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Lately we are witnessing a swarm of new bands rising in the Metal community by releasing albums with an 80's vibe, with the looks, the raw production and all those elements we know and worship, because let's face it, the 80's were the shit. While there are great representations of Metal's so called "Golden Era" with acts like Skull Fist, Steelwing, RAM, Rocka Rollas and such, like everything that turns into a trend and gets overused, this new movement also gets cursed with crappy albums and bands failing desperately to capture the essence of that time.

So, is Horacle's debut album, Dead Eyes Revelations, another bland, desperate offering? Hell no! For starters, Horacle was safe from falling into the sea of generic 80's worship bands with no personality from day one, as the main-man and mastermind is none other than Franck Lorent, aka Lord Sabbathan, widely known from being one of the founding members of Enthroned. Do not expect corpse-paint, guttural vocals and devilish lyrics though, because this is straight-up Speed Metal. "Premonition" opens the album in a classic manner. Cool and quick, it announces "Carnage Stallion", a perfect incarnation of the 80's tunes, with virtuous riffs, high-pitched vocals and non-stop action, as is the case with follow-up "King Slayer", which features a catchy chorus that will stick in your head for days. This leads to the best song on the album, "No Resistance". This is everything a metalhead can ask for: galloping riffs, epic passages, excellent vocal performance, changes of pace and, more importantly, ace execution. In sum, the album as a whole is classic and refreshing at the same time, even featuring an instrumental song that fits the album perfectly, "Passage to Eternity", and a 12-minute opus, "Awakening of a Crimson Shelter".

Those who love bands like Agent Steel, Attacker and Liege Lord will feast with Dead Eyes Revelations. So far, this earned a spot in my top 10 this year and I bet I'll not be the only one saying that. Highly recommended.