Simon RushworthOdinfist — Remade In Steel (Self Released)
When you’re a trad metal band you require a trad metal name.
And as calling cards go, Odinfist packs the proverbial metal punch.
It’s a moniker forged in the finest traditions of the storied NWOTHM scene.
There’s added Viking for that extra edge.
And it’s easy to imagine the ‘fist’ in question enveloped in a studded leather glove, held aloft and pointing the noisy hordes towards riff-fuelled glory.
Then there’s the retro-fuelled title of Odinfist’s sixth long player.
Remade In Steel screams Saxon, vintage Leppard and Priest.
It’s about as metal as it gets: the fact that the title track was inspired by Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian — and the lead character’s impenetrable beskar armour — only adds to this record’s irresistible magnetism.
But the belter of a band name and the bruising album title makes no difference if the music’s shit.
So have Odinfist matched their undoubted style with some serious metal substance?
Hell yeah.
The band birthed in Canada’s Okanagan Valley have been belting out molten anthems for 16 years now.
The former high school friends have honed their heavy as fuck craft to such an extent that Odinfist don’t make bad records.
In fact what they’ve made here is a sub-40 minute romp through trad, doom, thrash and more that ticks just about every metal box in the Sabbath-inspired book.
Think Maiden have gone soft?
Hark back to Metallica’s Ride The Lightning era?
Know every word of Screaming For Vengeance?
Then Remade In Steel is made for you.
Odinfist Pack A Punch
Canada has spawned some classic metal bands over the years.
Rushonrock faves Annihilator, the ultimate party starters Anvil and tech metal pioneers Voivod all deserve their reputation as genre-defining monsters of heavy rock.
The much-missed 3 Inches Of Blood and febrile ‘newcomers’ Skull Fist have kept the Canadian tradition alive.
But Odinfist have remained very much under the radar despite dropping 2009’s Thrash And Pillage debut 14 years ago.
Remade In Steel has the potential — and the riffs — to change all of that.
Its six tracks sum up everything that’s so addictive about trad metal at its adrenaline-fuelled best.
Riotous opener Riffmaster welds Dio-esque imagery to some finger-splitting fretwork on a track that’s six-and-a-half minutes of pure escapism.
Allfather’s nod to vintage Maiden celebrates Odin Allfather as frontman Tyler Anderson makes a shameless play for a place at the heart of the Marvel Universe.
But Deadline’s the jewel in Remade In Steel’s piercing crown.
A five-minute sprint through the history of thrash metal somehow manages to bring Metallica, Megadeth, Death Angel and Kreator to the party as Anderson and co. lay their burgeoning reputations on the line.
This insanely talented quartet — completed by Bradley Caulien (drums), Justin Ketterer (guitar) and Jesse Valstar (bass) — puts the rad into trad.
These students of the riff are top of the class.
And Remade In Steel is an A-star masterwork that belongs a million miles away from metal’s unforgiving underground.
