Review SKULL FIST ‘Paid in Full’

The month of April provides a lot of interesting stuff for folks in Toronto, Ontario. The Raptors clinched a playoff berth, the Blue Jays have their opening weekend at Rogers Center and next to the sports scene also the Toronto metal community can enjoy good news.

Metal maniacs Skull Fist unleash their fourth album ‘Paid in Full’ on April 22^nd and talking in baseball terms means, that the new longplayer is an eight-run experience. Eight songs., that is what the album features, traditional heavy metal performed with passion full commitment. Metal is what pumps through the veins of the trio and finds an outlet on ‘Paid in Full’.

To start with the only weak point means to mentioned that the album is rather short. 33 minutes of running time is not what fans expect these days and the question why not having a 10-song track listing is something only the guys can answer. What comes on top of it is that ‘Heavier Than Metal’ is redone version of the title track of Skull Fist’s EP from 2010. This is just not enough.

On a positive note, the quality of each of the tunes that made it on the album deserves to have a spot on the album. It’s not that Skull Fist delivers a lot of mind-blowing new stuff. Instead, the album is made for challenging the neck-muscles since headbanging is what starts automatically while listening to blistering tracks like ‘For the Last Time’ and the heavy pounding ‘Long Live the Fist’, a song that hits you right into the face.

While some of the songs have clear reference to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal it is the latter that reminds of the earlier Scorpions, at least in parts. This has a lot to do with the vocals. Zach Slaughter’s voice is to a certain extend like the younger Klaus Meine. ‘Long Live the Fist’ is showcases this very well and slowly crawling metal anthem ‘Madman’ clarifies where in time and when the musical imprint happened.

‘Blackout’ though is a sing title that reminds of the German metal force too but connects musically more with band like Iron Maiden.

Skull Fist takes traditional metal, add their own punch to it and by that come up with an album that is a delightful experience for headbanging passionists. ‘Paid in Full’ is the first album, Skull Fist release via Atomic Fire Records which entails a potential to enlarge fanbase and awareness. The music certainly contributes to a successful future and next time, please add a couple of extra songs since this time it feels like a baseball game that ends with the seventh inning stretch.