Hailing from Texas, Ignitor has been a veteran force in heavy metal since 2003. Their debut album Take To The Sky was released 20 years ago, and they now return with their ninth studio album, Horns And Hammers. As a world-class heavy metal act with years of experience, it truly shows in their music. Everything comes together seamlessly, delivering exactly what you’d expect: from high-pitched vocals to riff-heavy melodies and pure thrash energy.

Line up
Stuart “Batlord” Laurence – Guitar
Robert Williams – Guitar
Jason McMaster – Vocals
Billy “Chainsaw” Dansfiell – Bass
Pat Doyle – Drums

Review
The title track “Horns And Hammers” starts off with a very energetic riff that just draws you in. The thrash styled vocals start out at full throttle continuing and leveling up through the bridge. The lyrics ring out “with Horns and Hammers…” delivering on the promise. What could have been a perfect sing-along chorus misses its mark because the actual lyrics in the chorus are almost impossible to hear. This song still has everything, nice twin guitar melodies, memorable riffs and energetic drums that perfectly matches the style.

The riffage continues with “Imperial Bloodlines”. A perfectly executed and drum-synced riff with alternate picking is the main hook. This is pure and simple heavy metal, so well executed that it is either pure genius or … madness. After this, there are a number of medium-quality songs like “Dark Horse”, “Cyber Crush” and “Shattered Crosses”. Even if the vocals are very intense, the riffing fast and it is all very well executed, it fails to be memorable. The musical product is so professionally delivered that I wait for the hook that never comes. 

The song “Taking Up With Serpents” delivers a new style with double-guitar riffing that is actually very cool, more directed at thrash metal fans. The melodic elements and pinch harmonics are beautifully executed. The next song quick becomes my favourite, “Ferocious The Martyrs”, starting with a solo on the bass guitar and containing a healthy amount of Hammond organs. The vocals are really  good with a high pitched chorus produced with really advanced falsetto backing vocals, beautifully executed. After a nice, slow twin guitar solo flavoured with hammon organs, the chorus is repeated, but with an organ-flavoured mix. In my ears, this song has it all.

The “Suicide Anthem” again fails to be memorable, but “Chaos Maximus External” is a song that could be played at a live show to get the crowd ignited. The twin guitar playing on this song is world class heavy metal and this is the sing-along chorus that I have craved. The Saxon cover “Machine Gun” is the perfect addition to this album bringing some good guitar playing and a good workout to the springs loading the floyd rose bride in the first solo. The vocals match the intensity perfectly and some of the falsetto screams are so good it could make or break a band. The last song of the album is the instrumental “Terminous”. Unfortunately, the drums fail to come through and lack intensity and power and this song does nothing for me.

Conclusion
If you are looking for fat sounding quad tracked guitars, this is not it. If you are looking for in-your-face sample replaced drums, this is not it. If you are looking for complex arrangements that need a backing track on stage, this is not it. This is pure traditional heavy metal. Twin guitar melodies and high pitched screaming vocals that would make any heavy metal-maniac go nuts on a live gig. While listening to Ignitor, I feel they live up to their name. This would be the perfect band to be opening up for bigger bands in the genre, everyone would be ignited and ready to bang their heads. This intense heavy metal style reminds me of bands susch as Saxon, Manowar and Grave Digger; maybe it is not such a coincidence: the song “Machine Gun” is actually a Saxon cover.

What can I hold against this thrash-/nwothm-styled metal? The title track “Horns And Hammers” bring out a catchy chorus, but the actual lyrics are really hard to hear. So what could have been a good sing-along chorus almost makes it, but misses its mark. The song “Ferocious The Martyrs” is a great song that delivers all failed promises and makes it good again.

Ignitor are delivering on their promise, with a world class act matching the style perfectly. For pure thrash metal lovers, this would be an album to love and cherish. I myself feel that this album is hard to grade, because of some elements that are not speaking across the genre boundaries. Even though it is very well executed I fail to find it particularly memorable. I would love to hear these songs at a live gig, Ignitor would for sure live up to its name.

The NWOTHM score: 8/10

The CD version is out now in Europe, Asia, and Australia via Metal On Metal Records.
metalonmetalrecords.com/albums/ignitor-horns-and-hammers-cd

The digital version is available for purchase through the label’s Bandcamp page: metalonmetalrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ignitor-horns-and-hammers

Vinyl and CD versions wil be distributed through Revolt Vinyl Records in North and South America in November. The vinyl version of Horns and Hammers will be released on Metal World Records in Europe.

IGNITOR Official Website: https://ignitorband.com/