While I'm not the biggest fan of chest-beating, knuckle-dragging proto-metal, I must say the style has a certain something I enjoy, though sadly, Italy's Pleasure Slaves fail to include it in their enthusiastic but flawed debut, The Last Of The Giants. On first listen, opener "True Metal Will Never Die" sounds like a bunch of guys having a laugh; from the badly-handled operatic vocals to the tortured riff patterns, there's nothing epic or true about it. And yet, once they kick things up with a tempo change, things start to get interesting. From then on, the album, which for the most part is full of plodding, uninspiring chord-based riffs, offers up the odd moment of interest.

"The Truest Of The True" might be a pointless piece of bass wankery, but "Lionheart" is a good attempt, aiming for that Battleroar-style barbarism and almost reaching it. Similarly, the title track has a nice momentum, and even the strangely named "Ballad" has a decent chorus, in a Lords Of The Crimson Alliance kind of way. With lyrics full of the right references, this might hit the spot with some people, but to be a professional outfit, Pleasure Slaves need to work on many things, vocal performance first and foremost.