Steinbock - "Till the Limit" (Art Gates Records, 2019)

Band: Steinbock
Title: Till the Limit
Genre: Heavy/Thrash Metal with Hard Rock influences
Time: 35.48 min
Release date: 1st November 2019
Vote: 79/100













Well well well, what do we have here? A band whose moniker means “capricorn” in German but whose nationality is Spanish. Plus, Steinbock played even two times in Rome during February 2020. I was supposed to see them at 360 when they played there on 21st February but, instead, I preferred to see the exhibition of Marta Rose with her absurd and experimental band Amikristi and the Bad Sisters (I remember I described them as a female version of the post-punk act DEVO) at the Largo Venue, attending a really fantastic night. But here the main theme is about Steinbock and their debut album “Till the Limit”, that I received in physical format directly from Art Gates Records, the label with the longest partnership with Timpani allo Spiedo ‘zine considering that we are collaborating with it since the now far 2012.

Said all this shit, I think that Steinbock are the classic band naturally belonging  to the usual standards of the Art Gates Rec because also they don’t play in a conventional way so to offer a quite bizzarre style. In fact, through the 8 tracks of “Till the Limit”, you can listen to a mix between heavy metal, thrash metal and hard rock, for a style that is very catchy and groovy, reminding me a lot of bands like Pantera and Metallica in their more commercial periods, with the addition of some more modern solutions like dissonant riffs or heavy breakdowns, so there is a nice variety throughout the album. And speaking about the Metallica, it’s incredible how much the vocal style of Camilo Lladós Moreno (also rhythmic guitarplayer) sings like James Hetfield, even though he is able to personalize his vocal style with some growls, screams and even spoken vocals while, here and there, he is helped with gang choruses. But, if you are into the speed stuff (and you know that I love the faster metal!), you mustn’t expect so many fast moments because the music of the Steinbock is prevalently focused on the mid-tempos.

Among the tracks to be mentioned, I can cite vigorous and funny songs like “Gamble Man” and “Jump!” (that isn’t a Van Halen cover!), both having not only an amount of contagious groove able to move your fuckin’ asses but also very nice guitar solos. In the other hand, you can find numbers with more metallic vibes (with a lot of epicness included) like “4 Vices” (that, at a certain point, contains really epic gang choruses) and “Break It, Split It”. To close the circle, there is even a ballad, exploding through a fantastic climax,  called “Keep It On”, full of emotional verses such as “Give me baby the energy I need”.

So, what do we have here? Surely a band that is trying to create their own style, even though the reference points are very clear. In addition, I think that they have to include more thrash metal moments in their music in order to balance better their various sides (in a similar way to Final Cut, that managed to mix very well their thrash metal soul with blues rock), also because, in the second part of the album, thrash metal is almost completely absent, instead of the first part. Anyway, a band able to give life to songs like "4 Vices" (that I consider as my favorite song of the album, despite it contains no fast passages in any ways) and even the same ballad "Keep It On" deserve many attentions from the metalheads... and from the rockers around the world! At this point, if you would like to test the skills of the Steinbock, I suggest you to watch the promotional videos that the band shot not only for the opening song "Trash" but also for the funny "Beer". Check 'em out and then let me know what you think about this band, ok?

Tracklist:

1 - Trash
2 - Gamble Man
3 - War
4 - Beer
5 - 4 Vices
6 - Keep It On
7 - Break It, Split It
8 - Jump!

Line-up:

Camilo Lladós Moreno - vocals/rhythmic guitars
Marc Pérez - lead guitars
Rafa Rodriguez - bass
Joanjo Ramirez - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/steinbockband
Art Gates Records: http://www.artgatesrecords.com/