Cry Out for Metal

Oh well, look at how badass these guys looks on their album cover! I guess they wanted to look metal as hell and show that they are not fucking around with their music. Vampyr is the kind of band I ignored for quite a long time before actually listening to them. I have this bad habit of letting the bands I discovered to rest as long as I am not tired of listening to other bands I really enjoy. Anyway, I knew I would like this band since it's basically what I expected to hear, or near that. Of course, they are from Germany, surrounded by the mighty Running Wild, Stormwitch or the thrash metal movement. Not much information is known about this band, but one thing for sure, they were and still are considered an underground heavy/speed metal band that released one record before disbanding while apparently recording a second album, which is pretty sad. I wonder how the band would have turn to musically, but they made it pretty clear with the album reviewed here whatsoever.

Vampyr's sole full-length album was released back in 1985 and is called "Cry Out for Metal". Based on the name and the guys looks, I could tell that the music would be classic German metal. We have ten tracks featured on this record and it runs for nearly 35 minutes, which is pretty decent since its amount of material on it. What is really interesting on this album is the production work and the resulting sound of it. The very best thing about that is the guitars, they sound really cool and clear, even if it's a bit primitive, but of course only to a certain degree, as the quality is pretty good for an old school 85' album. Even if the guitars are sounding particularly nice, the other instruments are good too, thus making this record accessible. The album actually starts with a spoken intro titled "Oath", it's kind of similar to those of Destruction and Sodom Eps, just to set the right mood. I must say that the tracklisting is greatly thought because it balances the musical variety featured on the album, having more classic heavy metal oriented tracks and some way faster that has that intense speed metal vibe.

To tell the truth, their fast-paced riff based songs are the best ones on this record, the band is quite good at playing with a great level of energy. Following the introduction, the real thing kick-off with "Sinner", which is arguably the best track on the album with its simple, but cool speedy guitar riffs and catchy chorus. Here you can also see the famous vocals too, they are very typical of the speed metal genre if you ask me, the singer does a great job at delivering high-pitched screams at times. Another interesting track in the same vibe is "Scytherman" that reminds me a bit of Rapid Fire by Judas Priest. The fast songs on this album are quite similar to each other, with a classical way of arranging them. Despite that, "Indianapolis" and the self-titled "Vampyr" are still charming mainly due to its catchiness and the energy displayed by the band. The guys of Vampyr brought different aspects on the album, as seen in the more cheesy "Metal Hymn '86". It's a cool track, showcasing some playing abilities on the guitars by adding some melodies, but it's a bit too long for the riffs it has. The weakest song on this album is "Breaking Metal", bringing nothing much to the table and has boring riffs as well, just not memorable as let's say "Hell Bent Angels" that has that Judas Priest vibe too. I may talk about the lyrics, but they are pretty obvious to know what they are about, the title sums it up I would say, they are metal, violent and rebellious.

Overall, Vampyr were a cool heavy/speed metal band and "Cry Out for Metal" is definitely something I liked listening to and I recommend you to do so as well if you like well-produced old school 80s heavy metal with a German touch. Of course, there are some flaws here and there and it can get repetitive too, but it's still really enjoyable, especially when it comes to the highlights of the album that I wrote below.

Highlights:

Indianapolis
Scytherman
Sinner
Vampyr
Warrior

After the lame spoken intro (Oath) where they’ve taken the vocalist’s voice, distorted it a little and added some echoes to it. Then Sinner follows. A real great, promising opening with midpaced drumming and blazing riffing does however, fall down into a rather generic kind of eighties’ German speed metal. Fast, fast, fast… It’s just that it sounds like it’s on the same BPM rate as any other speed metal band, the riffs are generic and the vocalist is the usual German speed/thrash type. Short range, but quite good power within it. One has a premonition of it from his flat voice. He has the obligatory Southgerman accent too.

Playing this straightforward, rather generic kind of speed metal Vampyr never distanced themselves as there was a lot of bands sounding like this back in the day… And they never got to record any more albums. But this sped up, heavier version of Tyrant has one great advantage. They have fucking great guitars. Except from the fastest songs, that is. The songs closer to traditional heavy metal are the best. Hell Bent Angels with its hollow drums and riffs, leads and solos that’ll make any band jealous.

Then comes the thrashier part of the album. Scytherman opens and you can’t help laughing at Wolfgang’s stuttering “We werwerererere” and nod approvingly at the solos. The fine tradition of solos is continued in Mercy Killing, with some real fast pieces of art. The song as a whole is raw, unstable and unpredictable. It could fall anytime but it just thrashes on and on and on… Metal Hymn ’86 is a heavy metal anthem which causes severe amounts of headbanging even though it’s slow tempo doesn’t suit it. And once again the vocals aren’t the best, but the guitars are. Oh, the guitars.

The repitious Warrior is, thank god, just an exception and not a start of a new part of the album. Breakin’ Metal follows and makes it up for its predecessor. It’s not far from being hair metal actually. The self-titled thrasher closes the record.