Single Slam – Forever Again by Blaze the Thunder

It has been a couple years since I have heard some Blaze the Thunder but they are back now with a new single called Forever Again.

The last time in fact, was when we reviewed their 2017 album entitled Tonight the Revenge Starts. You can read our thoughts on that here but man, what an album that was. I loved it and scored it full marks and it has a decent amount of play from me since it’s release and will still in the future.

The LA metal/punk crossover band were started by Roberto de la Rosa as a side project in 2010 while he lived in Mexico City though he moved to Los Angeles to record the debut album. It was here, after a few line up changes, that Matt Oloffson joined on drums and Weedz joined on bass. Since the album release, Blaze the Thunder have been working hard touring with them appearing as the guest headliner for this years Wacken Metal Battle USA standing out as a highlight amongst countless other shows.

So, 2 years on, here we are with Forever Again. Forever Again is around 5 minutes long and picks up nicely where the band left off before. It’s like they never went away. We start off with a nice drum beat that launches into a retro feeling, almost NWOBHM riff. It is familiar but catchy and quickly gets your head banging along with it. The punk side comes through in the energy and the production is held back a little to give it more of a raw edge. Not overly. It doesn’t grate but it doesn’t feel too polished either which is essential to capture this sort of sound.

The vocals have plenty of snarl, delivered in a Suicidal Tendencies sort of shout. Plenty of attitude and aggression. All this sits over the catchy riff creating a neat sound that gets you moving. The solo that jumps in after the first verse is absolute fire and again leans towards the old school thrash side of metal. It transitions back into the main riff and groove, not quite seamlessly, though you quickly settle back in to the rhythm. A final vocal section brings the attitude back before we rock out to the riff with quick drum beats and chunky bass notes through to the end.

Forever Again is a cracking song, perfectly combing punk energy and attitude with thrash beats and solos. It flies by in seconds, leaving you quickly reaching for the restart button. There are a few transitions that don’t flow perfectly, mainly from the solo back into the rhythm but within a millisecond you are back in the groove banging your head again. This is good music.

Grab yourself a copy of  Forever Again now at Blaze the Thunder’s Bandcamp page, here.

Links

Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube