After a year and a half of effort, Significant Point is ready to release its debut album, ‘Into The Storm‘, to the world. Already having released their demo ‘Attacker‘ and later a live CD of their shows in Tokyo, it’s time to unleash their monsoon of metal mayhem. Nowadays, most bands release their music primarily on a digital format, so often an album cover is pretty neglected. That’s why the cover of ‘Into The Storm‘ immediately peaked my interest. It has this apocalyptic vibe with the soldier desperately fighting off a monster, and kind of an 80’s look, which makes you want to listen.

The first song, ‘Attacker‘, you can see as some kind of prologue. It starts of slowly, setting a sinister mood. Like the beast is coming, but we can’t see it yet. Then all hell breaks loose. The style is mostly similar to early speed and heavy metal, think of bands such as Accept, Anvil and Judas Priest. It’s particularly fast and the vocals distinctly stand out. The guitars are fast with a typical palm muted tremolo, yet there’s also time for some great harmonies.

Next we move on to ‘Heavy Attack‘, which starts with an epic sounding yet aggressive feel. The melodies the guitars play, may even border on power metal, especially with the high pitched vocals. When the solo kicks in, they manage to keep their forward momentum to finish it off with a duet between the two guitar players.

The next tracks stick to this same formula and everything feels great all together. All songs seamlessly blend over in each other because the band plays well with points of tension in release of the song structure. Then we get to the title track of the album, ‘Into The Storm‘.

嵐の中へ

‘Into The Storm‘ features a stylistic break from the previous ones. Of course, for every album, the title track is THE track, but Significant Point has decided to make something extra special out of it. The overall sound and atmosphere of this song are a lot darker than the one before. It’s also a lot more uptempo. Which is kind of a good thing. Immediately when it starts, you’re drawn into it. But there’s something that makes it extra special.

You’ve probably noticed the title above this paragraph. Up until now, the lyrics have been in English. But for this song, the guys decided to switch it up and sing in their native language Japanese. They did this for the unique tonal qualities of the language to make the whole complete. And it is true this adds a very special mood to the piece.

With ‘Into The Storm‘, Significant Point has shown their virtuosity in composing an excellent first full album. It was great to see some new artists draw inspiration from a great style from the past in a way which makes it really their own. This album has certainly set the bar pretty high, let’s hope they raise it on the next one.

Release date : February 26, 2021
Label : Dying Victims Productions
Tracklist :

1. Attacker
2. Heavy Attack
3. You’ve got the Power
4. Riders Under The Sun
5. Night Of The Axe
6. Run For Your Life
7. Into The Storm
8. Deathrider
9. Danger Zone
10. Running Alone