Time Signature
Rebel tunes...
Genre: traditional heavy metal with power metal tendencies
"Battle-Tested" by Gun Barrel is a mostly solid heavy metal release which, while drawing primarily on the 1980s material of the likes of Judas Priest, Accept, and White Lion (don't know why White Lion came to mind, actually) as inspiration, contains several power metal influences.
There is nothing outstanding about this album, and everything is pretty standard. The riffage is standard 1980s metal riffage, and the lyrics are pretty standard 1980s metal lyrics about freedom, beer, rock 'n' roll, the glory of metal etc. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because, sometimes, that's what you want, isn't it. Good old heavy metal. And that's what "Battle-Tested" offers.
Apart from the somwhat failed anthemic "My Last Ale", the tracks on this album - especially "We Believe in Nothing", "Roll of the Dice", "Lonely Rider", "Part in the Hall of Fame", "Scream of the Killer", "Save My Heart from You", "Death Knell Dance", and the title track - lend themselves perfectly for a day of highway driving.
I'd recommend this album to anyone who's in the mood for some good old headbanging heavy metal fun.