Packed with an arsenal of metal musicians from the Lone Star State that have played with acts as diverse as Watchtower, Dangerous Toys, Manowar, Helstar, Seven Witches, Shadowkeep and Immortal Guardian, Texas Metal Outlaws showcases some of the state’s heartiest headbangers.
Four years in the making, this eight-song, 36-minute collection opens with the galloping hair-metal-meets-thrash title track, aggressively sung by Watchtower’s Jason McMaster. The dark and epic “Sound of Scorn” and the traditional headbanger “Within the Spell” bring heavy metal diversity to the mix while the highlight is “Rebel Years” -- a tour de force powered by Immortal Guardian’s stratospheric vocalist Carlos Zema and propelled by a driving rhythm section. The song is the perfect soundtrack to the engaging album cover art.
Seven of these songs were written or co-written by guitarist Robert Williams (IGNITER, Witches Mark), who also helms the Texas Metal Outlaws “house band.” Additionally, Williams sings lead on “Malt Liquor Maniac,” which sounds just like you think it does.
There’s a classy cover of Riot’s “Running from the Law,” too, and the album closes with a warped you-won’t-believe-it-until-you-hear-it cover of “That’s What Friends Are For" -- the song penned by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and made popular by none other than Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder in 1985. Williams wrote new lyrics for the melody, and the song perfectly sums up the essence of this cool project.
Headbangers in other states: Your move.
Track Listing:
1. Texas Metal Outlaws
2. Malt Liquor Maniac
3. Rebel Years
4. Running from the Law
5. Sound of Scorn
6. Echoes of a Memory
7. Within the Spell
8. That’s What Friends Are For
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