Saviours - 'Accelerated Living'

Memorable, soulful, classic metal style filtered through modern production and trimmings.

By no means a band of 40 or 50-somethings jamming out simple variations on old metal songs, Saviours put an individual stamp on old school metal while delivered with contemporary sensibilities and production values. Not quite as epic or acid-trip friendly as their previous album Into Abaddon, Accelerated Living kicks off with a few tracks referencing early Slayer material integrated within their stoner/doom aesthetic.

Primarily, however, Accelerated Living is a jam-fest, though void of pretentious showmanship; solely devoted to creating evocative and memorable songs, instead. "We Roam" and "Burnin' Cross" are soulful metal numbers that just make you feel good, and, again, it's perhaps because the focus is upon the songs (as elementary as the point is, it's lost on far too many). It's not too heavy or too technical. It's just right.

Pretentious they certainly are not, as some have branded them. For whatever reason, while they may appeal to the hipster metal folks, this is real metal without a hint of irony or comedy. While a band like Cauldron have locked down a likeable early ‘80s metal guitar sound, the songs are magical. And White Wizzard are so clean they give metal a bad name. Saviours, on the other hand, have a great sound, great songs, and they're filthy all the way around.

Where there's definitely room for improvement is with Austin Barber's vocals. They would work as backup vocals, but his hollering style of singing would be better suited for a hardcore punk band than a grooving stoner/doom band that's yearning for powerful melodic vocals to match the rich, textured melodies.