun? Well, fun remembers you, and it misses all those great times you had together, particularly when it involved speeding around town on a summer night with the windows down and a record like Shadow’s Warning roaring back at the wind.
