Saturday 14 March 2020

Battle City - Press Start (Album Review)


Release date: March 06th 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Press Start - Tracklisting

1.Press Start 01:40
2.Battle City 03:52
3.Ram Man 04:36
4.Henchman 02:27
5.Ignition 02:38
6.Steam Roller 03:30
7.Ghost Dimension 07:40

Members

Stian Maritz
Wayne Hendrickz

Review

Press Start is the debut album from South African Instrumental Desert/Stoner Rockers – Battle City – who build their debut album on their love of Video Games and Heavy Metal. The end results are quite an interesting mix of different styles and high conceptual ideas running throughout the entire album. It’s quite cool the band add strands of Sludge Rock and Doom Metal into the mix for a more well-rounded experience.

The music is what we’ve heard a hundred times before but Battle City have a heavy infectious groove all of their own that’s it’s hard not to be impressed by it all. The album never outstays it’s welcome with this duo playing a more stripped back style of Instrumental Desert/Stoner Rock.

The album even plays out like a Video Game with individual chapters leading the way to the next level or songs in this case. There is always a heavy pounding riff towards the end of the song that brings everything together like defeating an END OF LEVEL BOSS before moving perfectly onto the next song. The instrumental work is always loud and highly confident with the band even trying their hands at some epic Progressive Guitar sounds along the way.

If you’re a fan of Instrumental Stoner Rock music then you should definitely check these guys out as you will be impressed by the heavy riffs of Press Start, Battle City, Ram Man and Steam Roller. Though the best song is the final song – Ghost Dimension – which sees Battle City perform 7 minutes plus of highly aggressive Desert, Sludge and Stoner Rock riffs set against the standard Video Game backdrop they use superbly from start to finish.

If you’re an avid gamer then you will no doubt recognize some of the ideas and sounds used on this album. As Battle City have done their homework with this album especially with the more obscure Psychedelic Sounds being played in the background.

Overall, Press Start is a superbly entertaining album that is one hell of a way to spend 25 minutes of your day listening to some fast-paced and heavy Stoner Rock/Metal grooves.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Warren at Plug Music Agency for the promo. Press Start is available to buy on Digital Download everywhere now.

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