Panzer X – ‘Steel Fist EP’ Review

Featuring members of Poland’s metal elite (including Vader’s Piotr Wiwczarek on guitar), Panzer X are a frantically shredding, old-school metal band and from the opening wail of ‘Panzer attack’ you know that this is going to be top-flight entertainment. Grzegorz Kupczyk provides soaring vocals for the songs here (the track listing offers six songs, while my cd strangely includes only five) and he sounds somewhere between Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford with his earthy growl and banshee wail. Track 2, ‘Steel fist’, is a undiscovered metal gem with a strikingly unconventional harmonized guitar lead and chant-along bridge section that sets the blood pumping, while ‘Feel my x’ is a throw back to the days when Z Z Top and Status Quo ruled the airwaves (in a good way) with its bluesy riffs and drink-fuelled swagger. Next we have ‘In memory’ a moody and beautifully played instrumental piece with a heavy duty solo reminiscent of Black Label Society at their best. Finally we are treated to a frankly mental cover of ‘Paint it Black’ (originally by the Rolling Stones) which embellishes the original’s satanic air with pitch bends and double bass drum work that thunders though the speakers like the proverbial bull in a shop filled with fragile kitchen-ware. 

Just as the playing is rock solid, the production is absolutely clear and augments the ambitious and entertaining musical arrangements with hefty bass underpinning the brutal riffs. This is not a deep album, but if good, old fashioned, beer-fuelled metal is your thing (and if it isn’t then I respectfully suggest you depart my review and find a comforting copy of Coldplay or some other nonsense to hide behind) then this is a fine purchase to air guitar to until your ears bleed.