Thing of the Day
No-messing classic intrumental metal from Tank86
MAY 25th 2011
Instrumental heavy metal - no hang on, don't run away, because Holland’s Tank86 have it nailed down just right with their latest album Rise. The pure, clean-cut, focused art of metal…
TANK86 – Rise
(Rising
Magma) – What we
have here is some no-messing old school heavier than heavy,
proper heavy
metal. Nothing too thrashy; it's pounding and powerfully heavy but
nothing
as basic
as mere thrash riffing, and nowhere anywhere near the notions of
extreme -Tank86 steer
well clear of all that black
death grind sub-genre clutter. This is just powerful, riff-based,
guitar-driven old school heavy metal. That’s right, yet
another
band doing it instrumentally, but it's satisfyingly chunky, solid,
dramatic, bombastic.
Dutch
band Tank86 are not quite your typical intrumental heavies: no
messing around with post rock pretentiousness here, no playing with the
misguided ideas of progressive metal, no showing off, no technical
masturbation
or guitar-shop slappery, just a lean and focused
celebration of
pure, undiluted, very heavy old school proper metal. The fluency of
riffs,
the driving of the bass and drums, brought forward via the purity of
sound and
modern-sounding production – nothing too slick, but nothing dated or
retro
either. Just crunching bites of proper heavy rock, clean-cut Metallica
style
playing laced with bits that taste of Trespass or Sledgehammer, of
Maiden or
Anvil, of Kreator or Dozer, hints of some of those heaver bands 
that
get near
stoner land without becoming fuzzed-out Sabbath clones, always lean,
always on the
move, focused tunes with colourful places to go. Heavy low-end
harmonised
guitars, powerful walls of layered guitar, heavy heavy rhythm section
and
everything produced just right.
A pure celebration of a the art that is heavy metal, and for once we’re not left wondering if they’re taking the easy option and doing it instrumentally just because they couldn’t find a vocalist, for once a band who really don’t need a front-voice taking away the focus of the instrumentation, for once an instrumental guitar band who sound and feel naturally right.. Instrumental heavy metal? - thought it was going to be tediously boring, this time around, Tank86 hit the metal spot just right.
Rise is released on Rising Magma on May 29th
A Tank86 promo video from 2008:
