Aardvark is a New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal band out of Melbourne, Australia,and their brand-new album for Dying Victims Productions is titled Tough Love.Nine tracks of early '80s heavy metal worship, Touch Love seems to be dipping their toes into the NWOBHM more so than the American scene of the early '80s. The band is comprised of Ed Vaark (lead vocals, guitar), Sorcha Wilcox (guitar), Danny Smith (bass), and Dyland Lieberman (drums), and I will say, musically, there's a lot to like here. These guys have obviously studied their classic 'twin guitar bands' like Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, Satan, and the like, as tracks like "Fire", "Don't Call Me a Liar", and "Fight Back" contain a wealth of flashy fretwork and tasty twin guitar harmonies. For me, the back end of the album is the strongest, with raging tracks such as "Destructor", "Killer", the atmospheric "The Dream is Nearly Over", and the closing blast of "Too Old to Cry'. What really holds this album back from being one of the more noteworthy of the whole NWOTHM scene is the vocals of Ed Vaark. He just doesn't have the range to sound convincing on a good chunk of this album, and when he tries to hit highs like a Rob Halford or King Diamond, the results are not good. So, perhaps a dedicated lead singer would help out matters, letting Ed and Sorcha continue their 6-string wizardry, which is really what they do best.
Track Listing
1.
Ankh 06:31
2.
Tough Love 04:29
3.
Don't Call Me a Liar 05:08
4.
Fire 05:12
5.
Destructor 04:24
6.
Fight Back 04:51
7.
Killer 03:23
8.
The Dream is Nearly Over 05:44
9.
Too Old to Cry 03:59
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