Single Slam – Steel Winged Warrior by Dream Troll

Power metal, NWOTHM, classic metal, thrash, rock….who knows? What we do know is Dream Troll are back with their latest single, Steel Winged Warrior and it’s a blast.

Dream Troll released their debut, Knight of Rebellion, in 2017 and I found myself instantly hooked. Their powerful brand of old school metal with a modern twist is addictive, brilliant and also fun. You can read our thoughts on that debut here. They followed that up with the equally brilliant, The Witch’s Curse last year. Read about that one here. Basically, they release music, it is brilliant, we lap it up and eagerly wait for more. If you haven’t checked out Dream Troll yet, you are seriously missing out and should hunt them down (their music, that is) with urgency.

Dream Troll are Matt Baldwinson and Paul Carter on guitars with Paul Walsh on vocals. Simon Blakelock is on drums and Paul Thornton is on the bass. On to the new track then.

Steel Winged Warrior is just short of 6 minutes and is a blazing beast of a track. Starting straight off with a screeching guitars we jump into a bouncing riff and blazing lead guitars. It breaks down into a stop start section with a chunky bass tone before muted notes take over and we hit the first verse. It’s an epic start that leaves you thirsty for more. The vocals are a little restrained in the first section, lulling you in. They let loose a little more in the second part of the verse with help from an extra punch of drums. The chorus has a melodic power catchiness to it. It sounds amazing. The vocals and guitars almost synchronising in tone and mini stops are filled by cracking little drum fills.

We repeat the verse, chorus style again before we head into a soaring solo that you just can’t help but dust off the air guitar for. The solo leads us directly into a stomping breakdown with booming drums and a chugging riff. It’s a fiery and heavy sound. If anyone ever asks you why you headbang, play them this. We head back into the vocals for an anthemic section that builds in power and intensity before a huge guitar squeal halts us in our tracks. From here we are back into the bouncing riff from the intro through to the close. Amazing.

Sounding partly like a song straight from the 80’s but also with plenty of modern magic, Steel Winged Warrior is a fantastic track. It is essentially a guitar fest moving from bouncing riff to soaring solo at will, intertwined with powerful vocals. The drums are fantastic, the bass adds tons of depth and the whole 6 minutes just flies by in a whirl of swirling hair and air punching. Most importantly, it puts a huge smile on your face just listening to it. Dream Troll have a magic touch. I don’t think they have released a single song I haven’t enjoyed and Steel Winged Warrior joins that list with ease.

You can check out Steel Winged Warrior on Dream Troll’s YouTube channel, and above of course. It hasn’t been released digitally yet but hopefully that will happen soon. There was a limited edition physical edition available on Dream Troll’s Bandcamp page but they are likely to be gone now. Still, there is plenty more from the band on there including some excellent t-shirts and their previous releases so head over and grab something. Support your bands. Keep up to date with Dream Troll news and releases at their Facebook and Twitter pages. Be sure to give them a like or follow while you are there.