Injector - "Stone Prevails" (Art Gates Records, 2018)

Band: Injector
Title: Stone Prevails
Genre: Technical Thrash Metal with some Heavy Metal hints
Year: 25th May 2018
Time: 61 min
Rating: 90/100












It's incredible how much "Stone Prevails" is good! I am saying this because this second album by the Spanish combo Injector is really ponderous thanks to its 12 songs per 61 minutes, a lenght which often scares also the most expert listeners since the risk to listen to a boring release is always high in these cases. But this isn't the case of Injector!

The absurd thing is that "Stone Prevails" (whose I have the physical promo CD sent to me by Ivan Magdalena, the boss of Art Gates Records) doesn't starts in an excellent way because of a mid-tempo opening track titled "It Lives", that's a bit repetitive, so it's isn't so effective to open the album. But the following songs show 4 very talented guys that plays a technical thrash metal able to perfectly combines aggression, complexity and even catchy melodies. All this is played in according to an old-school approach through elaborated and long songs well characterized by the two guitarplayers Danny B and Dani MVN. Specifically, they loves to play endless, creative and funambolist guitar solos sometimes with a nice melodic taste typical of the pure heavy metal that can make surely happy the Iron Maiden's fans!

To say the truth and nothing but the truth, "Stone Prevails" is a continuous triumph of creativity, as shown by the many standout tracks of the album. To mention my favorite ones, they range from the Motörhead vibes of "Oppresive Force" to the tough heavy metal-oriented mid-tempo "UTLOA". Or from the unpredictable 7-minute tours de force "World Reborn" and the titletrack (that, surely, are the the best expressions of the technical thrash metal of Injector!) to the haunting slow tempo "Paranoia in my Head" (listen to its acoustic mid-section also because it's truly sick!). And there is to mention even a short instrumental track called "Cotard Delusion". As you can see, we're talking about an album in which the levels of creativity are so high that there is no time for the boredom by listening to it!

So, "Stone Prevails" is aggressive, technical, melodic, intense, emotive, imaginative and old-school, playing a winning combination between Voivod, Metallica, Vektor and Iron Maiden with the result that, even though the first song could be undoubtedly better, Injector succedeed where the others would have failed by creating an album that lasts even 61 minutes! Is all this enough for you to give a chance to "Stone Prevails"? If your answer is still negative, so you have to watch below the video that the band made for the titletrack, and, then, let me know what you think about these Spanish thrash maniacs, ok?

Tracklist:

1 - It Lives
2 - 1994
3 - Oppressive Force
4 - Stone Prevails
5 - Justice by Fire
6 - UTLOA
7 - Behind the Curtain
8 - World Reborn
9 - The Purge
10 - Paranoia in My Head
11 - Cotard Delusion
12 - Deceived by God

Line-up:

Dani MVN - vocals/guitars
Danny B - guitars
Mafy - bass/vocals
Anibal - drums

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Injector/306476916096098
Bandcamp: http://injector.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiw8HEPTJpRHmOFIluTDwAQ?feature=watch
Art Gates Records: http://www.artgatesrecords.com/