Pänzer is a new super group mainly founded by members of Destruction (Schmier) bass/vocals, and ex-drummer of Accept (Stefan Shwarzmann). The departure of guitarist Herman Frank resulted into reinforcing the line-up with two new members who have joined to fill the void. The addition of two guitarists Pontus Norgren the former member of Hammerfall and V.O. Pulver have certainly enhanced the song writing on the new album. Fatal Command is the newest release from this super group that plays extreme heavy metal with some thrash elements. The aim for creating this band was to find similar musical styles between Accept and Destruction. However their newest effort sounds more heavy metal when comparing it to Send Them All To Hell which was very extreme and thrashy.
The opening track Satan’s Hollow is a pure and straight forward heavy metal track that kicks in with a killer riff. The direction of the new album is more into the heritage of the 80s melodic heavy metal. The new songs are very dynamic with clean guitars. Fatal Command is an example of good chemistry between the members, where the songs became more catchy and unique, they have succeeded in bringing the vibes of the 80’s heavy metal.
The album contains a lot of variety of styles, We Can Not Be Silenced shows another aspect of song writing. This is another shining track on Fatal Command lyrically and musically, showing a great dynamic shift of styles. You can sense the power of this song, no doubt that Schmier has expanded his vocals adding more choruses to give the songs more depth. The classic guitar riffs and melodies are beautifully installed into the new tracks. There are lots of diversities from groove, power metal and NWOBHM, including catchy choruses that makes this album very enjoyable and fun to listen to.
Lyrically the new album deals with politics which is very obvious from the cover album. Pänzer has managed to portray their most melodic album, with catchy twin guitar harmonies of NWOBHM style. High energetic performance and killer riffs makes Fatal Command a good comeback from these German musicians. I admit that the debut album was more aggressive and loud, but Pänzer had to go through some changes to add more melodies to their new material. Overall this is a solid record and the production is top notch and with this release Pänzer leaves us to crave more for their future releases.
Release date: October 6th, 2017
Label: Nuclear Blast
Tracklist:
1.Satan’s Hollow
2.Fatal Command
3.We Can Not Be Silenced
4.I’ll Bring You the Night
5.Scorn and Hate
6.Afflicted
7.Skullbreaker
8.Bleeding Allies
9.The Decline (…And the Downfall)
10.Mistaken
11.Promised Land
12.Wheels of Steel (Saxon Cover)
