Album Review: Tailgunner

The new wave of bands reviving old-school heavy metal continues to climb great heights. This time it's time to talk about a great revelation born in the UK, five guys who gave life to Tailgunner at the end of 2018 and who today present their debut album Guns For Hire.

From the cover that is sensational, we see a kind of futuristic zombie soldier, sheathed in a leather jacket with a gun ready to attack, just like the band, which attacks in a brutal way from the first track that they offer us and that is named Shadows Of War, with a riff and melodies that carry all the influence of Iron Maiden marked, the voice of their vocalist; Craig Cairns is grandiosely powerful.

The second theme which is the homonym begins to increase the speed of this work, which already from this second track begins to border on thrash and speed, pure energy in Guns For Hire, Craig's voice begins to surprise us more thanks to the high registers that are heard in a catchy chorus and a chorus that makes you shake your head as if there were no tomorrow with twin guitars that leave you with your mouth open, very Judas Priest.

White Death continues on the same path as Guns For Hire, old school speed/thrash mixed with impeccable melodies that open the way to a simple but very direct guitar solo, which increases in level as does the galloping drums and bass, an excellent combination.

Revolution Scream is a song that borders between alternative and melodic with an initial riff that seeks to sound epic, in this song the band enters a terrain where the new sound of metal is carried by the new wave of traditional heavy metal bands.

Futures Lost opens with drums that seek to make our eardrums vibrate and then join those twin guitars that, as the songs progress, we are waiting for what else they could surprise us with. The mixture that the band makes between their clear eighties influences seems sublime to me.

New Horizons and Warhead continue to enjoy what they have caught us so far. Crashdive with a slower sound makes us see the dynamics that Craig manages for his incredible vocal changes. The album closes with Rebirth which has a duration of just over 8 minutes, almost 9. A song that plays with epic, thrash and traditional heavy, a complete savagery where the most remarkable thing here are the incredible twin guitars and changes that sound frantically beautiful. No ballad, no weak track and if someone asks me my favorite songs from this album are clearly Rebirth, White Death, Futures Lost and New Horizons.

Tailgunner seeks to join the new wave of traditional heavy metal that bands like Enforcer or Skull Fist are championing at the moment, but with an album like this one, Tailgunner would undoubtedly enter quickly to form a brutal trio. Guns For Hire is a debut that transmits energy, power, youth and desire to proudly carry the flag of heavy metal and shout from the rooftops that heavy metal is not dying, it is reviving and Tailgunner demonstrates it perfectly in this work.