adg211288 Attacker are rightly considered to be one of the key acts of the US Power Metal sound and scene, but despite that they haven't actually made all that many full-length albums due to being split up between 1989 and 2001. Sins of the World (2016) is their sixth full-length album and the second to feature the voice of vocalist Bobby "Leather Lungs" Lucas after Giants of Canaan (2013), who replaced, not counting a couple of vocalists who never recorded with the band, original vocalist Bob Mitchell. At this point the only original member of the band is drummer Mike Sabatini.

Sins of the World is a pretty easy album to describe: it's full-on USPM delivered with a fire and energy not unlike what the band did on their classic second album The Second Coming (1988). That means it's a record full of high octane fast paced blue-collar USPM tracks that rarely relents once it gets going (By the Will of Crom is an acoustic track that serves as an intro to the final track, Where the Serpent Lies but that's literally the only breather) until it's conclusion forty-five minutes later. Gritty riffs that can be semi-thrashy with powerful vocals from Bobby Lucas, who is certainly at home singing such material, produce an album that is certainly a massive step up from the prior Giants of Canaan and it's more mixed heavy/USPM sound.

There's little variation to be found here, but there isn't meant to be with an album like this. It's fast paced metal music designed to hit hard and Sins of the World does just that. The tracks may seem to blend together a bit at first but subsequent listens reveal the smaller details that give each track its identity, such as the strong presence of melody in Carcosa that brings Attacker's sound that bit closer to the European power metal style. Early standouts to my ears were World Destroyer and Archangel but I don't consider this album to have any downer moments. It's a very consistent release in both style and quality.

Attacker may not have been the most productive band and may not have had a stable line-up, but they've proved time and time again that they can make a strong USPM record. Sins of the World is Attacker at their arse-kicking best.

adg211288 The Second Coming (1988) is the second full-length album by US power metal act Attacker. Released a few years on after their debut Battle at Helm's Deep (1985) it brought with it a new line-up, including a vocalist change from Bob Mitchell to John Leone, as well as new guitarist Tom D'Amico. Both of the new members sadly passed away in 1994 and 2001 respectively. The Second Coming was the last Attacker release for sixteen years, as the band broke up in 1989. They reunited in 2001 and later released their comeback album Soul Taker (2004), once again with Bob Mitchell fronting the band. Bob had parted ways with Attacker again by the time of the group's most recent effort Giants of Canaan (2013) so until that point The Second Coming was, in a way, the odd one out of the Attacker discography. It was re-released in 1999 with bonus demo tracks and new artwork.

I haven't actually heard either Soul Taker or fourth album The Unknown (2006) yet, but The Second Coming is easily the best I have heard from Attacker so far. While a rather short album, not even making a full half hour of music, it seems to accomplish a lot in its short running time. Taking the sound of Battle at Helm's Deep one step further to almost completely throw off any traditional heavy metal roots, The Second Coming is a full throttle US power/speed metal album. I much prefer the vocals of John Leone to those of Bob Mitchell on the debut, which I found it be that album's weak link. Here though, everything seems to work, balancing speed, aggression and melody into one package. The short running time ensures that the album is one I want to keep coming back to time and time again. I think that the band could probably have pulled off something longer when the energy level of the material is this high though.

It's taken me a while to give Attacker a go as my introduction to them was Giants of Canaan and I wasn't overly impressed by that album. I will have to give it another go because of how much I have enjoyed The Second Coming though, as well as the two Attacker albums I've yet to hear. I don't see how any other release from the band is going to be the equal of better of The Second Coming though. This is a USPM classic. I'm confident in a five star rating being fully justified.

adg211288 Giants of Canaan is the fifth full-length album by US heavy/power metal act Attacker. It was released in 2013. Attacker has never been the most productive of bands even when taking into account that they were not active from 1989 – 2001, and Giants of Canaan marks the end of quite a lengthy gap between studio albums, their last being The Unknown in 2006. The length of time between releases has also seen the line-up change a bit, including the introduction a new lead vocalist, Bobby Lucas (Morbid Sin, Overlorde).

The music on Giants of Canaan is a mix of traditional heavy metal and US power metal. Attacker is most known I believe to be considered a USPM act but the music on Giants of Canaan strikes me as being mainly orientated around traditional heavy metal, with a strong old school flavour which considering Attacker’s early eighties origins is hardly surprising. While USPM is indeed closer in sound to the traditional metal root than its European counterpart there aren’t that many instances across the album where USPM becomes distinctive enough that at the album’s conclusion I could feel confident to say that Giants of Canaan is a USPM album. Rather it’s a heavy metal album with USPM elements.

Of course what it is isn’t really important at the end of the day, and Attacker has a pretty solid sound no matter what genre you want to consider the album to be. That said it does come across as somewhat unremarkable as a whole. The songs are solid in general, but while there are a few highlight contenders such as the title track, Trapped in Black, The Hammer and Sands of Time there’s nothing here that really screams ‘this is top tier work here!’ at me. The rest of the songs are enjoyable enough to listen to but the 51:05 minute album seems to drag a bit around the midway point, and the first impressions are better than the lasting ones. Despite that there is nothing below competent to be found here, and so a good album tier rating is deserved.

74/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/attacker-giants-of-canaan-t2897.html))