CD review, Oct 09. Saviours – Accelerated Living (Kemado Records) CD

Oakland Metalheads, Saviours, are one of those bands that really split me down the middle. In essence I love them because they are everything that’s great about heads down, fast riffing, hard driving, pounding rock’n’roll. Yet they miss the mark with me because they just seem to be full tilt 100% of the time. Is that a bad thing? Certainly not in theory, but it just seems there’s little respite and so almost no light to accentuate the dark. I’ll be specific and say that it may well be Austin Barber’s constant atonal shouting or maybe it’s the relentless drum barrage? There is plenty to enjoy here though, from the general biker bar brawl sound to the occasional twin guitar moments. I’ve seen these guys live and they are ‘die for Metal’ rockers, covered in tattoos and they thrash as hard as Accelerated Living does. It would be easy to say ‘yeah these guys rock, buy it now’ and I wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s just that, for me, in my romantic old age, I need that something extra that’s gonna make it more than a fun and dirty one night stand.