UMUR "Supremacy of Steel" is the 6th full-length studio album by US, California based power/heavy metal act Cage. The album was released through Music Buy Mail in November 2011. It´s the successor to "Science of Annihilation" from 2009 and features two lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Anthony Wayne McGinnis has been replaced by Steve Brogden and bassist Mike Giordano has been replaced by Pete Stone.

Stylistically the material on "Supremacy of Steel" continue the trademark aggressive and powerful US power/heavy metal style of the preceding releases. This is raw, heavy, and highly energetic metal music with fast-paced heavy metal riffing, blistering solo work, a powerful playing rhythm section, and a world class lead vocalist in Sean Peck. Peck has a strong voice and a commanding delivery. He masters both raw aggressive vocals, high pitched screaming vocals, and occasionally the softer vocal part. He even does a near perfect King Diamond impersonation on "Annaliese Michel", which is a very King Diamond influenced/sounding track. Other than that it´s "Painkiller (1990)"-era Judas Priest that I´m mostly reminded of when listening to "Supremacy of Steel".

"Supremacy of Steel" features a relatively well sounding production job, although the guitars sound a little thin and the drums and the bass have a clicky sound to them. I´ve heard better sounding productions on some of the band´s earlier releases. Upon conclusion "Supremacy of Steel" is however yet another high quality release by Cage and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating isn´t all wrong.

Warthur Cage may pack in a few pledges of allegiance to the cause of TRUE METAL!!! in the lyrics of Supremacy of Steel, but they're no Manowar - instead, their sound represents an exciting mashup of influences including Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate. When the band show such excellent taste in their influences, as well as great skill in blending two very distinct and different sounds to create a third one unique to Cage but still retaining echoes of the band's inspirations, the end result is a power metal presentation which is almost entirely absent of cheesiness. Fans of the more traditional heavy metal end of power metal will be well-served here.

Time Signature Doctor doom....

Genre: speed metal / power thrash

The band is called Cage. The album is called "Supremacy of Steel". There are songs with titles like "Bloodsteel", "Metal Empire", "War of the Undead", "Flying Fortress", "Doctor Doom", and "Hell Destroyer vs. Metal Devil". The cover artwork displays the band playing on a skull-ornamented stage with three giant monsters (a viking, the Devil and the Grim Reaper) in the background.

Now, the message that all of this conveys to me is: "Metal as fuck".

But what about the music? Well, if there are three words that describe the tunes on the release then it is "metal as fuck"!

Cage deliver the goods on the album in the form of aggressive speed metal tracks with elements from US power metal (such as big choruses and the whole larger-than-life feel) and traditional metal (such as certain passages with lower tempos and more focus on melody). Apart from a couple of heavier songs, the tempo is generally fast and ferocious, ranging from midtempo to uptempo, and there are even a couple of blastbeats every now and then, and the Ripper Owen-esque screaming vocals by Sean Peck (aka. "The Hell Destroyer") suit the aggressive speed metal perfectly. Although Cage consistently stick to the aesthetics of speed metal and power-thrash, there is actually a lot of variation on the album, both in terms of riffage and vocal melodies.

The musicianship is top notch, as is the production, and guitar fans can look forward to a lot of tasty, shreddy, and classic guitar solos of all types, while the drums, while kept in the confinements of the speed and power metal styles, is dynamic and full of nice wee details.

Fans of old school speed metal and power-thrash are going to love this album, while fans of more modern types of metal can also look forward to a couple of more modern elements. In conclusion, Cage's awesome "Supremacy of Steel" is, in every possible way...

Metal.

As.

Fuck.