{"id":36015,"date":"2014-01-03T17:01:35","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T22:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=36015"},"modified":"2014-01-03T17:03:43","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T22:03:43","slug":"firstrike-deadly-voltage-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/firstrike-deadly-voltage-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Firstrike | Deadly Voltage<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"FirstrikeThe third vintage band to be spotlighted by Divebomb Records\u2019 new Bootcamp series (which focuses on overlooked and forgotten demos, both new and old), is Long Island NY-based Firstrike (not to be confused with Firstryke or any of the First Strikes over the years). The band was late to the whole power\/speed metal scene, arriving in the \u201890s as thrash was in its brief ascendency, so they never got much attention, but it certainly wasn\u2019t due to a lack of talent.<\/p>\n

Firstrike has that classic Shrapnel sound down pat, and would have been right at home alongside shred-obsessed bands like Vicious Rumors, Chastain, Hexx and Apocrypha. Guitarist Joe Lucio just lights this thing up, delivering high-speed riffs and blistering solos that should have made him at least a cult shred hero at the time. Pair that with Mike Power\u2019s, um, powerful vocals and songs that hit right in the middle of the speed and power metal styles and you\u2019ve got a real underground gem in Deadly Voltage, the band\u2019s first (and only) full-length album.<\/p>\n

Divebomb\u2019s Bootcamp reissue of Deadly Voltage<\/em> includes the full 1992 album (with the instrumental title track separated from \u201cSimply Psychotic\u201d as its own song) as well as the band\u2019s 4-song 1990 demo The Agony Pit<\/em> as bonus tracks. The older songs are obviously quite a bit less polished (and Power\u2019s vocals are somewhat harsher), but they have a certain Metal Massacre kind of charm that\u2019s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: Deadly Voltage<\/em> is limited to 500 units and features new cover artwork, vintage photos, lyrics and a new band interview. The audio has been remastered to the best extent possible given the source material. The original version was only a cassette release after all. Still, it\u2019s been restored enough that any remaining defects don\u2019t distract overmuch from the songs.<\/p>\n

This one is for the cult heavy metal collectors, especially for fans of Shrapnel-style power\/speed metal bands with major guitar heroics going on. Fans of the \u201880s heavy metal style in general ought to dig Firstrike as well. It\u2019s not surprising given the era\u2019s changing musical landscape that they didn\u2019t break out, but at least we can now discover their music all these years later.<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Power\/Thrash Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nFabian Battito (b) (v)
\nNikki Terrono (d) (v)
\nJoe Lucio (g) (v)
\nMike Power (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nHell\u2019s Kitchen
\nThe Awakening
\nNo Life Sentence
\nSimply Psychotic
\nDeadly Voltage
\nTerminal Justice
\nSell Your Soul
\nManipulator
\nIncantations
\nFree Rider
\nThe Agony Pit
\nHellbound
\nThe Phantom<\/p>\n

Label: Divebomb Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.divebombrecords.com\/site\/bands\/firstrike\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — The third vintage band to be spotlighted by Divebomb Records\u2019 new Bootcamp series (which focuses on overlooked and forgotten demos, both new and old), is Long Island […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,8589,923,8588,2491,2346,1099,8590,1101],"class_list":{"0":"post-36015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-deadly-voltage","10":"tag-divebomb-records","11":"tag-firstrike","12":"tag-heavy-metal","13":"tag-power","14":"tag-speed-metal","15":"tag-the-agony-pit","16":"tag-thrash-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}