As far as I’m concerned this is hands down one of the coolest releases I’ve heard all year. Speedtrap hails from Finland which might get you thinking that they’re accordion-playing, vodka-drinking, troll-loving tree-humpers. That however, is very wrong. Despite coming from a land that overflows of quality power and folk metal bands, these guys play relentless NWOBHM-styled metal flirting heavily with speed. Hadn’t I already known that this was from 2009, I would have guessed that this was yet another gem from the late 70s/early 80s that had yet to be uncovered. The production is simple and dirty yet a little more modern, and the vocals has that “my-friend-can-sing”, garage-like twist which just adds to the charm and coolness. This isn’t supposed to be super-polished, the guy sings with his heart even though it sounds rough and sloppy at times. However, taken into consideration that when coupled with this exact style of music, everything sounds nothing short of awesome.

Quality, fast galloping riffs, terrific lead-work and catchy breaks is the formula here as the downright mad axe-man Ville Valuo provides some of the liveliest and catchiest guitar-work I’ve heard all year. I bet the guy has turned the volume-dot on his clean channel on the Marshall-amp (that is brutally chainsawed on the cover) he uses turned so loud that it distorts and creates that meaty and crunchy overdrive distortion that we hear way too little of these days. As riffs coloured heavily by the old school thunders out of the gates on EP closer Cry of the Raven you’ll tear your hair out in frustration that this ended so quickly. If you’re as big a fan of NWOBHM as I am, and are always delighted to see new bands breathing fresh air in a genre that have been but to halt long ago, you’ll find you’re way to the repeat button and spin this to the grave. Exceptional EP with extremely promising signs of things to come, and I can’t wait to hear their follow-up. Highly recommended!