Band : Hail Of Bullets
Album title : On Divine Winds
Label : Metal Blade Records
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux
Release date : 08/10/2010
Release : CD

If you hadn't heard of this Dutch Oldschool Death Metal band yet, well...you may not 've read collegue Ivan's review of this “Supergroup” formation's debut album ...Of Frost And War, posted 09/06/2008. Now, as that review already contained the necessary history o the band, I'll not go over that again, but simply recall you that the band line-up consists of some of Death Metal's most prominent Dutch musicians, musicians with an international fame too: singer Martin van Drunen, guitarists Stefan Gebédy and Paul Baayens, bassist Theo van Eekelen, and drummer Ed Warby.

Now it seems that, besides agreeing on going back to the oldschool style of Death Metal, the guys also agreed to take war topics for their songs' lyrics. In fact, they even made stuff a bit conceptual beyond the pure content of the songs themselves, by making the whole of ...Of Frost And War relate to the battles of World War II at the Eastern front. Response from press and fans was truly positive, leading to many festival appearances and club shows all over Europe. The debut album was followed up by a 6-track mini album entitled Waesaw Rising (featuring two brandnew songs, a cover of Twisted Sisters “Destroyer”, and 3 live tracks) and more shows, the band even hopping over the Atlantic Ocean to play at 2009's Maryland Deathfest.

In early 2010 van Drunen came up with the idea for the second album to concentrate on the War Of The Pacific. It took him many hours to document himself with the necessary knowledge about this new type of warfare in which for the first time in history Navy, Air Force ànd Army combined in one mutual effort. A tremendous effort on his part, but as a result the new album stands truly strong! About the title: it is a translation of the word “kamikaze”. Produced by the band's drummer, the album was again mixed by the competent Dan Swanö. Death Metal fans having already come across the band know what to expect, and therefore should not doubt about the necessity of buying this new album, so the additional info is purely for those out there seeking to get a foot into more “Extreme” kinds of Metal. You see, these are guys with experience, guys who know how to make musical melody and aggression come together in exiting songs which are riff-driven and frequently get some really great lead and solo guitars added. The fact that the guys already knew each other from earlier ventures, makes that they also have a very good feeling of each others' playing styles, and well, darn, what comes out is so compellingly catchy! On top, van Drunen is one of those Death Metal growlers who've come to be able to make their lyrics quite understandable, which heightens the listener's pleasure, as (s)he's able to follow the songs' contents without too much deciphering.

To get you acquainted with their music, the band's posted several songs (regrettably only one off the new album, but you can take it from me that àll of the 7 songs posted – two of which are live versions - are representative for their style) at myspace.com/hailoffuckenbullets.

89/100

Tony.