{"id":34903,"date":"2013-11-19T17:59:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T22:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=34903"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:38:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:38:47","slug":"aska-fire-eater-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/aska-fire-eater-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Aska | Fire Eater<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"AskaLong running, Texas-based traditional heavy metal band Aska is back after a six-year absence with a new album, their sixth full-length, titled Fire Eater<\/em>. The band may not have been very active in terms of new material over the past decade, but their old school heavy metal sound is just as strong and powerful as ever with this release.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, Aska has been delivering traditional heavy metal since 1994. Their overall style has held up over the years, and it sounds like Judas Priest, Helstar, Iced Earth and even older Queensryche at times. There is a ton of power in these songs, and real classic heavy metal energy. Songs like \u201cValhalla,\u201d \u201cRed Cell\u201d and closing epic \u201cEye of the Serpent\u201d are great examples of the Aska sound, and also showcase the power and range singer George Call (now also with Banshee) brings. The band also serves up a fierce and haunting cover of the Judas Priest classic \u201cThe Ripper.\u201d The only place the album ever really stumbles is when the love songs creep in. Even dark, metal love songs like \u201cAngela\u201d and \u201cHarlot of Eden\u201d seem awkward and out of place here. \u201cYear of Jubilee,\u201d which sounds like a Broadway musical number, also sticks out like a sore thumb, but even there you have to admire Call\u2019s vocal performance.<\/p>\n

They may not be reinventing the wheel here, but it\u2019s good to see a band like Aska that has been around for so long and continues to deliver hard-hitting traditional heavy metal time and time again. If you\u2019re already an Aska fan, Fire Eater is going to be a welcome return. If you\u2019re new to the band but are into the so-called New Wave of Traditional Metal bands like Twisted Tower Dire, Attacker, Season of the Wolf and Widow, Aska is a band you\u2019re going to want to discover.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nKeith Knight (b) (v)
\nGeorge Call (v) (g)
\nDamon Call (d)
\nDarren Knapp (g) (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tEveryone Dies
\n2.\tDead Again
\n3.\tValhalla
\n4.\tSon of a God
\n5.\tAngela
\n6.\tHarlot of Eden
\n7.\tRed Cell
\n8.\tThe Ripper
\n9.\tYear of the Jubilee
\n10.\tThe Last Message
\n11.\tEye of the Serpent<\/p>\n

Label: Pure Steel Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.askaband.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Long running, Texas-based traditional heavy metal band Aska is back after a six-year absence with a new album, their sixth full-length, titled Fire Eater. The band may […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[2491,1097,848,3605],"class_list":{"0":"post-34903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-heavy-metal","9":"tag-power-metal","10":"tag-pure-steel-records","11":"tag-traditional-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}