SYRON VANES - Bringer Of Evil + Revenge (CDs)

Syron Vanes was one of the early Swedish heavy metal bands that received way too little attention (even though the booklet claims the debut sold over 100 000 copies). Back in the day they released two albums on Ebony Records. Now they have finally been re-issued on CD, nicely packaged and with bonus material. However, the best part is that it has been very nicely re-mastered. The Ebody releases often lacked from quite below par pressings with lots of hiss, pops and noises. Now guitarist Anders Hahne has managed to (from a vinyl original) restore and enhance the recordings to a quality which is way better than the vinyl originals, but without changing the sound (i.e. NOT bringing the levels up to the max and compressing the sound beyond recognition). It was a while since I listened to the original vinyls, but I was actually very positively surprised when putting on the band’s first effort, Bringer Of Evil. This is (and was) really really good stuff! Classic NWoBHM influenced heavy metal with great vocals, killer guitar playing and song material that still feels accurate. This release features the bonus tracks Violation (taken from the Skånsk Rock compilation 1981) and Steal And Run from the 1983 demo. A really strong debut album indeed! On Revenge the band had taken a slightly more commercial path. Not that it’s cheesy or anything, just a bit less classic metal and more melodic hard rock. I do feel the song material however was a bit stronger on the debut and I lack the energy on that release. There are however a couple of great tracks, like One Hell Of A Show and high-speed rocker Fire We Got. This release features the bonus tracks Lying Again and Taking Over from a 1987 rehearsal recording. The quality is however more demo than rehearsal, I’d say. It’s about time these releases saw the light of day. I should also point out the album the band has released since their reunion are killer and should not be overlooked!

Janne Stark
Year: Recorded 1984 + 1986, reissued 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: Steelheart Records
Link: http://www.syronvanes.com/