Time Signature Terrors from the past...

Genre: traditional heavy metal

Horror and metal go together hand in hand. The American metal band Halloween have always known this and made it their trademark to write lyrics which are horror-centred. Their second album "No One Gets Out!" from 1991 was thus a veritable cornucopia of horror tales and undeniably strong metal music.

Sadly, the album has been hard ti get a hold on... until now, as Pure Steel Records have taken it upon themselves to reissue this gem in a completely remastered version later this March.

And all fans of traditional metal should tip their hats to Pure Steel and say "thank you", because this is the pretty damn good metal album. Musically, it offers quality traditional metal, featuring a variety of classic metal riffage and face-melting vocals. While mostly in the vein of traditional heavy metal, there are actually traces of power-thrash every now and then, in particular in the super aggressive title track, which also happens to be my personal favorite on the album. My other favorite is 'The Thing that Creeps' which features some nice grooves and also has a more aggressive feel.

Although having been remastered, the album retains a very raw sound - some younger listeners might find it too sloppy, but personally, I like it. It's the sign of authority, you know what I mean? The musicianship itself is impeccable, and the entire rhythmic instrumentation is rock solid, while the guitar solos are nicely shreddy facemelters. The high level of musicianship is reflected in the fact that Halloween's cover version of Kiss' 'Detroit Rock City' is better than the original.

Hats off to Pure Steel for reissuing this album, and to Halloween for making it in the first place!