Time Signature
Supreme evil surprise attack...
Genre: thrash/speed metal
Take a look at the cover art, you will be misled into thinking that this is the reissue of some obscure mid-80s heavy metal album. But in fact, "Knights of Darkness" was released this year.
The 80s feel of the album is no coincidence though, because Ranger embrace a decidedly retrospective sound on this EP as they combine elements of 80s speed metal, 80s thrash metal and traditional heavy metal. This means that you will find both Iron Maiden-esque twin-guitar noodling, as in 'Steel Dawn', and evil Slayer-like high speed guitar attacks, as in 'Supreme Evil'. And this blend works extremely well, as "Knights of Darkness" manages to both pay respect to the awesomeness of 80s metal and take it a step further in their own direction simply through the above mentioned blend.
Not only is the music retrospective, so is the production which is characterized by the same reverb-saturated sound as many 80s metal releases, while the drums and guitars have a quite organic sound to them. To be honest, I do not think that taking the production back to the 80s is necessary. The music itself should be able to carry the 80s spirit, and, in this case, it does. I actually would not mind hearing "Knights of Darkness" with a more contemporary production.
At the end of the day, I think that this is a hugely successful release which respectfully pays homage to the great musc that came out ot the metal scene in the 80s. Fans of early speed and thrash metal should definitely invest in it.